By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter

jevans@thepccourier.com

PICKENS — The public will be able to get a closer look at the artifacts removed from a time capsule buried in 1968 with the opening of a new exhibit at the Pickens County Museum of Art and History.

The capsule buried at the Pickens County Courthouse was opened on Oct. 5 as part of the county’s sesquicentennial celebration.

“All the artifacts from the time capsule that we excavated a couple weeks back will be on display,” tourism director Jay Pitts said.

An event set for 5:30 p.m. Nov. 15 at the museum will kick off the “150

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Days of History” campaign.

“We’re going to celebrate 150 years of Pickens County’s history,” Pitts said.

During the Nov. 15 event, mayors from Central, Clemson, Easley, Liberty, Norris, Pickens and Six Mile will open and read aloud 50-year-old sealed letters from the 1968 time capsule.

A new time capsule will be buried at the Pickens County Courthouse on Dec. 14 following the “Pickens Sesquicentennial Christmas Parade,” set to begin at 7 p.m. that night.

The downtown event is themed “A Hometown Holiday” and is sponsored by the city of Pickens, the Pickens Revitalization Association, the Pickens County Historical Society and county government.

In honor of the sesquicentennial, registration fees for the parade are being waived.

Parade participants are encouraged to dress in period costumes representing 1868 or 1968. The first 1,000 people who dress up will receive a limited-edition commemorative sesquicentennial challenge coin.

All items to be considered for the time capsule must be dropped off at the Pickens County Museum at least two weeks prior to the burial. Items will be evaluated by the Pickens County Historical Society and the Time Capsule Board.

The time capsule is scheduled to be unearthed in 2068.

While they wait for the next 50-year unearthing ceremony, officials want to continue to add new exhibits, artifacts and “new life into the museum,” Pitts said.

“One of the areas we’re going to start to strengthen is what we do here at the museum,” Pitts said.

The museum will be emphasizing more events for children, he said.

“We’re going to focus in on what we do for children,” Pitts said. “I believe that before we send them to Columbia, we need to let them see who we are and what we are.”

Museum staff are developing “a host of educational programs,” he said.

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