The Butler County Historical Society has added a new artifact to its collection: a jar of peaches from the Civil War era.

The two-quart unopened Mason jar with “Patent Nov. 30 1858” on its glass has been a hidden part of the collection of the Butler County Historical Society for more than 40 years.

The original metal screw top, rubber seal and jar are still intact. Locked inside are not only the 159-year-old fibrous remains of peaches floating in a now black sugary syrup, but the story of a promise kept to a Civil War soldier who marched off to war.

The only clue the jar had left behind after being recently discovered by Jennifer Ford, executive director of the historical society, was a small, yellowed newspaper article from the “Central New Jersey Home News” dated Sept. 15, 1927.

With this small but intriguing bit of information, I began uncovering the mystery of a jar of fruit from a long-ago summer and how it had traveled from Milltown, N.J., to Butler.

This is an excerpt from a column by local historian, speaker Bill May that follows the journey of the can of peaches. Pick up Sunday's Butler Eagle to read the full column.