Glen Cove’s time capsule for 400th anniversary

During this past May’s commemoration of the 350th anniversary of Glen Cove’s founding, residents celebrated the city’s extensive history with a festival that took more than two years of planning. The success of the event was due in no small part to the 350 Committee, which was responsible for gathering information about Glen Cove’s history to incorporate into the anniversary.
Now, some of those same people are looking to the future, having deposited a time capsule inside a clock in downtown Glen Cove on Jan. 19 to be opened in 2068 for the city’s 400th anniversary. The clock is in front of North Shore Gold & Diamond at 15 Glen St., just 100 feet from the entrance to City Hall.
Dave Nieri, who was a member of the 350 committee, headed the Time Capsule Committee’s efforts to assemble a capsule filled with everything necessary to show future residents what current-day Glen Cove was like. According to Nieri, the assembly was a collaborative effort that he spearheaded.
“I was doing a lot of research last year for the 350 down at the history room,” Nieri said “I looked at it [as if] I was a person interested in history opening a time capsule. What would I want to see to tell me about 50 years or 100 years before?”
“It’s a snapshot of 2018,” he added.

Many documents and photographs gathered by Nieri and the rest of the committee were put into the cylindrical metal capsule. Also included were modern amenities such a smartphone to give future residents a first-hand look at the things we all use today.
The committee members were influenced by past compilations of Glen Cove’s history, including papers from the 200th anniversary in 1868, which had speeches from all of the city’s important dignitaries just after the end of the Civil War. Nieri also found a file about a time capsule from 1968 but couldn’t locate it. In order to avoid this from happening 50 years from now, Nieri provided the city clerk with a detailed file on exactly where 2018’s time capsule is, including its address and GPS coordinates.
Mayor Tim Tenke, saying he appreciated the committee’s efforts, said he is hopeful that they captured an accurate representation of Glen Cove today. Regarding what he hopes future residents of Glen Cove will get out of the time capsule once 2068 rolls around, Tenke said, “I’d like for them to know that we were thinking about them in the future and about Glen Cove’s future.”
Tenke also said that he looks forward to future Glen Covers seeing what life was like while projects such as the construction at Garvies Point and Village Square were still under way. He said that he would also like those residents to see that “…we are excited about everything that’s happening here in Glen Cove [today], and that all of these projects that are going on now will be completed by then. We really hope that Glen Cove will be a much better place.”
For Nieri, the most important part of the time capsule is the possibility that it will inspire future Glen Cove residents to continue to be enthusiastic about the city’s long history.
“I hope [future generations] see that we were appreciative of our history,” Nieri explained, “and that they want to continue to honor the history of what I consider a really unique and fun community.”
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