I happened upon a local cable program tonight on Forsyth History. It gave several sources for the information at the end in credits. It had some nice shots of the Buffington Tavern and a little about James Vann being killed there. No one mentioned that the building had been logrollered to it's present location from across the road. (I missed the beginning.) It told a thrilling story about Chief Rising Fawn and his band robbing a Federal Gold shipment from the mint, lowering the wagon off Pool's Mill Bridge and floating the wagon with the gold down Settingdown Creek to Rising Fawn's village. If you see it -- enjoy the scenery. Gold was discovered by the white man about 1829. The mint was built thereafter. In 1829 Rising Fawn made an affidavit on the Creek - Cherokee line. The appraisal of his character also in the Federal microfilm was "that he is an old man ...feeble and simple" For simple read senile. For a history of the bridge see http://www.rootsweb.com/~gafchs/poolmill.html IA covered bridge has sides - you can't lower a wagon over the side of a covered bridge. If it was the simple wooden bridge that was there before, it would have taken a lot of engineering to hoist a gold filled wagon over the side and it would have been a lot easier just to drive the wagon off into the shallow water close to the bridge or off the ford that preceded the bridge. As for the secret caves on Sawnee Mountain - all the high school kids have been in those caves one time or the other. Also, Sawnee Mountain had a working commercial gold mine until after 1900. Sawnee is pronounced Sauney. If you see it -- enjoy the scenery. Donna