BOSTON - The cannons fired over Boston Common, the fife and drum band played patriotic music on the Statehouse lawn and the masons performed an ancient ritual as a time capsule was interred in the cornerstone of the Massachusetts Statehouse.

The pomp and circumstance on Wednesday mirrored the ceremony that occurred when the time capsule was first buried on July 4, 1795, down to the horse-drawn carriages.

"In Massachusetts, we celebrate our history, and every generation is challenged by it," declared Secretary of State William Galvin.