Sharps Buried Gold

C.E. Sharps Buried Gold Around White’s Mill in Florence Alabama

About six miles northwest of Florence, Alabama, on the White’s Mill Road, stands the historic White’s Mill. For many years, this mill ground corn and flour and provided people in the community with jobs.In 1897, a man by the name of C. E. Sharps bought the mill. Eventually, he became quite wealthy. He was fond of gold and insisted that most payments be made to him in gold coins.

Sharps owned about 100 acres of forest land south of the mill across White’s Road. His nephew, Grady Sharps, was employed in the office at the mill. About once a week, Grady watched his uncle go into the woods with a shovel and a small sack. Since he would return a short time afterward without the sack, Grady felt sure that he was burying his gold somewhere among the trees.

Fearing his uncle, who was known to become violent at times, young Grady was afraid to follow him on any of his trips into the woods.

In June 1899, Sharps was on the mill roof doing some repair work when he slipped and fell into the pond below. He could not swim, and help did not reach him in time. The knowledge of his buried gold drowned with him. Grady tried to locate the fortune his uncle had hidden, but the woods were too large to unearth with nothing but a pick and a shovel.

The old mill still stands, and the wood still lies to the south of it. With a good metal detector and a few days’ time, a treasure hunter might be able to find C. E. Sharps’ cache or caches of gold coins. This story comes from Daily Odds and Ends.
Interesting additional information at Alabama Chanin Journal