The coordinates listed above are not where the first stage is.
These coordinates may be a great place for the group to meet to
begin the adventure, or to get a sandwich and some gas for the
road, but they aren’t worth much more.
Copied from the Asheville Citizen-Times, written by John
Parris
A POT OF GOLD, A KEG OF
BRANDY
There's a pot of gold and a cask of brandy hidden somewhere in the
laurel-crowned hills hereabouts. For a hundred years folks have
been trying to unearth this golden cache, but it has proved to be
just as elusive as the proverbial treasure at the end of the
rainbow. Philip Gillespie, a rifle-making man from a rifle-making
clan, buried his gold and his brandy in an underground vault back
in 1862 and then went off to fight in a war that swallowed him up.
The spot he picked to hide his fortune was a secret he held unto
himself, and the secret died with him on some unknown battlefield
far from the hills of home. Its locked in the ancient earth of the
mountain which stands like a grim prophecy here in the Pisgah wilds
west of the French Broad and along the upper reaches of Mills
River.
The land hasn't changed much since Philip Gillespie buried his gold
and his brandy. It is essentially the same. And a soil that cannot
be plowed under keeps its secrets. Be that as it may, folks keep
right on searching because there is something in a Treasure that
fastens upon a man's mind. But, then, these are folks who never
knew Philip Gillespie or his intentions.
When he decided to offer his rifle-gun and his trigger finger to
the Civil War, he told a bunch of mountain men gathered at his
gunshop here on Forge Mountain: "I aim to make certain no man ever
spends my money or any red-legged revenuer ever lays eyes on my
brandy." And then he proceeded to do just that.
"No sir," Philip Gillespie mused. "They'll never find my brandy and
collect any part of my hard-earned gold for tax." So when night
came on, he slipped out of the house with his poke of coins tightly
packed in an earthen crock he had taken from his mother's
springhouse. He moved off to the barn and hitched one of the oxen
to a sled. He rolled his cask of brandy from its hiding place under
some straw and loaded it on the sled. Then he set out.
He had a pick and shovel with him, and he carried a rifle-gun.
Somewhere in a cove up there, Philip Gillespie halted his ox and
sled and dug an underground safety vault. He lined it with rock and
built it to last and preserve his treasure. Finally he placed the
gold and the brandy in the vault..
He sealed the cache with more stones and then packed earth over it.
And over the newly turned earth he spread leaves and brush to hide
all trace of the thing he had done. Satisfied with his handiwork,
he turned toward home. "I've hid it good," he told his folks,
"Won't nobody find it. It'll be there when I get back."
The following morning, Philip Gillespie said good-bye to his folks
and marched off to war with his long-rifle in the crook of his arm,
a rifle-gun he made with his own hands in his own gun
shop.
News of the war's progress trickled into the isolated settlement
and the news was not good, for the news was not of battles lost but
of men of the settlement killed. It came stark and terse . .
"Killed at Seven Pines" . . ."Missing at Malvern Hills" . . ."Died
of wounds received at Chancellorsville" ..a roll call of home boys
dwindling.
The war went on and there was no word of Philip Gillespie. Then the
war was over and those who had survived began straggling back. On
Forge Mountain, they waited for Philip Gillespie, but he never did
come back. .
Folks remembered his talk of hiding his gold and his brandy. So
they started searching for the golden cache. They've been looking
for it a long time now. It's become a legend and a tale to tell
around the fire. But the gold and the brandy are still there. For
Philip Gillespie said he aimed to make certain that no man ever
spent his gold or any revenuer ever laid eyes on his
brandy.
That’s the story… now for the cache:
The mountain folk who knew Philip are all at rest… it’s been over
140 years since he marched off to war… but some clues abound. See
if you can be the one to solve the mystery and sip the
brandy.
You will need only Pencil & Paper. You may need a Geek (a
left-brain math whiz who knows about “perfect squares”). Oh,
knowing Morse Code might be handy. One last thought, I've been told
that a map of the Pisgah National Forest would help if you aren't
from around here.
First a little mental gymnastics to get you warmed up (and tell you
where to start):
Each of these nine symbols stands for one of the numbers one
through nine… but no two symbols stand for the same
number.
@ = ___
& = ___
# = ___
+ = ___
? = ___
% = ___
$ = ___
> = ___
< = ___
Using the following clues, figure out the number represented by
each symbol to fill in the blank for the starting point of the
multi-cache.
& is smaller than @ and >
@ is smaller than #
+ is an even digit
$ = + plus two
Add % to $ and the result is <
< is a perfect square
Multiply & times ? and the result is a two digit number, whose
right-most digit is >
STAGE ONE:
N35 2@.0&?
W82 @>.+&&
Philip had told his daddy, Mathew, that “a
clue to the whereabouts of the treasure could be found using the
birthdate of the husband of the old woman who made the best darn
cherry pie in North Carolina”
Well, anyone who has hung around these parts knows that four
Methodist ladies were the best cooks in the valley. These ladies
were known to gather near Stage One. Elizabeth Johnson, Bessie
Dillard, Hattie Corpening and Rachel Cathey were all known for
their delicious creations, that included apple turnovers, cherry
pie, fried chicken and cornbread. Trouble is, we don’t have a
record of which of the Methodist matriarchs was known for which
creation. We have to figure out who made the cherry pie so we can
ask her when her husband was born. We do know that the four ladies
placed one, two, three and four in the county fair cooking
competition… and records show:
-
Hattie didn’t win the competition, but her entry beat out the
cornbread.
-
Bessie’s family always admitted that she just couldn’t cook up a
mess of fried chicken.
-
Elizabeth was known for her fabulous desserts and was upset that
she didn’t win.
-
Rachel didn’t speak to Hattie for years after the
competition.
-
Phil always thought that the Cherry Pie should have
won.
Once you figure out who made the cherry pie, find her and ask her
the year her husband was born. Use that year as ABCD and
calculate:
A = ___
B = ___
C = ___
D = ___
E = ___ (B minus 5)
F = ___ (D plus 2)
G = ___ (D minus B)
STAGE TWO:
N35 2E.FBA
W82 3D.GCG
Next you need to talk to a deacon of the
Mills River Baptist Church (he likes to rest at Stage Two). Ask him
when he joined the church (HJKL) and how long he was a deacon (MN).
You may also ask him about being a revolutionary war soldier… that
surely is an interesting story, as the Treaty of Paris that ended
the war was signed on September 3, 1783. How old was this salty old
soldier at war’s end? (PQ).
H = ___
J = ___
K = ___
L = ___
M = ___
N = ___
P = ___
Q = ___
STAGE
THREE:
N35 2L.FKQ
W82
36.DCJ
This part is easy. The area is a great
place to rest a bit, enjoy the quaint setting. A good friend of
mine was Baptized in the stream to the chorus of “Shall We Gather
at the River”… Walk the dog and possibly do some bird-watching. In
fact, doing some bird-watching is probably a GREAT idea! If you
listen closely, they may be singing the co-ordinates for Stage Four
in Morse Code!
STAGE
FOUR:
N35 __ __ . __ __ __
W82 __ __ . __ __ __
Philip Gillespie got his iron to make his rifles from a man known
as the “Pioneer Iron Maker of WNC”. In fact, at Stage Four, you
will find a bunch of the clan… but they are a quiet bunch. Anyway,
it may help you along your way to know that a more cooperative soul
is at Stage Five, and to find stage five, you just need to know the
year that the iron maker's wife passed on, and ADD 516. The answer
is RSTU.
R = ___
S = ___
T = ___
U = ___
STAGE FIVE:
N35-RS.SST
W082-SU.RRS
Now isn’t this a beautiful spot? You could just spend eternity
here! Unfortunately, you are getting so close to Philip’s gold and
brandy that you have to keep moving. This one is tricky. The soul
you want to talk to was most likely a man of the sea. You need to
ask him what year he married, and add to that 4,913 (VWXY). And
ponder on this… Sam was single when he died.
V =___
W =___
X = ___
Y = ___
The Treasure (STAGE SIX)
These are all the clues that we have heard about the old Gillespie
treasure. There are a few encrypted hints below, but we are sure
that you are too proud to use them. If you got everything right,
you should be able to trace Philip’s steps and find the gold and
brandy.
A good place to leave your car is N35 RT.RPV W82 SF.XYV Once there,
walk the low road for about a mile and a half. You’ll find a
beautiful place for picnic near the cache, so don’t forget a snack
and a drink.
The Cache is rumored to be near
N35 RT.PVT
W82 XY.CWF