Search will resume as officials say three water-damaged books, envelope and coin were left as a ‘vanity project’ by stonemason

  • Crews working to remove the pedestal where a Confederate General Robert E. Lee statue thought they found a time capsule that was buried there in 1887 
  • Instead, the box seems to have been placed by the stonemason that built the structure, and was characterized by historians as a ‘commemoration capsule’
  • The shoebox-sized container held a coin, a cloth envelope, printed letters and three water-damaged books, including an 1875 statistical manual 
  • The envelope contained an image of a man, with the words ‘James Netherwood master stone mason’ written on the back 
  • ‘They decided to have a little vanity project,’ said Dale Brumfield, a local historian who characterized the find as a ‘commemoration capsule’ 
  • Now, workers will continue their search for the famed 1887 time capsule, which is rumored to contain a photo of Abraham Lincoln in his coffin    Â