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The story concerns the family of a Jackson plantation owner by the name of John Woolfolk (also seen as Woolfork). Apparently John died shortly before the Civil War started and left his fortune to his widow. In June 1864, as Union raiders were approaching her home, John's widow took her fortune of gold coins from her home and buried them. Later, she showed her young daughter where she buried the coins but died before she could retrieve them herself.

Some years following the war, after the daughter had become an adult, the daughter attempted to retrieve the hoard but she could not remember the location they were buried. She and her family were never able to recover the coins.

Could the Tennessee Hoard be the widow Woolfolk's gold?

While I haven't had time to investigate fully, I have checked to see that the Woolfolk theory is at least plausible.

The Woolfolks of Jackson, Tennessee

There was a large Jackson, TN, landowner named John Woolfolk and his wife Almira who were in their thirties in 1850. Living with them were probably their children and an older John Woolfolk and his wife Mildred, probably the grandparents to the children. By 1860, John and Almira have disappeared (possibly dead), while their children are living with their probable grandparents John and Mildred. John is in his 80s with Mildred at least 10 years younger.

I believe that if the story is true, Mildred is the widow in the story and the young daughter to which she shows the location of the gold is actually one of her granddaughters, possibly Elizabeth Woolfolk.

Unsolved Mysteries

How much gold was actually recovered in 1985 and who took it? Did the bank president actually steal the gold from his bank and bury it on his property? Or was the hoard the same gold buried by the widow Woolfolk to keep it out the Union raiders hands? If not, where is the Woolfolk gold today?

The Tennessee Hoard remains one of those mysteries that will probably never be solved. However, if I was a current owner of land that used to be part of the Woolfolk plantation, I guarantee I'd be out scouring that land with a metal detector.

Sources

Winter, Douglas, and Greg Lambousy, and David Ginsburg. Gold coins of the New Orleans Mint: 1839-1909. Irvine: Zyrus Press, 2006.

Bowers, Q. David. "Tennessee Treasure Mystery." (May 1, 1998). http://www.pcgs.com/articles/article292.chtml (accessed January 27, 2009).

Yore Treasures Inc., "Little Cache Sites," http://www.yoretreasures.com/yore.htm (accessed January 27, 2009). Originally published in Duffy, Howard, "Ten Little-Known Cache Sites," Treasure Magazine vol. 16, no. 4 (April 4, 1985).

Kellyco Metal Detector Superstore. "City Workers Find Pot of Gold." http://www.kellycodetectors.com/Finds/misc/pot_of_gold.htm (accessed January 27, 2009).