This weekend city residents will have a chance to make their mark on history with The Time Capsule pop-up event at the Hudson River Maritime Museum. The interactive exhibit will give viewers a chance to check out the results of a months-long project to collect writings, photographs and artifacts — and make their own contributions — to be included in a time capsule in conjunction with the ongoing refurbishment of the historic Wurts Street Bridge.

The century old span over the Rondout Creek, and the state-funded effort to restore it after decades of neglect, are the subject of ‘The Time Capsule’, a film by documentarians Neville Bean and Robert Vandeweghe. The film covers the history of the steel suspension bridge — which shares architectural DNA with the iconic Brooklyn Bridge, as well as the weighty engineering challenge of restoring it to working condition after it was closed for safety reasons in 2021. The film also looks at the bridge’s place in Kingston’s rich “built inheritance” of historic buildings, where some structures, like the old Post Office on Broadway, fell victim to various urban renewal schemes of the last century, and others, like the historic Burger-Matthews house on Henry Street, have been preserved and repurposed.

“We celebrate the spirit and vision individuals have shown by stepping up and reclaiming Kingston's built inheritance,” the website for The Time Capsule reads. “We are not alone in finding the bridge an intriguing story. There was a groundswell of activism to save the bridge and an increased awareness that our built history is in jeopardy.”

The filmmakers also wanted to pay homage to a mystery uncovered during the refurbishment process — a time capsule uncovered by crews working the base of the span in 2021, 100 years after it opened. There’s no mention of the time capsule in contemporary newspaper accounts of the ribbon cutting and scraps of waterlogged paper were all that was recovered from the metal box. To honor the lost time capsule, and turn the film into a community-wide project, Bean and Vandeweghe conceived of the idea of creating a new one using input from schoolchildren and others. Over the spring, working with the Kingston Public Library, My Kingston Kids photography program and other groups, the filmmakers collected materials to be included in the new — hopefully more durable — message to the future.

That effort continues this weekend at the Hudson River Maritime Museum where interactive workshops will give visitors a chance to make their own contributions of recorded and written messages, worry dolls and more. The event will also feature rides on the Solaris, the museums sun-powered yacht, to check out the underside of the bridge and hear from guest historians discussing the bridge, Kingston’s waterfront and more.

Museum director Lisa Cline said that the time capsule project and film would honor a time when the Rondout was a thriving working class community occupying a critical juncture of the D&H Canal, the Rondout Creek and the Hudson River, while Connolly on the opposite bank, was the home to riverboat captains and other players in Kingston’s riverine economy. The bridge connecting the two communities, Cline said, was emblematic of the time and continues to be a symbol of a rejuvenated waterfront.

“It was an amazingly busy place and the bridge is evidence of that,” said Cline. “It looks like a little Brooklyn Bridge tucked into his little spot over a narrow waterway. It’s just a very special place.”

The Time Capsule event will take place June 17 and 18from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the museum barn at 50 Rondout Landing. It’s free and open to the public. For more info, visit: https://www.wurtsstreetbridgefilm.com/time-capsule