Virginia workers find 2nd time capsule at Lee statue site theweek.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theweek.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Workers will continue to look for a famed 1887 time capsule containing a photo of Abraham Lincoln on his death bed, placed under a now-removed statue of Robert E. Lee in Richmond Virginia.
A team of historians opened a 19th-century time capsule placed in the pedestal of where a Robert E. Lee statue once stood in Richmond, Virginia, Wednesday afternoon and found an 1875 almanac among its contents.
confederate general robert e. lee in richmond, virginia. it was uncovered friday morning months after this historic moment in september. [ cheers ] crews dismantling the statue s base found what appeared to be a copper box as described in the richmond dispatch back in 1887. the list of articles in the copper box was said to include dozens of items, including a battle flag, compass, 12 copper coins, even a picture of former president lincoln lying in his coffin. but it turns out this capsule was made of lead, heavily corroded and partly covered in mortar. the box itself is an artifact, so they had to take care to preserve that too. using tiny spatulas, tongue depressors and. a tool that vibrates and has a hard metal tip that is much more easily controlled. it s good for getting the mortar separated from the lead. reporter: finally, late this afternoon, the time capsule was unlocked.
Conservators in Richmond, Virginia (pictured at left) began meticulously chipping away at 1887 time capsule (bottom right) Wednesday after it was unearthed last week