Historical preservation experts in Virginia began efforts to open an 1887 time capsule discovered in the pedestal that once held a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee on Wednesday.
Chelsea Blake, a conservator with Virginia’s Department of Historic Resources, began slowly chipping away at the capsule at around 10 a.m., news station WSLS reported.
But efforts were hampered as they encountered corrosion around the rectangular capsule, which is about the size of a large shoebox.
“It appears that the lid was placed on and then there was lead rolled over it to hold it in place and then water got in there and there was corrosion so it’s becoming a little more difficult than it would have been to get on,” said Blake, as she pressed a vibrating tool with a hard metal tip against the capsule.
Crews discovered the time capsule while performing work to remove the pedestal where the Lee statue had stood on Friday.
The time capsule, which is considered an artifact, is believed to have been under the massive bronze equestrian statue of Lee for more than 130 years.
With Post wires
