Richmond: Place in Virginia where the towering statue of Confederate general Robert E.
Lee once stood on the Tree Monument Richmond’s Monument Avenue is now just a pile of large rocks, debris.
But for the next few weeks, workers will continue their quest for the famous 1887 time capsule buried beneath the monument is said to be a massive, long seen as a symbol of racial injustice.
“We know what must be directed,” said Devon Henry, the contractor which lowers the statue and its base.
“It will be a very decorative piece of granite that would not look like what is already there.” Henry was speaking a day after one of the anti-climactic moments in historic preservation: the state conservator spent five hours carefully open the corroded tin boxes which some believed to be – or at least expected – is a time capsule in 1887.
But they could not find the object stove expected associated with the Confederacy, including images deceased president Abraham Lincoln.
Instead, the conservator issued several books of water, silver coins and an envelope with some papers.
The prevailing theory among some Thursday was that the main box left by a person – or people – who oversaw the construction of the monument.
“They decided to have a little vanity project,” said Dale BRUMFIELD, a local historian who focuses on the Richmond area.
“It was not a time capsule because it is a self-contained capsule alert.
And who will stop them?” The box contains a novel written by Collinson Burgwyn Edwards Pierrepont, a city of Richmond Civil Engineers working on plan Monument Avenue.
Envelopes containing images of a man, with the words “James Netherwood Master Stone Mason” written on the back.
Netherwood oversee construction of large equestrian statue pedestal where Lee has been established.
“While Netherwood still alive, she had a sculptor who makes granite, life-size statue of himself,” said BRUMFIELD.
“Burgwyn may have egos the same size.” Julie Langan, director of the State Historical Resources Department, agreed that the box could be the work of those involved in the construction of the monument, although he stressed that the still unproven.
“If you go to the historic buildings, you sometimes will find places where artisans carve their initials to leave a lasting prints of their involvement,” he said.
“And I see this as a similar kind of gesture.” Langan said the box was opened Wednesday was “more interesting than fun.” “What I find interesting is how excited the public has been around this story,” he said.
“That suggests to me that the public can really get excited about history.” Statue of Lee was founded in 1890 in the former capital of the confederation.
Its abolition in September came more than a year after Governor Ralph Northam ordered after protests that erupted after police killed George Floyd in Minneapolis.
The statue is one of the five woes Confederation along Monument Avenue, and the only one that belongs to the state.
Four statues belonging to the town lowered in 2020, but the elimination of Lee Statue blocked by two lawsuits to a decision of the Supreme Court of Virginia in September cleared to be dismantled.
Henry, the contractor which lowers the statue, saying all decorative granite has been removed from the site.
Work on the remaining pile of rubble – and the search for the time capsule in 1887 – will continue on Monday.
If all goes well, they will find a much larger box.
It will be made of copper instead of lead.
And there will be 60 items, including an image of President Lincoln in a coffin.
“We will continue to do what we do in a way that is very thorough and professional and safe,” said Henry.
“And we’ll see what happens in a few weeks.”