The 1976 Time Capsule at the old Gales Ferry School
August 10, 2013
This is an update to a post I wrote here on July 10th. You will find more details about the August 14th event below. Please consider sharing this to help us find former staff and students.
Over three years ago, I saw the first post about the 1976 Time Capsule that was buried at the Old Gales Ferry School in the I Went to Gales Ferry School Facebook Group. Since then there have been a number of mentions of getting people together for the big dig. I offered to help coordinate with the Town awhile back but finding a mutually agreed upon date seemed to be the biggest challenge especially with many members in the group living out of town. I finally decided to press forward. The Mayor’s Assistant, Mark Bancroft and I set the date as August 14 at 6:00PM, a date with absolutely no significance in terms of history. Hopefully we can provide some video for those unable to attend.
The odds of locating the time capsule should be improved by the photos that have been provided including the one below by Kathleen Nestor Owens, who seems to have a good memory of the occasion. The 160 members of the Facebook Page and the over 1000 members of the Ledyard Gales Ferry Community Forum are helping to spread the word . So far we have confirmed attendance from Mr Sharack and Mrs Plotnik as well as lots of former students, and we are still trying to track down a few more. If you are reading this and can help find former GF School graduates and staff, please let us know.
We will be inviting everyone who attends for a tour of the school, now known as Gales Ferry Landing. The business owners who rent space there plan to be on hand for the occasion and there will even be a few raffle prizes!
Mark Bancroft has secured a metal detector and we are keeping our fingers crossed. My only fear is that we end up like Geraldo Rivera with Al Capone's vault. If nothing else, it will be a nice reunion! Thank you to the I went to Gales Ferry Facebook Group who kept the memory live!
This is really neat! Even people who didn't attend this school but live in your community would probably love to attend!
Posted by: Cindi | August 10, 2013 at 04:15 PM
What a great event - I'm excited to attend! Did we all put something in the time capsule? I was in Mr. Sharack's 4th grade class in 1976.
Posted by: Barbara Storti (Crandall) | August 12, 2013 at 07:23 PM
My son had Mr. Sharack too. Looking forward to seeing you there.
Posted by: Linda Davis | August 13, 2013 at 07:20 AM
I remember when the time capsule was buried. If you are standing in front of the school looking towards the road, or away from the school; the time capsule is buried to the right. It is not far from the corner of the green in front of the school.I will be there tomorrow for the dig!!
Posted by: Julie Mazzaia Whipple | August 13, 2013 at 03:48 PM
So glad to hear you are going to be there Julie!
Posted by: Linda Davis | August 13, 2013 at 04:38 PM