The LAMAR Institute, the Society for Georgia Archaeology, the Fort Hawkins Commission, the Friends of Fort Hawkins and volunteers will team up and return to excavate at Fort Hawkins in Macon, Georgia this October. Here is a link to a short article about it by Josephine Bennett on Georgia Public Radio (GPB):
http://www.gpb.org/news/2011/09/06/archeologists-returning-to-fort-hawkins
The upcoming project will target the fort walls on the western side, and a portion of the southern wall. A team of volunteers is shaping up and the project will end with ghost tales of Fort Hawkins on Halloween. It does begin on a sad note, however, with the death of Bob Cramer this past weekend. Dr. Robert Cramer had served as chairman of the Fort Hawkins Commission for several decades. He was the one who first lured me to the fort in the early 1990s. He was a friendly man who truly loved Georgia archaeology and history.
Special thanks to Marty Willett, the Peyton Anderson Foundation, the Fort Hawkins Commission, the City of Macon, New Town Macon, the Friends of Fort Hawkins and other tireless backers for making this project happen. See also, http://forthawkins.com
The results of the present project should wind up the first excavation phase under the Fort Hawkins Commission’s Master Plan. We expect our report on the work to be available to the public in 2012, in time for the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812. I am wrapping up a study of the New Orleans battlefield (December 1814-January 1815) for the National Park Service and the St. Bernard Parish Government in Louisiana, so my mind is in the correct decade for a fitting return to Fort Hawkins.
Here is a link to listen to a podcast of the radio broadcast:
Mister Soapstone 