The Fort Daniel Foundation (FDF), founded in 2009, is a nonprofit, tax-exempt (501e3) organization composed of professional and avocational archaeologists, descendents of militiamen associated with Fort Daniel during the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries, and interested members of the general public.  Our mission is to preserve the Fort Daniel archaeological site by promoting the creation of the Fort Daniel Historic Site and Archaeological Research Park, as a permanent archaeological research preserve available to researchers, historians and educators where an active learning facility will provide for:

• teaching children* the value of our cultural heritage, particularly as it is contained in archaeological sites;

• training and mentoring of archaeology students;

• public archaeology opportunities;

• maintenance of a field laboratory where artifacts will be processed and conserved;

• creation of a field museum where artifacts and interpretive displays will be exhibited for the public.

*The Foundation is actively working with Fort Daniel Elementary School. Click here for FDF document: "The Use of Archaeology in the Georgia State Curriculum, Grades 4-8."   

Milestones

Summer 2007 - Gwinnett Archaeological Research Society (GARS) begins investigations at Fort Daniel site.

Spring 2008 - "Friends of Fort Daniel" organized to work to save site from commercial or residential development.

Fall 2008 - Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation names Fort Daniel to 2009 list of Places In Peril.

Winter 2008 - DNR determines Fort Daniel archaeological site "eligible" for National Register of Historic Places.

Spring 2009 - "Fort Daniel Historic Site and Archaeological Research Park" Master Plan completed with Georgia Trust matching grant.

Summer 2009 - "The Fort Daniel Foundation, Inc." is incorporated in Georgia as non-profit organization, replacing the "Friends of Fort Daniel."

Spring 2010 - IRS grants the Foundation tax-exempt (501(e)(3) status retroactive to July 2009.

Summer/Fall 2010 - Archaeological excavations determine most of the footprint of the fort.  (See images below and "GARS 2010 Summary" media presentation)

Winter 2011 - Second Ground Penetrating Radar survey by GSU of Fort's interior showing new targets for future excavation.

Spring 2012 - Society for Georgia Archaeology visits Fort Daniel as part of their Annual Spring Meeting.  District 1 educators are also invited.

 

4rd (2012) Annual Frontier Faire & Public Archaeology Event  October 20  - 9:30am - 5pm October 21 - 11am - 4pm At the Fort Daniel Archaeological Site    2505 Braselton Hwy (124) Buford (Hog Mountain) 30519 Archaeological Investigations at Gwinnett County's Oldest Historic Site Great fun for the whole family. Frontiersman (Bruce Maney) & Direct Descendent of Allen Daniel, Johh Hopkins. Bob Coffey Photo ______________________________________ 2010 Frontier Faire Brick Making Demonstration With the help of Cherokee Brick & Tile Co., Macon, who supplied brick for much of the clamp kiln pictured below, and "burned" 50 of the Fort Daniel brick in their modern tunnel kiln, the brick making portion of the event was quite a success.  The remaining "Green" brick were put in the Fort Daniel clamp kiln. See Brickmaking pdf presentation.   In January 2011 a new GPR survey of the fort area, including areas not previously covered in the 2007 survey, carrired out by GSU's Sheldon Skaggs, produced a convincing picture of the fort's subsurface features as seen in this composite of the 2007 and 2011 GPR surveys and the (flipped) Knox graphic on the right.  Image courtesy of Sheldon Skaggs.  Mystery Object Identified The broken object on the left was recovered at the Fort Daniel site and its function remained a mystery until we saw the complete object at the home of member Charles Warbington.  It is part of a collection of Charles' dad's farm implements.  It is a "clevis," which was attached to the front of a mule-drawn plough where the animal's harness was attached and probably should be dated to the 1920's or so. (Photos by Vince Macek, TRC).

Archaeology Update [ also see History Update page] Excavations during the May, 2010 Archaeology Month/Frontier Faire weekend located the south end of the west wall trench.  With this and the previously excavated west end of the south wall, we were able to determine the footprint and size of the SW corner blockhouse as pictured below.   On August 14, 2010 we found the east end of the south wall trench and its corner with the east wall as pictured below.  It is now clear that the ditch, excavated in 2007-2009 (and thought to be a latrine ditch) is actually the northern 14' of the east wall and that there was probably a gate  south of this segment as suggested by the gap in the trench line.  There is convincing evidence that there was also a blockhouse in the northeast corner.  On August 23 the NW corner of the fort was located  in Unit 20 and its projection to the east bears out the hypothesis of a NE blockhouse.  Known wall trench features, including SW, NW & SE corners, and the position of the blockhouse hearth now provide a good idea of the fort's footprint, which is shown below superimposed on a gradient map based on the  2007 metal detection survey.  Grids are 20' x 20' and oriented 13 degrees west of north based on the property boundary which serves as the baseline for the grid.  The fort is oriented on a N/S axis. In 1794, General Knox, U.S. Secretary of War, sent the fort plan pictured below to the Governor of Georgia. The plan is about 18% larger (and flipped horizontally) than the Fort Daniel plan as determined by archaeology. Note the postions of two 6-ft wide gates (A A) in Knox's plan. The conjectured Fort Daniel east wall gate, mentioned above, is depicted as the gap in the east wall on the plan above. Compare this with Knox's plan below.  The implication is that there may be an identical gate on the west wall with a "street" connecting them  If this turns out to be the case, the further implication is that structures within the fort would have been north of, and south of this street.  We will be looking to  confirm the gate locations during the public archaeology portion of the 2011 Frontier Faire. Since the 2011 Frontier Faire, GSU archaeology students under Dr. Jeff Glover and GARS have been investigating what has been called a 'brick" feature in the NW corner of the interior of the fort.  It has developed into something of a mystery but excavation should be completed on May 3 after which photos and interpretaion of the feature willb e posted.  Plan view of the feature (below) showing bottom of the Level 1 (plow zone) and top of Level 2, which Jim and Leslie are beginning to excavate (bottom).