By Patti Silva & Abbe Laboda / www.miltonville.comLast month, during the making of an extended oral history project at Hopewell Baptist Church, Patti Silva and Abbe Laboda of MILTONville.com met Mr. Hugh Winton Bell, born in 1922, and his beautiful wife Louise. Original Miltonians, they both attended The Hopewell School, which has long been vacant since the seventies, and is now under private ownership. During our history lesson with Mr. Bell, he revealed to us that his class created a time capsule filled with personal trinkets and various items holding no monetary value, but sentimental value, especially to Mr. Bell. He said he knew exactly where it was located. We offered to take him to the property and try to figure out a way to obtain permission to excavate the capsule and open this wonderful piece of history. Mr. Bell's thought was to return the items to the respective families. Keep in mind that there is only one other person left alive who placed items in the time capsule. It is one wish from an elderly southern gentleman, how could we not help fulfill it.
Through the community's help, we were able to find the the new owner's phone number and the contact information of the demolition company that would raze the historical building. Within 24 hours we took the Bells to the property and photographed Mr. Bell with the beautiful history filled time capsule secretly hidden behind the cornerstone of the old school. We made plans to meet the demolition crew 2 days later, after they obtained the proper permits, for an informal unveiling of the anticipated time capsule. We were on on way to uncovering a piece of Milton's history, or so we thought.
In the middle of the night, the owners of the property secretly removed the time capsule. When we discovered this the next morning, we contacted the owner to ask him if he would meet with Mr. Bell so that Mr. Bell could simply look through it and take home the item in which he buried so long ago. The new owner said it was his property, having been on the property, when he purchased the land. We tried connecting the two gentlemen together by exchanging their phone numbers and urging the new owner to contact Mr. Bell for pure humanitarian sake. As of this writing, no advancements have been made and MILTONville wants to help Mr. Bell.
We are hoping one of the local papers picks this up and and initiates some simple investigative reporting in uncovering the rest of the story. To whom does the Time Capsule belong - the new owners or the original people who placed items in the capsule? We know the answer but doesn't a 85 year old man deserve the right, if not just a simple act of kindness and courtesy, to see what he and his classmates buried so long ago? It has been rumored that there was a Bible in the capsule. Doesn't that family deserve to have it back? What are the new owners going to do with the items? What would you do? We remain optimistic that the contents will one day get back to the families that put them there in the first place. We have hopes that the new Hopewell Community and the residents of Milton will one day see what's inside. And, the rest will be history.
2 comments:
Ghastly shame! Who is the bloke that won't let this man "see" the items which were buried long ago! Oust his name so he can be scoffed!
Sad to hear this.
To anonymous: Are you a Brit or an Aussie? Just kidding(smile).
As we told Magnolia Media, we have no reason to believe the owners aren't good folks but just not overly concerned about this piece of history. I contacted the Bell's yesterday, and still no word from anyone.
We believe our community is interested in what's inside, it's educational for our children, but most important, we want to make good on our promise to help a man like Mr. Bell. If you ever have the opportunity to meet him and Mrs. Bell, you'll understand our commitment to them, to the Hopewell Community - and the community of Milton as a whole.
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