This article was first published in HPD’s Preservation Posts, Issue 9, February 2010. Click here to see the original.

One of the most difficult, but most important, sailing evolutions is called “coming about.” Coming about involves swinging the bow of the boat through the wind to sail in another direction, or “tack.” The evolution starts when the person steering the vessel, the helmsman, shouts, “prepare to come about,” which warns the crew to ready themselves. Crewmen scramble to their places, and a few moments later, the helmsman shouts the command “coming about!” and shoves the rudder hard over. The bow swings sharply through the maneuver and then settles down. This evolution takes only a few moments, after which the boat is now racing in a new direction, or tack.

HPD is going through a similar evolution as this issue of Preservation Posts “goes to press.” We have shoved the helm over, changed tack, and are in that moment when the boat’s bow is starting to settle on to a new course. To understand why this change in course was necessary we have to turn to the division’s history.

HPD was born as the Georgia Historical Commission in 1951. In 1973, the Commission was incorporated into the new Department of Natural Resources. Two trends emerged in the late 1980s that were to continue for the ensuing decades. First, there was a steady increase in projects reviewed under the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) as federal agencies increased their permitting and other undertakings in the state. Second, additional duties and responsibilities outside the NHPA were assumed. In 1994, the Historic Preservation Section became the Historic Preservation Division when it was broken out from the Parks, Recreation, and Historic Sites Division.

From the inception of the Historical Commission right through to the present, the general organization of HPD did not change. Essentially it was a team of subject matter experts reporting to the Director, creating a very flat organizational structure.

As a result of this flat organizational structure, the Director was so involved in the daily operations of the Division that it was impossible to manage institutional relationships and identify new opportunities for HPD to make greater contributions to historic preservation in the state. To return to our sailing analogy, the Director was trying to helm the ship and rig the sails at the same time—an impossible task. In addition, there was little opportunity for professional development of staff members.

To meet this challenge we have reorganized our internal structure as well as many of our business functions. Our new organization is more hierarchical, with three Sections: Historic Resources, Archaeology, and Operations. Responsibility for day-to-day office functions now rests in the hands of our Section Chiefs. Richard Cloues is our Historic Resources Chief, Candy Henderson is our Operations and Outreach Chief (which includes outreach, grants, and the Georgia African American Heritage Preservation Network), and we currently have a vacant Archaeology Section Chief position. (For more on this position including application information, click here.)

HPD’s new organizational structure provides two major benefits. First, it offers staff options for assuming additional responsibilities and furthering their careers. Just as important, by instituting an executive team it gives the Director the opportunity to focus on the big picture: managing relationships, finding new opportunities, and generally, steering the ship.

Already the new structure is yielding benefits. HPD is becoming more nimble because daily resource management decisions are made more quickly. At the same time, larger policy issues are addressed more efficiently because the Director, supported by the executive team, can focus on gathering the necessary information to make critical decisions.

The organizational changes that have taken place are only the beginning, however. We are also making changes in our business functions, addressing staff development issues, forging new relationships, and reinvigorating old ones. Look for more on the new HPD in upcoming issues of Preservation Posts.

State Archaeologist Dr. David Colin Crass is the new Director of the Historic Preservation Division (HPD) of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR), the DNR announced on 27 January 2010. Dr. Crass came to Georgia HPD twelve years ago and is a member of the SGA. Dr. Crass succeeds Dr. Ray Luce, who served as Director for ten years, and retired in 2009.

Dr. Crass received his PhD in anthropology from Southern Methodist University, an MA in anthropology from the College of William and Mary in Virginia, and a BA Cum Laude with Departmental Honors in anthropology from Wake Forest University. Dr. Crass also serves with the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary.

The DNR press release notes:

During the early years of his career with HPD, Crass established a statewide archaeology education and protection program that emphasized partnerships with local citizens, municipalities, and universities as well as integration of archaeology and historic preservation efforts. As Deputy Director, he spearheaded efforts to make HPD’s business functions more efficient. Crass also established a strong working relationship with the Georgia Council on American Indian Concerns, which works with agencies and individuals to ensure protection and interpretation of American Indian cultural sites.

The SGA looks forward to working with Dr. Crass on goals of preservation, outreach, and education common to both the DNR and the SGA.

Here’s the link to the HPD press release.

The Historic Preservation Division of the Department of Natural Resources is moving back into state offices at the end of this month. As a result, the office will have limited service on October 26-27, will be closed October 28 through November 3rd, and will have limited service November 4-6.

From November 1, 2009 on, their new address will be 254 Washington Street, SW / Ground Level / Atlanta, GA 30334.

Their press release notes:

All phone numbers, fax numbers and email addresses will remain the same. Our new building is at the corner of Trinity and Washington streets facing Atlanta City Hall.

Preservation Georgia Online for September 12–18, 2009, lists the four grants funded through statewide preservation license tag sales. The four SFY 2010 Georgia Heritage Grants total $46,285.

They include:

• • Friends of Calhoun’s GEM Theatre, Inc. for plaster ceiling repair in the GEM Theatre in Gordon County—$14,985
• • City of Hawkinsville for window repair at the Hawkinsville Opera House in Pulaski County—$10,500
• • Jenkins County Board of Commissioners for a historic structure report of the Jenkins County Courthouse—$10,800
• • Roosevelt Warm Springs Rehabilitation Development Fund, Inc. for a conditions assessment report/preservation plan for Georgia Hall (a National Historic Landmark) in Meriwether County—$10,000

The Online newsletter notes:

Georgia Heritage matching grants are available to local governments and non-profit organizations and provide greatly needed “seed” money for preservation projects all across the state. Due to the current economic situation and its resulting impact on the state budget, the Georgia Heritage appropriation was cut for SFY 2009 and SFY 2010. This year, sixteen applicants requested $257,645 to help preserve the state’s historic resources. The support of the preservation community, evidenced in a very tangible manner through tag sales, enabled four of these worthy projects to be funded.

Visit Georgia Heritage Grants online by clicking here.

To subscribe to this free weekly newsletter, or to submit news items, questions, or comments, email Helen Talley-McRae by clicking here.

Members of the SGA may be interested in attending a meeting discussing the latest budget reductions to Georgia State Historic Sites. The meeting will be on Tuesday, August 11th, at the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation offices at Rhodes Hall on Peachtree Street in Atlanta, from 10 AM to 2:30 PM.

Review the meeting agenda by clicking here.

For more information, call Jim Langford at 404-285-2001.

The Historic Preservation Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources has begun a monthly e-journal, called Preservation Posts, with longer, in-depth articles compared to their weekly newsletter, Preservation Georgia Online. The first issue even has a little quiz! And, you can also read about HPD’s Underwater Archaeologist Chris McCabe’s research on the ruins of a wooden ship revealed by Tropical Storm Fay in August 2008.

Division Director Ray Luce reports that about 2000 historic preservation license plates have been sold. Buyers pay a $25 premium for the plates, and HPD gets $22 of that. Monies from sales of these plates are now the only funding HPD receives for Georgia Heritage Grants, because state funding has been “deferred” due to budget cuts. Buying these plates is one way you can support HPD’s efforts to preserve Georgia’s historic and archaeological properties.

The first issue was released on May 28th. Email Helen Talley-McRae at HPD if you want to be emailed this new, informative “publication” (and/or the weekly newsletter).

Click here to read the first issue of Preservation Posts.

When the March 2008 tornado struck the downtown area, Atlanta’s historic Oakland Cemetery especially suffered from the root balls brought up by toppled trees. Historic Oakland Foundation Director of Restoration and Landscapes Kevin Kuharic recognized that some of the root balls had the potential for containing human remains, and requested assistance from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR). State Archaeologist Dr. Dave Crass.

Dr. Crass in turn recruited Dr. Jeffrey Glover, an archaeology professor at Georgia State University, who marshaled GSU students to do the fieldwork. GSU students and DNR personnel were assisted in this sensitive recovery mission by Atlanta city employees and volunteers.

Careful examination of the root balls did not reveal any human remains. However, one root ball had two small Civil War-era porcelain buttons, probably for shirt collars or cuffs.

On 25 March, the Historic Preservation Division published a press release (click to download it) detailing this information, from which this story was written. The HPD has a webpage with useful information about historic cemeteries.

On the 31st of March, Georgians for Preservation Action, a group that works in partnership with the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation, reported the following:

The Senate Appropriations committee just passed the SFY 2010 budget. The senate committee did add back $100,000 of the $279,000 archaeology budget cut by the house. They then eliminated 2 vacant historic preservation positions (one of which is an archaeology position in the $279,000) for $100,000. This leaves a net balance of $50,000 in the archaeology budget, which is not enough to fund even one position with benefits. The other eliminated position is the architect’s position in the technical services unit who reviews tax act projects, grants and 106 projects. The changes increase the likelihood that Federal and state projects would be delayed in the historic preservation office because of lack of resources and that DNR will have to pay for consultants in order to comply with state and federal law.

The full Senate will vote on April 1st, and the final budget approval is set for Friday, April 3rd.

To read more, and to find out which Senators and House members are on the key committee(s), click here.

For a previous story on this issue, click here.

Late on the afternoon of March 24, Georgians for Preservation Action, a group that works in partnership with the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation, circulated an email reporting that the Georgia House budget for SFY 2010 cuts over $279,000 in funding for the Historic Preservation Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, effectively gutting the state’s archaeology program. Read more about this situation on the Georgia Council of Professional Archaeologists’ website here.

UPDATE: On March 26th, Georgians for Preservation Action sent an email saying they couldn’t determine why HPD’s archaeology program had been targeted for the extensive budget cuts by the House. We urge you to visit the GCPA website for more information.

I’m pleased to announce that the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography has been awarded a second Coastal Incentive Grant to study the effects of natural erosion on archaeological sites. The initial study targeted sites located on the back sides of our barrier islands and was completed last year. The upcoming study will examine sites on our back-barrier islands (“hammocks”). Dr. Clark Alexander, Director of the Georgia Southern University Advanced Coastal Research Laboratory, wrote the proposal. DNR will provide a match for this National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)- funded grant; much of the fieldwork will be carried out by Deputy State Archaeologist-Underwater, Chris McCabe. A redacted version of the barrier island study is available on the DNR website at gashpo.org. Planning also continues for further study of USS/CSS Water Witch, discovered last fall by Georgia Department of Transportation and DNR working with Tidewater Atlantic Research, as well as a Georgia shipwrecks survey. Deputy State Archaeologist-Underwater, Chris McCabe is spearheading these various initiatives as well as others with the support this summer of intern Steve Dilk. Dilk has been accepted into the East Carolina University Maritime History graduate program after graduation from SUNY-Rochester.

Christine Neal is working with Bill Hover of our Technical Services Unit on a template for cemetery preservation planning. The template, along with several technical briefs, will be posted on our website when complete later this calendar year.

Ryan Kennedy is currently developing an overview of recent sponsored research on DNR lands for the website as well. He successfully defended his Master’s Thesis on a Long Island Dutch/Anglo plantation in May. Congratulations, Ryan!

Jenn Bedell is planning a workshop on Sapelo Island that will take place later this fall. The workshop will bring together all the researchers working on the island for two days of presentations and field visits. Dr. Nick Honerkamp has volunteered to edit an Early Georgia volume on the proceedings, and we anticipate the development of a website as well to update both our peers and the public. Over the last several years archaeological research has been very productive, with significant findings at sites associated with the early and terminal Mission Periods, the Shell Rings, Chocolate and High Point Plantations, and Little Sapelo Island.

Bob Entorf is gradually taking over some coordination duties for sponsored research in addition to his Section 106 review duties. Bob also serves as the Unit Muse.

Finally, I am privileged to have been asked by Commissioner Holcomb to assume several additional duties as part of a promotion to Deputy Division Director. These duties primarily involve financial management and contact with the Commissioner’s Office. I will keep my duties and title as State Archaeologist.