At 10 a.m. on Tuesday, August 8, the City of Orlando opened a time capsule that had been found within a Confederate statue, that had been removed from Lake Eola. More on the move HERE.
The City’s Historic Preservation Officer, Richard Forbes, was on hand to open the box in front of a select group of onlookers; including our friend Jenny De Witt from the Townie Tourist, who shared a Facebook Live video stream on our page of the entire event. Click the video above to watch.
Once opened, the Forbes removed a surprising number of items from the capsule, including:
- Confederate Currency – a $10 and a $50 note
- A pair of Confederate flag cufflinks
- Miniature rebel flags, cocktail size
- Photo of Robert E. Lee
- Copy of minutes from local chapter of Daughters of the Confederacy
- Copies of a 1911 edition of the South Florida Sentinel as well as the Daily Reporter-Star and the Orange County Citizen.
The photo of Robert E. Lee that was found in the box was in complete disrepair and fairly unrecognizable. Pam Schwartz of the Orange County Regional History told Bungalower that the image was actually a print of an original, which is stored at the Orange County Public Library. Schwartz sent us a digital copy of that image, which she pulled from The Confederate Veteran publication, which used to sell photo prints of the life-size oil painting in two separate sizes.
Schwartz believes that it’s highly likely that the Annie Coleman chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy purchased their print from this publication. Scroll down to read more about the image, straight from the magazine itself.
The statue was erected in 1911 on Magnolia Avenue before being dubbed a traffic hazard and being moved to its prior home in Lake Eola Park in 1917.
Editor’s Note: An article in the Sentinel advertised a chicken-and-waffle supper, an answer perhaps to Orange County’s search for Orlando’s Signature Dish.
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