GARS has been in existence since 2005, and was chartered by the SGA in January of 2006. GARS was organized by its archaeological advisor and founder, Dr. James J. D’Angelo, and a group of citizens who had first come together as volunteers under the direction of Dr. D’Angelo on an excavation project at the Hightower Trial and Graves Soapstone Site in Gwinnett County. That site is now part of a Gwinnett County park. Since then, GARS has grown to about 24 members, and the organization has engaged in a number of research and excavation projects including excavations at the historic Elisha Winn house and the Creekside Rock Shelter in Gwinnett County. The group started work at the Fort Daniel site in July of 2007 when it was learned that the supposed location of the site was under contract to be purchased and developed as a commercial property. The site had never been precisely located or investigated.

The Friends of Fort Daniel committee was organized by a group of GARS members and other local residents who wanted to preserve the site because of its historical importance and archaeological potential. Many of the FFD members are descendents of militiamen who were stationed at Fort Daniel, including the present Chairperson, John Hopkins, who is a direct descendent of Major General Allen Daniel for whom the fort is named.

The firm that will be preparing the master plan under the terms of the Georgia Trust grant, jB+a, inc., is a landscape architecture group located in Atlanta. The company is known for its designs for outdoor environments, and has been a consultant on several Gwinnett County Parks and Recreation projects.

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In most nations of the world, archaeological sites and artifacts are considered national treasures, and as such, are protected by law. The same is not true in the United States where most archaeological sites and their artifacts receive no legal protection. Every week significant sites are lost to development and looting. Thus, important clues that could unlock the mysteries of our past are lost forever. It is therefore of vital importance that properties such as the Fort Daniel site be managed as permanent archaeological research preserves that are available to researchers and educators for public archaeology.

Historical places have powerful and provocative stories to tell. As witnesses to the past, they recall the events that shaped history and the people who faced these situations and issues. Such places make connections across time and have a special ability to create an emphatic, and empathetic, understanding of what happened in the past. It is this ability that is a most compelling argument that the Fort Daniel site and surrounding tracts be maintained and utilized as an active Archaeological Park.

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The vision of GARS and FFD is to preserve the Fort Daniel site as a passive park where on-going archaeological research involving the public can take place, e.g., Public Archaeology. As local archaeologists, students, and interested adults continue to excavate and preserve the site, the park will be an active learning facility that will help teach children the value of our cultural heritage, particularly as it is contained in archaeological sites. It will also provide training and mentoring to archaeology students, and teach interpretive theory and practice for the needs of archaeological site interpretation. An existing 1980s brick dwelling on the tract is proposed for a field laboratory and museum for processing, conserving, and displaying artifacts. It is anticipated that the park would be an asset for County and State efforts to promote cultural tourism.

A visit to this archaeological park will bring the visitor or students face-to-face with the past. As they enter the site they will be greeted by the Fort Daniel Park Museum and Laboratory building. A typical visit may include watching an introductory video or PowerPoint presentation, viewing exhibits, and touring the artifact conservation facility. This would be followed by a guided tour of the site.

Visitors would then move through the park by way of an accessible 6-foot-wide asphalt trail. The trail will meander through the wooded site location and around the approximately 1-acre archaeologically sensitive site. Interpretative signage and panels will discuss and illustrate the history of the site, including its eighteenth-century Native American inhabitants, as well as archaeological methods and findings. Another half-mile natural surface interpretive trail will allow visitors to explore and learn about the plant species native to the area and present during Georgia’s frontier years.

As visitors and students approach the excavation areas, smaller, natural surface trails will lead them to the excavation locales where visitors can watch the excavations and potentially participate in the excavation themselves—under appropriate supervision. A canopied outdoor classroom in proximity to the excavation site, furnished with seating, will facilitate outdoor lectures and teaching about history and archaeology. Teachers will be encouraged to use this facility with their students in connection with class field trips to the site.

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If the County were to purchase the Fort Daniel site and adjoining tracts, the primary source of funding would come from SPLOST revenues. However, the current economic situation has complicated that intention. While other approaches to site preservation are being explored, GARS/FFD has decided to continue with efforts to raise public awareness of the importance of the Fort Daniel site so that preservation of the site will remain a high priority.

GARS and FFD have been engaged in efforts to raise public awareness of the site for more than a year. This has included public events held at the site, PowerPoint presentations to various groups, press releases, published articles, and maintaining a web site. Some of these efforts include:

Events held at the site or in Gwinnett County such as a 2008 Flag Day Celebration incorporating exhibits, public archaeology, and a barbeque; a 2008 Archaeology Month exhibit at the Historic Elisha Winn House in Dacula, and the 29th Annual Winn Fair 2008, also at the Historic Elisha Winn House.

PowerPoint presentations at the 2007 and 2008 Annual Meetings of the Society for Georgia Archaeology, one of which was held at the Gwinnett Environmental and Heritage Center; the Etowah Mound Site museum in Cartersville; the Gwinnett Historical Society; the Lawrenceville Rotary Club; the 4^th graders at Fort Daniel Elementary School; and for the general public at the Georgia Trust "Spotlight on Fort Daniel," also held at the Fort Daniel Elementary School. A private presentation was made at a meeting with County Commissioner Mike Beaudreau, and Department of Community Services Director Phil Hoskins at the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center. Poster presentations have been given at some of these events as well as the 2008 Annual Meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology (SHA) in Albuquerque, N.M., and at a Gwinnett County "GIS Day" at the Gwinnett Environmental and Heritage Center.

Various articles about the site and public archaeology events at the site have appeared in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, and the Gwinnett Daily Post.

Articles about the archaeology at Fort Daniel and the background history of the site have appeared in the award-winning publication of the Gwinnett Historical Society, The Heritage, in the following issues: Fall 2007, Vol. 36, No.3; Winter 2007, Vol. 36, No.4; Spring 2008, Vol. 37, No. 1; Summer 2008, Vol. 37, No. 2; Fall 2008, Vol. 37, No. 3, and Winter 2008, Vol. 37, No. 4.

A number of organizations have participated in various ways with the work being done at the site. These include: The Daughters of the War of 1812; local Boy Scouts; students at the University of Georgia-Athens and Georgia Gwinnett College; the Gwinnett Open Land Trust; The Archaeological Conservancy; the Gwinnett County Parks and Recreation Division; and the archaeological and environmental consulting firm, TRC.

The various means of publicizing Fort Daniel have had as their focus past events and present archaeology of the site. Addition of a park master plan will add a new future-oriented focus with graphic representations of what the Archaeological Park could look like and how it will be able to serve educational and other interests of the community. GARS and FFD believe that this important focus on the future of the site will help to promote the purchase and preservation of the site.

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