Surrounded by small group of well wishers, flags, clicking cameras, and numbed by the cold. Supervisor Albert Capellini and Bicentennial Committee Chairman Norman Beck buried Yorktown's legacy to the 21st Century, a time capsule, in front of the Railroad Museum in a brief ceremony last Thursday at exactly noon.

The capsule, chocked full of 1976 memorabilia, is slated to be dug up 100 years from now on the occasion of the nation's tricentennial.

The missile shaped, lead capsule had been stuffed with the chosen items an sealed the previous week, and was lowered into an eight-foot deep hole dug by the New York Telephone Company. An ironic note was struck as the capsule made a resounding splash as it hit bottom. The hole was obviously below the water table, and a number of those present could not resist saying that Yorktown's recent water problems made it appropriate for the capsule to be submerged.

Supervisor Capellini made a short statement before lowering the capsule, and Chairman Beck thanked his committee for all their help with the project, and the anonymous donor of the capsule.

Statement by Supervisor Capellini:

"As this Bicentennial year draws to a close, we offer, on this simple site, a modest remembrance of our lives to those Americans of the Twenty-first Century who will honor the Three-Hundredth birthday of this nation. By virtue of its selection, this common ground shall forever be dedicated to the promise of our American heritage. Let us, therefore, on this historical moment in Yorktown's life, give thanks to God for the unparalleled spiritual and physical good we have enjoyed as a people. Let us also pray for the strength and wisdom to remain committed to our ideals so that we and new generations of Americans may be worthy of His continued beneficence."

Plans call for placing a large boulder over the hole, and installing a plaque so that the exact location of the capsule will not be lost.

Included in the capsule' contents are:

Messages from Supervisor Capellini and Beck. The first and recent issues of both The Pennysaver and The Yorktowner. Documents of the Yorktown Bicentennial Committee. Yorktown Police Department memorabilia. Various newspaper articles covering specific bicentennial events. Samples or symbols of products made locally. Editions of the 1976 local telephone directory.

Source: Richard R. Knabel, The Yorktowner, Vol. 11 No. 1, January 6, 1977