Chatham seals new time capsule

One hundred years from now, a future generation will open a crypt in the old mausoleum in Chatham’s Maple Leaf Cemetery and find a treasure trove of local history.

On Thursday, a time capsule containing numerous brochures and written histories on local organizations, service clubs, businesses, schools and events, along with several photographs, books and some personal letters, was sealed in the same crypt that was set aside for a time capsule in 1914.

Members of the Kent Historical Society and the Chatham-Kent Cemeteries Restoration Project worked in partnership with the Chatham-Kent Museum and Chatham-Kent’s cemeteries department to put together a new time capsule that will stand the test of time for another century. In keeping with the location, a metal crypt liner — shaped like a coffin — was used as the time capsule.

Dr. Bruce Warwick, who provided 138 photographs, laminated documents, along with an iPhone, for the time capsule, has spent many hours at the Maple Leaf Cemetery volunteering with the C-K Cemeteries Restoration Project helping unearth old tombstones that have fallen and been covered in earth over time.

“We’re very fortunate to be around to see this thing opened in 2014,” Warwick said.

However, now that the work of collecting hundreds of items has been completed and the time capsule has been sealed for another century, Warwick said he feels “relieved.”

Sheila Gibbs, a longtime member of the Kent Historical Society, said she’s fortunate enough to have the three books she has written on local ghost stories included in the time capsule so “people will have another view of local history 100 years from now.

“Maybe they’ll know more about spirits than we know now,” she added.

Now that the time capsule is sealed, Stephanie Saunders, curator of the Chatham-Kent Museum, said the best available information has been sought to ensure the contents remain preserved.

She said it has been packed up “using archival materials that should help sort of buffer absorb anything that’s going on in there.”