Maverick relocated to Georgia in early 1833, where he unsuccessfully ran a gold mine. He returned home at the end of the year. On January 24, 1834, he left Pendleton for Lauderdale County, Alabama, taking 25 of his father's slaves to operate a plantation his father had given him. They arrived in March. Later that year his widowed sister, Mary Elizabeth, moved to Alabama to live near him with her three children. Maverick did not enjoy running a plantation, primarily because he did not like supervising slaves. On March 16, 1835, he left Alabama to go to Texas.