Prior to the 2011 Fort Daniel Frontier Faire in Gwinnett County, several geophysical surveys had been conducted at the site by Dr. Sheldon Skaggs of Georgia Southern University, the combined results of which suggested the presence of features within the footprint of the fort. We have also previously reported that the footprint of the fort’s palisade walls and corner blockhouses, as determined by archaeological investigations, corresponds precisely to the plan for frontier forts sent by President Washington’s Secretary of War, Henry Knox, to the Governor of Georgia in 1794.

The well-attended October 2011 Frontier Faire at Fort Daniel, sponsored by the Gwinnett Archaeological Research Society, a Chapter of the SGA, and the Fort Daniel Foundation, hosted a Trading Post, tours, a candle-maker, both Girl and Boy Scouts, a food area and more. The 2011 Frontier Faire is considered a definite success and will serve as a model for next year’s Faire.

Where was Fort Daniel? This frontier fort was long believed to have been on a ridge-top knoll on Hog Mountain in Gwinnett County. In 2007, the Gwinnett Archaeological Research Society, a Chapter of the SGA, began a research program under the direction of Dr. James D’Angelo to locate physical remains of the fort using two forms of subsurface remote sensing, metal detection and ground penetrating radar. This detailed article reports the happy results of that research.

The Gwinnett County Chapter of SGA, Gwinnett Archaeological Research Society (GARS), along with Fort Daniel Foundation (FDF) members are sponsoring a Frontier Faire to be held Saturday, October 15, 2011, from 10am to 5pm and on Sunday, October 16, 2011, from 11am to 4pm. All are cordially invited to attend.

The Gwinnett County Chapter of SGA, Gwinnett Archaeological Research Society (GARS), along with Fort Daniel Foundation (FDF) members are sponsoring a Frontier Faire to be held Saturday, October 15, 2011, from 10am to 5pm and on Sunday, October 16, 2011, from 11am to 4pm. All SGA members and their guests are cordially invited to attend.

Members of the Gwinnett Archaeological Research Society (GARS) worked over the weekend at the Berkmar “mystery” site—this was part of the old Wynne-Russell Plantation but is now Berkmar Middle School, Gwinnett County property. GARS members plan to record the site on 14 May, and are clearing brush, etc., in preparation for doing that with Berkmar MS 8th graders.

Despite the rains the Gwinnett Archaeological Research Society (GARS) field trip in March 2011 to the Howard Cement Company site and vicinity was fun and profitable. The group also visited the Howard plantation site (including a mill and large earthen dam), another lime kiln site, and the Kingston museum and the Confederate cemetery in Kingston. Accompanying photos are of the remaining lime kilns at the Howard site.

The Atlanta Regional Commission has recently released a draft of its PLAN 2040: Regional Resource Plan. Among the many important archaeological and historical resources highlighted in this 89-page document is Fort Daniel, a late 18th/early 19th century frontier settlement in Gwinnett County.

The Gwinnett Archaeological Research Society teamed with the Fort Daniel Foundation to again combine their public archaeology event with FDF’s 2nd annual Frontier Faire at the Fort Daniel site in Gwinnett County, May 22-23. A highlight of the weekend was a brick making project employing methods and technology that would have been used in the late 18th–early 19th centuries.

Read 11alive’s report on the Fort Daniel Faire and Public Archaeology Event, held at the Fort Daniel historical site in Gwinnett County in late May 2010. The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation named Fort Daniel to its 2009 Places In Peril list in recognition of the importance of this military site. Visit the Fort Daniel Foundation website and learn how you can help save this important place, which is presently on private land.

Dr. Jim D’Angelo will give a presentation on examples of Cro-Magnon and later cave art, at the monthly meeting of the Gwinnett Archaeological Research Society, a chapter of the SGA, at its meeting on Thursday April 8. The meeting starts are about 7 PM with the program beginning at 7:30 PM. Jim recently returned from a visit to Spain and was fortunate enough to visit a Paleolithic cave, which he will discuss.

The Gwinnett Archaeological Research Society will have its regular meeting for November 2009 on the 17th, beginning at 7 pm. The speaker will be Scot Keith, lead archaeologist for recent excavations at the Late Woodland Leake Site. The site has been listed by the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation as a 2010 Place in Peril. (See a story on this website about this here.)

The Gwinnett Archaeological Research Society has scheduled a field trip to the Roswell Mills site for Sunday, November 15.

The Gwinnett Archaeological Research Society will be having work day at Fort Daniel this Saturday, November 14, weather permitting, beginning about 9:30 am.

The Gwinnett Archaeological Research Society (GARS) and the Friends of Fort Daniel (FFD), recently announced that FFD has reorganized as The Fort Daniel Foundation (FDF). The new organization will be a non-profit, tax-exempt entity that can receive donations and grants directed at the on-going work at the site, including site preservation. In connection with these [...]

The Gwinnett Archaeological Research Society, together with the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation, hosted an Archaeology Month function at Fort Daniel on Saturday, 2 May, called the Frontier Fort Faire and Public Archaeology Event, which was covered by Heath Hamacher, of the Gwinnett Daily News.

GARS and Friends of Fort Daniel (FFD), a special committee created for Fort Daniel preservation efforts, have had a lot going on since the last Profile. Since Fort Daniel’s listing as one of ten historic properties listed the Georgia Trust’s 2009 Places in Peril, GARS and FFD have submitted an application for a Georgia Trust [...]

Figure 1. Trench feature with hearth feature in background, both at the bottom of the plowzone. The Gwinnett Archaeological Research Society (GARS) has put excavations at Fort Daniel on hold until analysis of recovered artifacts, representing more than one year of investigations at the site, and preparation of a technical report are completed. On the [...]

This year the GARS Archaeology Month event was a public archaeology day at the Creekside Rock shelter located on the historic Elisha Winn property in Dacula, on May 3 and 4. The site was first identified, recorded, and excavated by GARS in 2006. Although contending with intermittent showers and poor turnout on Saturday, two large [...]

Tom Gresham talking about rock pile sites at the February GARS meeting. The Gwinnett Archaeological Research Society has moved their monthly meeting date to the first Wednesday of the month, but is still meeting 7:30 to 9:00 PM in the Gwinnett County Justice and Administration Building, 75 Langley Road, Lawrenceville. In February we had a [...]

Figure 1. English leaded crystal from Fort Daniel. GARS continues its study of the Fort Daniel site (9GW623) in Gwinnett County, having completed the first phase of investigations on November 9 after 16 weekends in the field. Results of the investigations to date were presented at the Fall SGA meeting. A PowerPoint presentation in PDF [...]

Overview looking south of excavations at L1 and L2. The Gwinnett Archaeological Research Society (GARS) continues to work with the Gwinnett Historical Society (GHS) investigating areas of archaeological interest on the 20-acre Winn House tract in Dacula. Having completed excavation of an outbuilding location associated with the historic Elisha Winn house, where the public was [...]