Time Capsule

This building, built in 1881, was originally used as the Lackawanna Railroad Depot for the Town of Vestal. As the local train station, it served as a temporary gathering place where anyone leaving from or returning to Vestal would cross paths. The photographs installed on the windows were printed from negatives created in the early 1900’s by Walter P. Gates, whose photographs are housed in the Vestal Museum’s archives. By replacing the view of contemporary Vestal with Gates’ documentation of the town and its environs, this exhibition encourages the Museum’s visitors to consider the building, objects on display, and town itself as a historical artifact that endures to the present day. As a museum, this building embodies the passage of time inherent to the objects from the past it contains. As a train station, it also contains the passage of time fundamental to travel.