Ghost of Pine Mountain — Mary Cunningham

The Adventures of Max and Maddie #1
Short Story

Teenagers, Max and Maddie, discover more than they bargain for during a visit to the Gold Museum where a mysterious old miner tells a fantastic tale, and then gives the pair a tarnished gold coin he claims has special time-travel powers. Along with the coin, comes a strange message. Wherever you decide to go, leave your destination a better place than a'fore you arrived. Do that, and your travels will continue.

Max, eager to accept the challenge, and Maddie -- more reluctantly -- travel back in time only to discover they're right where they started -- Pine Mountain near their West Georgia hometown, Villa Rica…two hundred years in the past!

Early 1800s miners, searching for gold on top of the mountain, and American Indian villagers, thriving alongside Sweetwater Creek, cross paths with Max and Maddie when an angry mother bear, protecting her cub, threatens the thirteen-year-old best friends.

Will their first journey back in time, end with deadly consequences, or will the early settlers and natives band together to save the young time-travelers, and strengthen their prospects for further adventures?