Dear Editor:

Thank you for your very informative and well-written July 2 opinion piece about what now appears to be a phantom opening of the City of Vicksburg time capsule.

When I first wrote about the capsule back in May, I was unhappy that the opening date was to be July 4, as I felt the celebration of the founding of this city should have its own day for such an exciting event.

The date in 2025 had clearly been left up to the citizens of Vicksburg on the marker of the capsule in front of Warren County Court House. However, July 4 — the date of the surrender — was stated on the time capsule for 2076 right beside the city one. To marry the two was very easy for anyone to do, which I am sure many passers-by did.

I finally emerged last Monday from a two-month-plus period of extreme absorption in other historical projects in which time capsules left my mind completely. I remembered again that afternoon. And also that July 4 was just a hop, skip and a jump away.

I had seen no news about it, and worried immediately that the capsule opening was going to end up like too many events in Vicksburg: you find out about it only after whatever it was you’d have liked to attend had already occurred. Happily, this will not occur this year, if your latest information that no one knows what is going on is correct.

The questions that remain are, “Where’s the money and how much is it?” Also, when and if the time capsule will be opened. Perhaps our bicentennial year could build up to a grand opening on December 26, 2025.  

Meanwhile, in this process, your readers and other citizens have been treated to a wonderful unfolding mystery — the best way to generate public interest — and we await with increasing anticipation its ultimate resolution.

 – Bernadette Cahill, Vicksburg, Mississippi