Washington DC Tours

We gather up the family and head out for a 4th of July picnic of burgers, hot dogs and watermelon, or perhaps something more nouveau and color-coordinated – strawberry salsa, sun-dried tomato and roasted pepper dip, white ceviche, blue corn cakes, blueberry ice-cream and coconut macadamia truffles.

Totally stuffed with picnic fare, we settle in to watch what we know will be a fabulous show in the summer nighttime sky. We stretch out on  blankets, lounge in lawn chairs, take our place in bleachers, lean on riverboat rails and look up, eagerly anticipating the first burst of sound and color.  Suddenly out of the darkness, streaks of gold, green, purple, red, white, or blue shoot up, exploding overhead in spectacular shapes –  starbursts, chrysanthemums, cascades - each ending in golden sparkles drizzling down in glittering rain.  Old or young, cynic or starry-eyed, we are dazzled.  And, as we eargerly anticipate the next rapid-fire surprise we tell each other that this is the best ever.

Year after year, we take part in this purely American ritual:  picnic followed by fireworks, often with stirring music thrown in.  There is a security in sameness.  It’s a way of putting aside our differences, of reminding ourselves of who were are.  It’s about feeling the pride, in unison.  But, why do we celebrate in this particular way?  The really interesting fact is that over two centuries later, we celebrate in much the same way we did soon after our independence was declared on July 4, 1776.

It all started with spontaneous public celebrations as the Declaration of Independence was read out to the public, one community at a time, across the 13 United States of America.  Word of the event didn’t reach everyone all at once as communication was slow, by horseback, carriage or boat.  But, when the news did arrive in cities, small towns, rural burghs, and farm communities, citizens and militia gathered to hear the reading of their Declaration of Independence.  The excitement was spontaneous and celebratory. Muskets fired volleys, often one for every state in the union,  cannons bellowed and belched, church bells called out joyously, and everyone jubilantly shouted “huzzah!”

Ever since, America’s great anniversary festival  has been celebrated in public gatherings, mostly held in her great outdoors – parks, river banks, lakefront  lawns, public squares. Early Independence Day celebrations were filled with patriotic readings and oratories, often delivered by civic or military notables, church bells rang, and in harbor-front cities, ships flying the American flag and colorful streamers fired artillary salutes.  There were parades and processions, stirring music, booming cannons and blasting muskets.

Food was served after the ceremonies, laid out on long tables for all the enjoy, much as we do today.   A favorite early Independence Day food was turtle soup.  Conservation efforts diminished this tradition with veal stew meat becoming a substitute for the popular, rich delicacy.  You can still find the authentic turtle soup (made from farm raised turtles) at Commander’s Palace in New Orleans.

Our penchant for outdoor grilling began early.  Pig roasts were immensely popular in the early 1800s, as was roasting huges sides of beef and oxen.  A favorite early dessert was Baked Indian Pudding, made of milk, sugar, eggs, cornmeal, flavored by molasses, cinnamon and ginger.  And, as early as 1798 in Charleston, ice-cream became wildly popular and the dessert of choice, just as it is today.

In well over 200 years, our celebration hasn’t changed much.  We’ve substituted cannon and musket fire with more picturesque, planned pyrotechnics, put togther with great skill and showmanship.  Our picnic choices have certainly, and thankfully, evolved into something simpler, lighter and summerier!

We gather, as we always have, as citizens.   Our celebrations, big or small, are special and they are uniquely ours.  We flock to celebrate in small-town squares, where families cook out enjoying pot luck dishes and watch fireworks funded by the local Rotary.  We line up by the thousands along the banks of the Hudson River for New York City’s over-the-top Macys Fourth of July Fireworks accompanied patriotic music performed by the New York Pops.

In sultry bayou air, we watch the spectacular Dueling Barges Fireworks Extravaganza from the banks of the Mississippi or on one of many steamboats dancing around each other on the big, ancient river, so long the lifeblood of our country.  We enjoy hot dogs and all the fixings in Charleston’s Patriots Point, a prelude to the fireworks screaming off the flight deck of the aircraft carrier, the USS Yorktown.

Washington D.C., is spectacular on the 4th.  Events go on all day, all around the National Mall, beginning at noon with a parade along Constitution Avenue.  There’s a Folklife Festival at the Smithsonian, celebrations of the signing of the Declaration of Independence at the National Archives, concerts on the Capitol lawn and on the grounds of the National Monument, all capped off by the spectacular 4th of July Fireworks on the National Mall.  The setting is lovely in its simplicity and stirring in its symbolism - our Monuments and Memorials glow white against the nighttime sky as fireworks shooting up from the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool light up the sky directly over the spire of the Washington Monument.

We opt for a simpler version in the Florida Keys.  It’s smaller in scale, but equally as memorable.  In the soft, purple-hued tropical dusk we head out  in our boats to join a flotilla of similar family craft anchored in bays and cuts.  As the sky darkens we are treated to simultaneous shows put on by island communities up and down the coast.  We see them, way off in a distance, diminuitive in size and without the bang as the sound doesn’t travel that far.  It’s quiet on the water and as the fireworks give way to stars in this peaceful setting, the shared family experience is incomparable.

At your venue of choice this 4th of July, enjoy this special time with family and friends, fill up on favorite picnic food, marvel at fireworks bursting in air, get goose-bumps listening to the orchestral fullness of  John Philip Sousa and, just maybe, shout out “huzzah” in tribute to those with the wisdom, the courage and foresight to know what we could be.