Story at a glance
- Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) witnessed the opening of a time capsule on Wednesday believed to have been placed there on Oct. 27, 1887.
- The time capsule was found by workers in Richmond on Dec. 17 who were working on the site where a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee was removed in September.
- The time capsule has so far been found to contain multiple books, an envelope, a coin and documents.
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) witnessed the Wednesday opening of a time capsule from 1887.
The time capsule was found by workers in Richmond on Dec. 17 who were working on the site where a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee was removed in September.
Coming in at 40-feet long and 2,000 pounds, historians believe the time capsule was placed there on Oct. 27, 1887. Previous records from the Library of Virginia indicated it would hold roughly 60 objects from 37 Richmond residents from that time period, most pertaining to the Confederacy.
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The capsule has so far been found to contain multiple books, an envelope, a coin and documents. Due to the age and fragile nature of the materials, sorting through them to take a proper inventory and inspect them is a painstakingly slow process being shown in part via livestream.
It’s been posited the capsule may contain a photo of former President Lincoln lying in his coffin following his assassination.
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Published on Dec 22,2021