The website at (
visit link) tells us:
"The Centennial Time Capsule
The Centennial Celebration of Maryland Forestry and State Parks offered us an opportunity to think about future generations and how our environmental stewardship will benefit them. We can also try to envision how they will preserve, protect, enhance and enjoy Maryland’s public lands 100 years from now.
During this 2006-2007 Centennial Year, we prepared a time capsule to be opened in the year 2107. The gifts we choose to send forth to those who will follow will include information and artifacts about the work we do today and our message to those in the future. A century from now, these will be priceless treasures to future generations.
The time capsule is 12 inches wide by 36 inches long. The Centennial Time Capsule, will be placed at Gambrill State Park on July 31, 2007, on the same day Helen Besley Overington, daughter of Maryland's first State Forester, Fred W. Besley, celebrates her 100th birthday.
What’s in the Maryland Forestry and Parks Centennial Time Capsule?
In Hard Form (and no particular order):
Miniature reproduction of a ca. 1950 forest fire truck
Commemorative Centennial baseball from Bowie Baysox vs. Altoona Curve game, July 21,2006, with accompanying handbill
A piece of the Wye Oak, with certificate of authenticity
Robert F. Bailey III’s book Maryland’s Forests and Parks: A Century of Progress
Copies of invitations to and programs for all Centennial plaque dedications
Copies of all Maryland Park Service trail guides from the Centennial year
2006 general guide to Maryland forests and parks
2006 reprint of F.W. Besley’s 1938 booklet Forest Trees of Maryland
Brochure titled History of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Forest Service Wildfire Program
DVD copy of Maryland Public Television’s documentary The Best Days of Our Lives: The Centennial of Maryland State Forests and Parks
Handful of Centennial wooden nickels (hand them out, like we did)
Maryland Park Service uniform shoulder patch with the logo (re)adopted in 2006
Centennial shirt pin worn by all uniformed Maryland Park Service personnel on their uniforms during the Centennial (larger of the two pin types)
Maryland Forestry and Parks Centennial commemorative patch
Maryland Forestry and Parks Centennial civilian commemorative lapel pin (the smaller of two pin types)
Ditto, first run, with “Centennial” misspelled (a collector’s item!)
Copy of Centennial “fast facts” wallet card that was carried by all Maryland Park Service employees during the Centennial year
Copy of The Maryland Natural Resource magazine, vol. 9, no. 2 (Spring 2006) with a special insert on Maryland forest and park history
Maryland Forest Service 2006 Centennial wall calendar
Copy of the 2006 booklet Destination Maryland: The Official Guide to Maryland State Travel, which promoted the Centennial
Copy of Mountain Discoveries issue of fall and winter 2006, with articles on forestry in Maryland
Maryland Park Service “Junior Ranger” and “Park Pals” patches from the 2006 season
Special commemorative badge worn by Maryland Park Service law enforcement officers during the Centennial
Maryland Park Service flag, adopted in 2006
Centennial banner
In Digital Form:
Final report of the Centennial Committee
Committee’s communication plan
2006 Maryland Park Service Operational Plan
2006 Maryland Park Service Interpretive Plan (Connections)
2006 Maryland Park Service Policy Manual
Contents pertinent to Maryland forestry and parks history to 1956 from American Forests magazine issue of October 1956
Contents of the Centennial Web site
Photographs of most Centennial events
Group photograph of attendees at the annual Maryland park managers meeting held at New Germany State Park, November 14-16, 2006
2007 Maryland Park Service personnel directory
2006 Maryland Park Service volunteers’ manual
Minutes and proceedings of the Centennial Committee
Also a nice article about the placing of the capsule at (
visit link) :
The time capsule contains the following message:
Burial of the Centennial time capsule was deferred to July 31, 2007, to coincide with the 100th birthday of Helen (“Holly”) Besley Overington, the surviving child of Maryland’s first State Forester, Fred Wilson Besley. Mrs. Overington was born in the year that her father recorded the deed for the first public forest land in Maryland. Since her wonderful life spanned all but the first few months of forestry and parks’ first century, it seemed appropriate to mark her Centennial with burial of the Maryland Forestry and Parks Centennial time capsule.