CLEVELAND, Tenn. — Activity has begun at the site of Cleveland’s future airport.
Archaeologists were picking meticulously through the clay beneath the topsoil at the remains of an old farmhouse Friday.
“At last, we have some work going on at the site,” Municipal Airport Authority Chairwoman Lynn DeVault said at the airport authority’s monthly meeting.
The authority has spent months planning, acquiring land and land options and securing grants.
“The main thing we can tell you is, we are starting,” said Ronald Fitzgerald, speaking for the authority’s consulting firm. “We don’t have a lot of meat to report yet. But at least we have something to tell you.”
Dr. Robert Lafferty, a private archaeologist under contract with Alexander Archaeological Consultants of Wildwood, Ga., led the three-person team at the site.
He said three potentially significant sites will be investigated. On Friday the team dug into the remains of the Ledford family farmhouse, built in the 1960s where a house from the 1880s also once stood.
So far the archaeologists have found the foundation of the earlier house, destroyed by a fire, and the second house, as well as a root cellar. Surveyor flags marked dark spots in the soil that could be trees or fence posts.
Nothing from the site is certain until it is authenticated by historic research, Dr. Lafferty said.
The surrounding field has winter wheat growing now. The wheat will be harvested early to make room for the archaeology study, Dr. Lafferty said.
Mr. Fitzgerald said more people should be on the site next week to take part in the study.
“People are really pulling together,” he said.
For now, the airport authority has another state grant to acquire some city-owned property adjacent to the site. On Friday the authority also approved an agreement that extends the option to purchase other parcels from Brenda Lawson and Lynn Jones Properties.
Ms. DeVault said Friday that if the current pace is maintained, construction could begin by spring 2009.
Randall Higgins covers news in Cleveland, Tenn., for the Times Free Press. He started work with the Chattanooga Times in 1977 and joined the staff of the Chattanooga Times Free Press when the Free Press and Times merged in 1999. Randall has covered Southeast Tennessee, Northwest Georgia and Alabama. He now covers Cleveland and Bradley County and the neighboring region. Randall is a Cleveland native. He has bachelor’s degree from Tennessee Technological University. His awards ...
