This notice, placed in a time capsule destined to be opened on July 4, 1976, in Sandwich, advertises the "Greate Concerte" held at Town Hall in March 1876. The two-day concert, featuring Auld Lang Syne and The Star Spangled Banner, was part of the town's year-long Centennial celebration. The notice and most of the other items packed into the Centennial Box capsule are in the Town Archives. COURTESY OF THE SANDWICH TOWN ARCHIVES When history buffs plan our share of a big natio

From the junction of Water and Main streets in Sandwich Village, you can see five centuries. But for the 250th birthday of the United States this year, let's put on spectacles that filter out all those centuries but the revolutionary 18th. Across town, we have spaces, homes, taverns, historic cemeteries and historical institutions that show us how lucky we are to live right here right now for this national party. Most of the United States has no such physical legacy of the Re

Sandwich has celebrated historic birthdays so often you’d think we’d be short on candles. For at least a century and a half, big civic parties have marked the births of the town, the county and the nation. But like an Olympic torch passed from runner to runner till it reaches the cauldron, each generation picks up the flame where the last one left off. We’re about to take on that collective challenge again as the town participates in the 250th birthday party of the United Sta

The creators of Sandwich's Centennial Box didn't have an instruction manual in 1876 when they launched one of America's first time capsules on a 100-year voyage. Their wood-and-tin box looks as crude to us as the Mayflower or a Mercury spacecraft. But like those other pioneering voyagers, it delivered the goods. On July 4, 1976, the 200th birthday of the United States, town leaders opened the lid and fulfilled the 19th century community's wish to link generations. In this sec

When Russell A. Lovell Jr. first saw the contents of the newly opened Sandwich time capsule on July 4, 1976, he berated its chief packer, Charles C.P. Waterman. Then the Sandwich historian spent the rest of the year studying, displaying and writing about Waterman's century-old selections. The more Lovell looked into the Centennial Box, the more he saw. Though he still had complaints, Lovell's Dec. 30 wrap-up article in the Village Broadsider newspaper included this phrase: "M

While attending Salem State University for my undergraduate degree in public history, I was fortunate to secure an internship in the...