The Blue Ridge Archaeological Guild (B.R.A.G) is a SGA chapter in north Georgia. Their next meeting will be at 6:00 At the Dahlonega Parks and Recreation Building at 365 Riley Rd. The guest speaker for the evening will be archaeologist Dan Lowery. He will discuss his on-going research into the location of Fort Buffington, near Canton. The fort was an Army stockade for Cherokees as their Trail of Tears began to the West. The sites location has been lost and his company is trying to re-locate it, using archaeology, historic records and local resident interviews. Named for Capt. Ezekial Buffington, the camp was cleared and built by his Georgia Mounted Militia troops in 1837. Then the U.S. Army took it over as a fort in 1838 when they and the Militia rounded up the Cherokees in the vicinity of Canton. The Army housed the people there for months, then moved them from Georgia in a months long march in which about a fourth of the Cherokees died. Lowery has worked in archaeological sites across the southeastern U.S. as well as in the Near East. One of his specialties is analysis of animal bones from Roman-era sites in Israel. He is currently a Cultural Resources Specialist with the engineering firm AECOM, investigating proposed transportation projects. He and his family now live in Dawsonville.

Visitors are welcome! Bring a friend!

Posted online on Friday, October 6th, 2017