The Oldest Time Capsule In American History Was Just Opened - Here's What's Inside

Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, and William Scollay buried a time capsule in Boston more than 200 years ago, and right now we're finally seeing inside.

Opening up the capsule took more than four hours because of some difficult screws on its top, according to CNN.

"Tonight is a new chapter in a story that began in 1795," Malcolm Rogers, director of Boston's Museum of Fine Arts told CNN.

The capsule has been unearthed once before, in 1855 while repairs were being made to the State House. It was then put back in its place and left there, the State House News Service notes.

Guardian Reporter Alan Yuhas helped us see the mysteries inside:

Here are a couple photos of workers digging the time capsule out of the state house back in the middle of December:

Old time capsules have been seen in Boston before.

Earlier this year, crews doing restoration work in the old State House, which is now a historical museum, found a time capsule from 1901 hidden beneath statues of a lion and a unicorn. The capsule contained letters, photographs, and newspaper articles in mint condition, according to NECN.

Back in the 18th century, the old State House was "the center of Boston 's civic life" and "the scene of some of the most dramatic chapters in the lead-up to the American Revolution," according to The Bostonian Society.