Looking For Any Treasure Leads In Middle Or West Tennessee

[twister]

I would really appreciate if someone had anything in Middle Or West Tennessee.

Thanks in advance for any leads anyone can help me with.

Regards, Twister

 

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[relicreb]

Twister
I am also from southern middle Tn. If you get any leads I will be glad to help you look
relicreb

 

[kldrawdy]

Hi Twister,

I am brand new to the forum. I live near Memphis and have been interested in going to Randolph, TN and poking around. In the early 1800's Randolph was a rip-roaring river town rivaling Memphis for size and economy, then sadly the river changed course and they lost their river landing site sending all the river trade to Memphis. Now there is nothing there but fields. Randolph is in Tipton Co. on the river about 30 miles N of Memphis. Since I'm so new to the forum I have no idea if anyone has ever been there or not. I am going to go there soon to poke around.

 

[kldrawdy]

Oh, Another thing I have been interested in trying to find in West Tennessee, During the yellow fever epidemic hundreds maybe thousands of people fleeing Memphis tried to go to Jackson, Tn. Jackson denied them entry into the city so they camped in the woods outside of Jackson. (In fact Jackson was in such dread of the epidemic they chopped up and burned a piano that had come there from Memphis. They must have been really horrified at all the people trying to enter their city.) Anyway the site they camped at (probably paved over now) would be very interesting to MD but I have no idea where it would have been. I haven't been to the library to look at maps of the era to try to determine what roads they would have taken.

Another site that would be fun is the old racetrack next to the Factory Outlet Mall at I40 and Canada Rd. (exit 20) It used to be a car racetrack that was very popular in it's day. http://www.lakelandraceway.com/ Now it is overgrown and the property is for sale. It would be fun to explore.

 

[ericwt]

http://wths.tn.org/tn.websites.html
Study the history and your leads will be there.

ericwt

 

[kldrawdy]

Thanks for the website link. I have been there many times. Tennessee and especially western Tennessee lags behind in getting their information online, although they are slowly getting more online. I also have a few books written by local authors about the history of Memphis and the surrounding area, it's interesting stuff.

 

[ericwt]

kldrawdy: It seems like you are on the right path. With 15 civil war battles and countless other conflicts,what would I do?

Any old house in the civil war days is a potential cache location. Often they heard of the Union Troops coming to the area. They would then bury there money and valuables and leave the area. Often solders would know that a conflict was comming and bury there valuables before the battles. Learn of the campsites they used and search them.

There is unlimited possibilities

ericwt

 

[core028]

Hello all. I live in north west Tennessee and I am always looking for places to explore and hunt. My buddy and I would love to find others in this area to hunt with and share research with. Kldrady I have a lot of contacts in Jackson if you are interested in trying to find some places to hunt in that area. If anyone is interested let me know.

Core028

 

[kldrawdy]

Hey core028 thanks for the offer, I'll take you up on that.

In the meantime, I found a wonderful site with loads of information on the Civil War.

www.sonsofthesouth.com

On this site I found the following reference to Randolph, TN. in an edition of Harpers Weekly:

"At Fort Randolph are seven disabled guns and a pile of burning cotton. On the summit of the bluff are extensive field-works, similar to those at Fort Pillow, most of them erected in 1861, and evidently designed for resisting a land attack. In a long subterranean passage were several openings to the surface, at one of which your correspondent found several soldiers grouped, greatly amused at the echo of their voices as they shouted down the aperture."

How intriguing!

In September of 1862 Sherman had every building in the town of Randolph burned to the ground in retaliation for firing on Union gunboats on the Mississippi river.

There is also a large sandbar that may be accessible.

I am going to drive up there this weekend and do a little looking around.

If it looks good I would welcome someone with more experience than me (I have zero, zip, nada, none) to go along.