I heard tale growing up of 2 train robbers that stole a bunch of gold / money at the old Piedmont "Cross Plains" train station some time in the late 1800s and stuck the loot in an old mail box and hid it in a cave of Possum Trot Rd in Piedmont. I heard that from my mothers side grand parents and great grand parents. I could never find news articles of it let alone a cave off said road. It would be a cool find though. Anyone else got any old timey tales?

No story but, that sounds cool

My father used to own property outside Hartselle. The family that sold it to him made my father write an odd contingency in the contract when he paid for it. The parents had saved silver dollars in big jars and buried them all over the property and after they died they didn’t find the last one. To buy the property my father had to agree to split it with the family if he found it.

Ever heard the legend of Red Bone cave from North Alabama? Seems an Indian Chief was held for ransom by the Spanish. The Spanish wanted to kill the Chief if they didn't get the gold in exchange for his return. The Spanish were taken to a cave on the TN River and ere able to see the treasure. The cave contained bones that had turned red from the heavy ore content in the ground, thus the name Red Bone. The Indians were told their Chief had been killed and a small battle broke out. Several of the Spanish escaped but could never find the cave when they returned. When TVA impounded the TN River in the 1920's the cave supposedly was flooded and not visible. Supposed to still be a treasure in the cave, but it has never been found. I have heard this tale all my life.

Another treasure find that is true happened in the 1950's here on the Colbert and Lawrence County line. A man running a dozer to grade for a new road noticed something from his operator station and stopped to look. Turned out he had unearthed a hoard of silver coins and a few other valuables. He gathered it all up and promptly took off work to put his finds away. Turned out he had found silver that had been hidden from the Northern Army when they burned Lagrange College in the 1860's. People knew the Yankees were looting everything they came across and folks hid their valuables in their wells, or buried it to keep it safe. This story is true because a family member of mine was the dozer driver! My family was in the right place at the right time on this one.

B

Mauvilla. The Holy Grail to all Alabama Archaeologists, including our own Skinny. What is really interesting to be about it is that when they finally find it, it will be in my neighborhood.

We have a story about Cherokee gold hidden in a flooded cave over hear in Jackson County too. My question is , where did the Cherokee get all that gold ?

I wonder if they found anything like that in Desoto Caverns? I know they found bones. I did find a very large chunk of quartz in a local cave when I was a kid.

It's a known fact the area where our property is was a site important to the Cherokee. So several years ago a older neighbor told me each year a Indian from Oklahoma would come for a few weeks each year , go up in the mountains and look for something. He wouldn't tell them what it was , just that if they knew what was up there they'd be spending their time searching for it and not farming. He came several times , but he last time he came he stayed only a couple days and left in a hurry and never came back.

Hard to believe that site has never been found will all the ag around the river.

I think looters already have found it back in the 80s. They took some items they found to a local college because the metal began to disintegrate on them. They were looking to preserve them. Questions were asked and they left. An inventory was taken of the items. I can't remember it all off the top of my head but a sword buried vertically was found, and parts to a matchlock archebus I believe was one of the items. The problem with spanish artifacts is that even after the spanish left, natives had a lot of spanish items they either were given, stole, or found. So you also have spanish artifacts in the contexts of plenty of other sites dating to the period that may not have anything to do with their route.

Lots of local legends exist. Most are probably conjured up by old men telling their grand kids a good story. My great Grandfather buried a small mason jar full of Morgan silver dollars on his property which now lies in the Talladega national forest. It was excess money he had after cashing in a good cotton crop. When hard times came in the 30s he couldn't find it. My uncles have been all over that hill since looking for it but nobody ever has gone out there with a metal detector. The only thing left out there is the well, which has fallen in on itself. My grandmother always told a story about it when she was little. She remembers vividly her dad going into full blown panic mode when he couldn't find it. She was helping her mother sweep the yard, which they did back then to keep grass from growing.

I buried some silver on my land. Got some clues left in my safe. Hope the kids and grand kids have a ball lookin for it.

The story down in south Monroe County was about buried Confederate gold. After WWII, lots of people came looking and metal detecting with their war surplus equipment, and someone found a bag of silver dollars near Eliska. Trouble was, they were from a recent Frisco City bank robbery, and one of the locals ended up doing some prison time.

Wasn't much gold. At least not much worth sharing.

You may be referring to Blackwell Bend where a conquistadors helmet and other Spanish artifacts were found after the 1979 flood, but for some reason archaeologists say that this was not the site of Mauvilla. Now this really is in my neighborhood. I'll let Skinny explain when he sobers up.

We think Blackwell Bend is more likely a DeLuna site (Nanipacana) not really a Soto site. DeLuna made a bunch of trips up the Alabama and his Spanish artifacts are more abundant and look nearly identical to the materials Desoto was carrying. Desoto basically left a trail of bread-crumbs while DeLuna left a lot of stuff. Keep in mind, DeLuna set up a colony at Pensacola that failed cause of a hurricane. UWF has found the ships in Pensacola Bay and the colony site has been located. https://uwf.edu/cassh/departments/anthropology-and-archaeology/luna-settlement/

The largest quantities of gold found in the eastern United States were found in the Georgia Gold Belt, extending from eastern Alabama to Rabun County, Georgia. The biggest concentration of gold was found in White, Lumpkin, and northern Cherokee counties in Georgia. The gold in the Georgia Gold Belt was close to 24 karat (100%) purity. Most of the gold was found in eroded rock (saprolite) and mixed in with quartz.

Besides placer deposits of gold, and gold bearing quartz in weathered rock, gold also occurs in quartz veins. The most profitable veins, in the Dahlonega District, occur in the contact zone between mica-schists and granite or diorite.[2]:59–61

The discovery of gold in the Georgia Gold Belt in 1828 led to the Georgia Gold Rush. The historic cities of Auraria and Dahlonega were the primary beneficiaries of the gold discovery, and a branch mint of the United States Mint was operated in Dahlonega until 1861. The Georgia Gold Belt is part of a zone of gold deposits in the southeast United States that runs from Alabama to Virginia. Smaller gold deposits can be found farther north.

Here's my story and some can actually be backed with facts. My Grandfather bought a large antebellum home with a lot of land back in the 1930's. There was a cemetery on the property with large headstones. Supposedly, the owner buried his money when the Union troops left Selma headed to Montgomery to keep them from getting it. He died of a heart attack then and no one knew where the money was. It's well documented the Union troops made the trip South of the river (basically Hwy80) and we are North of the river. It's also known the Union troops chased a Confederate leader through Burnsville. I believe this group or another went North of the river and met the rest in Montgomery.

The facts: in the cemetery Dr. Thomas Pettis Frith died between the dates the Union soldiers.left Selma and made it to Montgomery according to his headstone. He can be googled.
I have found a bridle rosette off of a Union soldiers horse.
I have found a rifle barrel

True enough, I'm aware of Dahlonega and it's supposed to be first gold found in US, that being 1828. Is there any evidence the Indians had already discovered gold in the Southeast and were extracting it? I've heard the elusive Cherokee gold was paid to them by the Spanish, I don't buy that. I figure bout all the explorers gave them was hot lead. Maybe Skinny can shed some light on the subject of Cherokee Gold.

Native (North) Americans had very little interest or use for gold. That was mostly a Central and South American thing.