Time Capsule Burial Marks Gloucester Township 325th Anniversary

GLOUCESTER TOWNSHIP, NJ — Gloucester Township’s message to the future goes into the ground this weekend.

Gloucester Township will hold a Time Capsule Burial at 1 p.m. Saturday, at the historic Gabreil Daveis Tavern, 500 3rd Avenue. The event will be held rain or shine.

The event commemorates the 325th anniversary since the township’s incorporation in 1695, and the time capsule will be unearthed in 2070.

“We want future generations to know what made Gloucester Township’s community strong, efficient, and so desirable: investing in our youth, economic development, public safety, and environment,” Gloucester Township Mayor David Mayer said. “But also, 50 years from now, we want people to understand what uncertain times we were going through with the COVID-19 pandemic, and how we kept the government operations going and moving forward, what challenges we faced and what obstacles we overcame together, as a community.”

The COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on this event, as it was originally supposed to take place last year.

Items of significance to the township will be buried at the tavern to be dug up by future generations, officials said. The purpose of the Time Capsule is to allow Gloucester Township’s heritage to live on for many years to come.

Local groups, organizations, and institutions were asked to submit items deemed significant to be placed in the Time Capsule. In addition to the items, community organizations were asked to submit a group photo of the organization that included the names of those pictured.

Gloucester Township and Egg Harbor Township were the two towns that made up Gloucester County as of 1683, according to the township's website. Gloucester Township derived its name from the cathedral city of Gloucester on the banks of the River Severn in England.

It further subdivided into four smaller towns, and was one of New Jersey's first townships to incorporate, on June 1, 1695. It became part of Camden County in 1884.

It consists of more than 63,000 people, as of 2019. It covers 23.2 miles of land, with eight primary communities. It is home to the Chew-Powell House, the oldest house in Camden County and one of the oldest buildings in the state. It was built in 1688.

For more information on the time capsule, visit glotwp.com.