Perry Shults Lost Gold Mine — Greenbrier Cove

Around the Civil War era Shults allegedly found a shallow gold streak in upper Greenbrier near Webb Creek. In 1867 he obtained a Tennessee corporate charter to mine silver, lead, copper, and zinc around Greenbrier Pinnacle — with no mention of gold. Neighbors recalled Shults always carrying silver dollars while others bartered. Folklore adds a counterfeiting scheme with stolen mint plates tossed into the Pigeon River when Treasury agents closed in. In 1967 buyer Walt Rice reportedly found a clay pot of coins worth $37,000 in Shults's garden, reigniting hunts along the Porters Creek Trail inside today's Great Smoky Mountains National Park.