By Richard Sullins | richard@rantnc.com
The town of Broadway will unearth a time capsule on Saturday that was buried 51 years ago.
The event will mark the town’s 150th anniversary, which actually took place last year. The time capsule was buried beneath the town’s water tank in 1970 with instructions to unearth it half a century later and then re-bury it for another 50 years. The 2020 celebration was delayed due to the COVID pandemic.
Newspaper accounts from the period indicate the capsule contains a copy of a book published in 1970 as part of the centennial celebration entitled “Broadway, North Carolina,” the Fall Edition of McCall’s Pattern Book, favorite recipes of the time collected from the wives of the nation’s governors, 1970 Census reports from Broadway and Lee County, a local newspaper, articles by five local ministers and several children from Broadway Elementary School, a report card from the school, and even a picture of a canceled check. A newspaper was also placed in the container, but accounts differ on what edition it was.
Mayor Don Andrews told the town council in September that “the capsule has definitely been located, we are confident that it’s what we are looking for, and we can’t wait until it’s unearthed to see the history that it has preserved for these past 50 years.”
Andrews said that although the original plan in 1970 was for the capsule to be unearthed in 2020 and then immediately reburied for another 50 years, he indicated that some of the items it contained may be put on public display for some length of time before they are returned to the ground for another half century.
The excavation of the time capsule will is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday in the perimeter beneath the town’s water tower, rain or shine.