BOSTON (AP) - Springlike weather fell over the state's first outdoor gubernatorial inaugural ceremony Thursday, as Deval Patrick visited a hospital and went to church before being sworn in as the first black governor of Massachusetts.The governor-elect, who was returning the Corner Office to Democratic control for the first time in 16 years, started his day before dawn, continuing to work on his inaugural speech before making an unpublicized visit to Children's Hospital to visit ailing patients and their families.
"The governor-elect is very big on symbolism, just as he was on Election Day, when he finally spread the ashes of his late mother," said Patrick spokesman Steve Crawford.
Afterward, Patrick was whisked off in a motorcade escorted by State Police motorcycles to an interfaith service at the Old South Meeting House. The multidenominational service featured readings by ministers of various faiths, as well as a variety of music.
"I hope you can feel the joy in this room and the sense of expectation that accompanies it," said the Rev. Peter J. Gomes, a religion professor at Harvard University, Patrick's alma mater. "You can't do what you are about to do on your own. You will need a lot of help."
Gomes also celebrated Patrick for heading up to the Statehouse earlier this week in an unsuccessful effort to lobby legislators to vote against a 2008 ballot question proposing to ban gay marriage in Massachusetts.
"That was a great sign of things to come," Gomes said. "There is more to be done; this is why you have four years."
During a pre-inaugural reception at Union Station in Worcester on Wednesday night, the incoming governor urged Massachusetts citizens to retain the political energy that propelled him from first-time candidate to a 21-point winner on Election Day.
"Tonight and tomorrow, under what are predicated to be glorious and uncommonly fair skies, we will feel the energy and the satisfaction of what we built from nearly nothing over the course of two years," the governor-elect told a crowd of several thousand.
"But I ask you above all, to take a morsel of that feeling and tuck it away, because there will be tough times ahead. Change doesn't come easily to many, but change is what we are about and must be about," added the tuxedo-clad Patrick, who was joined on stage by his wife, Diane, and his running mate, Lt. Gov-elect Timothy Murray.
Murray, who remains mayor of Worcester until Jan. 9, drew a chuckle from his hometown audience when he presented a key to the city to his new boss.
"He has inspired us during the course of this campaign, and I say without reservation he will inspire us as governor," Murray said to cheers.
Patrick was to take the oath of office on a Bible given to John Quincy Adams by kidnapped Africans whom Adams helped free in the Amistad slave ship case he argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1841.
The governor-elect insisted on the outdoor venue both to accommodate more people than could fit inside the building, and to emphasize the inclusiveness of his new administration. It will be the 71st in the history of the commonwealth.
Among those who traveled to Boston for the ceremony was L. Douglas Wilder, who became the first black elected governor when he assumed control of Virginia in 1990. Wilder now serves as mayor of Richmond, Va.
Former Govs. Michael S. Dukakis, the last Democrat to hold the Corner Office, and William F. Weld, who replaced him and began a 16-year run of Republican gubernatorial control, also agreed to attend the ceremony. Former acting Gov. Jane Swift was on hand for the interfaith service.
Afterward, Patrick scheduled a "youth inaugural" at the Shubert Theatre before capping the day with a tuxedo-optional ball at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. The featured musical performer was renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
Over the weekend, Patrick planned to attend five regional receptions or inaugural balls, beginning Friday night in North Andover.
On Wednesday, his predecessor, Gov. Mitt Romney, literally handed over the keys to the Corner Office.
In keeping with the trappings of transferring power, Romney gave Patrick a pewter key to the governor's inner office as well as an 1884 Holy Bible, a set of Massachusetts General Laws and gavel in a box made from timbers from the USS Constitution.
"To serve another person is an honor. To serve a great people has been a great honor. To help another person is rewarding. To help many thousands of people has been immeasurably rewarding," Romney wrote in the Bible. "May God continue to bless the people of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts."
On his way out of the building, he paused to say goodbye to Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, whom Patrick beat in the gubernatorial election.
Romney, 59, walked down the Statehouse steps hand-in-hand with his wife, Ann, shortly after 5 p.m. as supporters stood on the sidewalk along Beacon Street and cheered. As he descended the stairs, he stopped and turned to wave to members of his staff who had gathered on the third-floor veranda of the Statehouse.
The Romneys paused just before the final steps for a thunderous 19-gun salute from canons staged on Boston Common. They walked to a waiting car for the return trip to their home in Belmont.
Romney retained his gubernatorial powers until Patrick was sworn in to office. But symbolically, the Democrats assumed complete control of state government - the Governor's Office, the Legislature and all the constitutional offices - when Romney departed.
An hour earlier, however, Romney filed papers with the Federal Election Commission to form a presidential exploratory committee. Aides said he is planning to seek the 2008 GOP presidential nomination.
AP reporter Jay Lindsay contributed to this report.
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