Last week, we went back to 1876, when Monsey residents marked America’s Centennial by burying a carefully prepared time capsule beneath Haring’s Grove. This week, the story moves forward a full century later to 1976, as that very capsule becomes the center of a major Bicentennial ceremony when Monsey gathers once again to finally bring its hidden past back into the light.

By 1976, America was preparing to celebrate its Bicentennial, marking 200 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

For many Americans, the anniversary carried deep meaning. The United States had survived two centuries filled with political turmoil, national crises, and even the Civil War, which at one point nearly tore the country apart.

The celebration also came at a difficult moment in modern American history. Just one year earlier, the United States had withdrawn from Vietnam in a painful and humiliating end to the war, and much of the country was eager for something more hopeful and unifying. Across America, patriotic parades, ceremonies, and public celebrations were organized as the Bicentennial reignited a sense of national pride after years of declining morale.

But in Monsey, the excitement carried an added layer of anticipation.

As residents already knew from the story passed down for generations, Monsey had buried a time capsule exactly 100 years earlier during America’s Centennial celebration in 1876. Now, for the first time in a century, the hidden treasure was finally about to be reopened.

For several years leading up to the event, local newspapers had been building excitement about the historic moment. Articles speculated about what might still remain inside the capsule and whether any of the buried objects could possibly have survived underground for an entire century.

On Sunday afternoon, May 16, 1976, large crowds gathered once again at Haring’s Grove near the corner of Grove Street and Saddle River Road. Senators, congressmen, local officials, historians, and residents all came to witness the reopening ceremony. The sky was overcast, and a light rain fell over the gathering.

The special Bicentennial Committee overseeing the event wanted to recreate the spirit of the original 1876 ceremony as closely as possible.

Flying above Haring’s Grove was an American flag with only 38 stars, matching the number of states that existed in the Union at the time the original capsule had been buried.

Because none of the original organizers were still alive to identify the exact location of the buried treasure, the committee had actually begun excavation work months earlier. Workers reportedly spent nearly an entire day digging before finally discovering the capsule hidden underground.

The treasure turned out to be a lead box measuring roughly ten by twelve inches, sealed tightly inside a larger stone container.

During the public ceremony, workers symbolically “reopened” the excavation site before carefully lifting the stone vault from the ground using heavy equipment. Inside, the lead box remained hermetically sealed exactly as it had been placed there a century earlier.

The capsule was carried through the cheering crowds and brought onto a platform, where members of the Monsey Lions Club carefully sawed it open before the public.

Because of the rain, the capsule and its contents were quickly transferred into the nearby Monsey Fire Department building.

The fire station itself represented another chapter of Monsey history. Back in 1876, Monsey had no organized fire department at all. The station was only built decades later after a devastating fire swept through Main Street in the early 1900s, rapidly spreading from building to building and causing enormous destruction throughout the town. The department still operates from the same location today, although the structure has since been expanded.

Inside the station, descendants of the original residents who buried the capsule began carefully removing the artifacts and placing them into display cases for the public to see.

Historians and collectors, including experts in coins and postal memorabilia, closely examined each item as it emerged from the century-old container.

The very first object removed from the capsule was a straw hat, a fitting symbol of old Monsey, whose straw hat manufacturing industry had once been one of the town’s defining businesses.

Soon afterward, many other remarkable artifacts were uncovered, including antique stamps and coins dating back to America’s founding era.

Among them was a silver half dollar accompanied by written instructions stating that it should be presented to the oldest living man in Monsey when the capsule was reopened.

The treasure also included Erie Railroad tickets, photographs, a parchment list containing the names of Monsey residents from 1876, maps of the local roads, business advertisements, and newspapers from Rockland County and Ramapo covering the original Centennial celebration.

To the amazement of those present, the lead container had preserved the contents extraordinarily well. Even the newspapers showed almost no fading despite having spent 100 years underground.

Perhaps the most major artifact discovered inside the capsule was a fragment of a flag reportedly carried by General George Washington during his famous crossing of the Delaware River before the surprise attack on British forces in Trenton, New Jersey, one of the decisive battles of the Revolutionary War.

Another extraordinary item was a copper button from the Revolutionary War uniform of Arthur Paul, a close associate of Washington and a Monsey resident.

In a remarkable coincidence, Arthur Paul’s own descendant happened to be the oldest living resident of Monsey in 1976 and therefore became the recipient of the historic silver half dollar that had been waiting underground for a full century.

According to newspaper reports at the time, the Revolutionary War button alone was estimated to be worth nearly $1,000 in 1976, equivalent to several thousand dollars today.

The capsule gave the people gathered a rare chance to look directly into the lives of the Monsey residents who came before them.

Rockland Daily’s “Unearthing the Past” series will continue exploring the people, places, memories, and hidden stories connected to Monsey’s historic time capsule, preserving the history that helped shape Monsey into the town it is today. As 2026 marks 50 years since the 1976 reopening, Monsey is once again drawing closer to revisiting that historic moment.