SLIDESHOW

BUCKINGHAM A little mold and moisture couldn't dampen the spirits of a small-town crowd hoping to catch a glimpse into the past in Buckingham County yesterday.

About 200 people gathered at the Buckingham Courthouse Green to see a 100-year-old time capsule opened. The small copper box yielded an assortment of damp documents in fair condition, which the organizers of the event will attempt to preserve.

Lifelong Buckingham resident Malcolm A. Booker, clerk of Buckingham Circuit Court for 30 years, led the ceremony and was happy to see his prediction proved wrong after earlier musing that the box's contents might be ruined.

"I'm excited," he said before the capsule was pulled from the ground. "It's sort of like Indiana Jones finding the treasure. It's historical treasure and something I believe we'll all treasure."

Booker put things in perspective first by offering a couple facts about what was happening in 1908: Henry Ford invented the Model T, the population of the U.S. was 88 million, the federal budget was $66 billion

and the cost of a stamp was 2 cents.

"There were no surface roads, no electricity, no indoor plumbing, none of the things we cherish today," he said. "We couldn't live without them."

Buried at the base of a Confederate statue across U.S. 60 from the courthouse, the capsule was opened by Buckingham Supervisor Brian D. Bates, an anthropology professor at Longwood University.

Confederate currency, a copy of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's farewell address to the Army of Northern Virginia and a newspaper clipping from the monument's dedication ceremony in 1908 were among the contents.

Also included were a piece of rope from the unveiling of the Robert E. Lee monument in Richmond and a poem from a local woman, as well as additional documents.

"For everything being paper and being below grade for 100 years, it's actually in pretty good shape, I think," Bates said. "In laboratory conditions, I think we'll be able to salvage everything in there."

Franklin Spencer, whose mother attended the dedication of the monument in 1908, said he was delighted to see an effort to remember the county's past.

"I lacked 16 years of being alive when that was built," he said. "I think it's great that someone has come along and begin to put this old stuff together."

"I'm happy as a fly in buttermilk," said Nancy Faxon, president of the Richmond chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, dressed in Civil War-era regalia. "This has been a great day."

The Daughters of the Confederacy financed the monument in 1908 with the support of local Masons, and Faxon and her chapter helped organize yesterday's event.

Bates replaced the capsule with a new one -- fashioned from a PVC pipe glued shut -- to be opened in 2108.

It contains a nail from a local hardware store, a locket donated by a Confederate descendant, a Civil War-era rolling dice made of bone and a 2-gigabyte memory card containing photos and a video of the county sites with some perspective on gas prices and current happenings.

Betty and Jack Stinson, who traveled from Chesterfield County, said they wouldn't be going home disappointed.

"I didn't have very high expectations, but I was extremely pleased," Betty Stinson said. "Anything concerning 'The War' is of interest to us."

"And we plan to be at the next one in 100 more years," said her 75-year-old husband.
Contact Wesley P. Hester at (804) 649-6976 or whester@timesdispatch.com.