Explore Georgia Treasure Stories

Gold Jug of M'Daniel Field

North Georgia Mountain Treasure

Treasure Hunting in Georgia

Treasure Plowed Up on Carrollton Farm

What Ever Happened to the Confederate Gold?

Youdoo Negroes Dig for Robbers Treasure. (excerpt from an August 1884 newspaper article) - Starrsville, Ga. - In June of this year, a negro came from Montgomery, Alabama to work as a day laborer on the plantation of John Dukes about 9 miles south of Covington.  He soon made it known that he had been directed to this place by a spirit to find seventeen and a half bushels of gold that had been buried by a band of robbers about 70 years prior.  He located what he believed was the place on a branch about 100 yards below the Covington and Monticello Road, about 10 miles from Covington.  He promised the owner of the land one-fourth of the gold, and also a liberal share to any negroes who would assist.  After much praying, incantations, and ceremony, he located what he thought was the precise spot.  No one was to speak or chew tobacco or stop work, and nearby he placed an open Bible with a rock on it to hold the pages open beneath which several horseshoes were placed.  At last report, they dug to six feet deep without locating the gold, the faith of the Youdoo doctor seeming to blind them to the fact that they might have the wrong spot.  There has been no report of any gold ever being found as of yet in this vicinity.

Welcome to Georgia, The Peach State, also known for peanut farms and the claim to fame of being the first colony to produce cotton commercially.

After 1783, Georgia governors began to distribute land through a series of grants to wealthy individuals and personal friends, fueling the Pine Barrens Scandal. In 1795 this scandal was overshadowed by a much more sinister plot known as the Yazoo Land Fraud which compromised a large number of public officials, including the current and some former governors. All who were still in office were ousted from the government by reformer James Jackson.  At about the same time, in 1792, Eli Whitney modified the cotton gin to be able to process short-stapled cotton.  He was unaware that this new machine would revolutionize the South, causing the expansion of slavery. As cotton production moved inland because long-stapled cotton could only be produced along the coast, and short stapled cotton could be grown throughout the state, the use of slaves grew drastically.  As the planters moved west from coastal Georgia, inland farmers were pressured to sell their land at high prices, and they wanted to push the Creek and Cherokee Nation lands further west, forcing them to cede their land holdings.   Georgia is also known for having the most gold in the entire eastern United States in what is referred to as the Georgia Gold Belt, extending from Alabama to Rabun County, Georgia, with the largest concentration of known gold lying in White and Lumpkin Counties, Georgia.  The gold is almost 24 karat (which means 100% pure) due to the age of the mountains.