Search for relics using radar inside the walls of a historic Reading church yields promising results

Yahoo

17-12-2024

The search for relics inside the walls of a historic Reading church has all the earmarks of an Indiana Jones adventure.
And there was an edge-of-the-seat excitement Monday afternoon when work crews used a radar device to scan the red sandstone exterior of Christ Episcopal Church at Fifth and Court streets.
What church officials had hoped to discover was the location of a time capsule that was embedded into the wall of the church during a rededication service in 1863 that could become a centerpiece of the church's bicentennial celebration in 2026.
When Ken M. Saul Jr. of Restoration Artisans LLC of Kutztown was doing exterior restoration work in 2021, he found an anomaly in the front wall of the church.
'While we were doing the work, I noticed these stones were in a really unusual pattern,' he said.
Cliff Buckwalter, a member of the church property committee, had recalled an old newspaper clipping from the 1863 rededication service of the church, and they both wondered whether a time capsule could be located within that wall.
The image from the ground-penetrating radar system shows a metallic object in the wall of Christ Episcopal Church at Fifth and Court streets. (BILL UHRICH – READING EAGLE)
A Reading Times story from Sept. 8, 1863, tells of the fate of the first time capsule that was constructed of tin and found inside the original 1826 cornerstone of the church when it was removed for the reconstruction. All that remained were a few coins with 'the other contents having mouldered away.'
For the newer time capsule, the article states that the original coins were carefully placed back in with the addition of other coins reflecting the 1863 date along with a copy of the Holy Bible and the Book of Common Prayer.
Other items enclosed included 'a sheet of parchment specially prepared, with a red and black border beaded — 'Christ Church, Reading, Pennsylvania, 1863' in beautifully engraved German text.' The rest of the parchment bears the names of the church officials, the architects and builders.
Rounding out the contents were newspapers that included a history of the church and various other ephemera on the government of the state and the city along with the by-laws of the church.
In hopes of better preserving the contents, the article notes, 'The whole was enclosed in a box manufactured of copper, and hermetically sealed.'
How well the copper box preserved the contents will be seen when the box is removed and opened in time for the church's bicentennial celebration scheduled for May 10, 2026.
For Andrew Machemer of Ground Penetrating Radar Systems in Aston, Delaware County, this was the first time he used the radar to find an object like this embedded in a wall. He usually works with utility and construction companies to locate pipelines and other underground utilities.
'I can't tell you exactly, but we've got good evidence that suggests there's some type of metallic object inside,' he said after scanning various parts of the wall. 'The fact that we don't have any rebar in the wall that we know of would indicate that we do have an object inside the wall.'
For Saul, the findings give him a good place to start to excavate in the wall.
The readings indicate that there's a 4-inch slab of stone behind which is the box that the radar estimates at around 6 by 10 inches, he said.
Andrew Machemer of Ground Penetrating Radar Systems, right, shows the results of his scans to Cliff Buckwalter, a member of the Christ Episcopal Church's property committee. The image from the ground penetrating radar system shows a metallic object in the wall of Christ Episcopal Church at Fifth and Court streets. (BILL UHRICH – READING EAGLE)
The Rev. Bryce Wandrey, rector of the church, is looking forward with the congregation to the bicentennial and to the revealing of the contents of the box.
'It will be a celebration not only of our past, but propelling us even more into our future and being a better resource to downtown Reading,' he said as he watched Machemer operate the radar.
Wandrey said the congregation has been energized by the current restoration efforts in the church and will be carrying that energy through to the bicentennial.
'I know they're excited to put together a time capsule now,' he said, 'so in 2226 somebody can open it up and go, what was going on in 2026?'
The Reading Times story reflects the unease of the city and the congregation as the nation was in the midst of the Civil War, but the placement of the copper box within the walls had offered a sense of renewed hope.
'Such were the historic records deposited,' the article concludes, 'connecting the past and present, reminiscences of the structure so appropriated to the service of Him, who dwelleth in a temple not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.'