14 unique ways to celebrate America’s 250th birthday
By Joe Yogerst, CNN
(CNN) — Fireworks, hotdogs and summer blockbuster movies are Independence Day staples. But this year brings a flurry of unique and alternative events where Americans can come together, put aside our differences, and celebrate 250 years of nationhood.
From coast to coast, the long July 4th weekend will still offer spectacular fireworks shows, against stunning backdrops including Niagara Falls and Mount Rushmore, and parties like Nashville’s Let Freedom Sing event.
Yet the nation’s birthday can also be marked in more unusual and one-off ways that highlight American history, ingenuity and diversity. Here are some of the cool things happening this year:
Sail250
A flotilla of tall ships and military vessels is making its way up the Atlantic coast as part of the summer-long Sail250 event with stops before July 16 at three more cities that helped forge the American nation — Baltimore, New York and Boston.
The sail-rigged tall ships range from massive vessels like Spain’s Juan Sebastian de Elcano and Germany’s Gorch Fock to the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Eagle and Italy’s elegant Amerigo Vespucci (once called “the most beautiful ship in the world”).
In Maryland, Sail250 coincides with the Air Show Baltimore, on June 27 and 28 (with practice on June 26), and flyovers by military acrobatic teams from three nations — the RAF Red Arrows from Britain, the Patrouille de France and the U.S. Navy Blue Angels.
The flotilla will be in New York City July 4-8 with parade sails, tours of the ships and more. Sail250 concludes its tour in Boston in mid-July.
Fresh Views of the American Revolution
Liberty, freedom, equality and revolution are the focus of an innovative exhibit at the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown, Virginia, on the site where the struggle for independence effectively ended with British surrender of October 19, 1781.
Fresh Views of the American Revolution revolves around a dozen paintings by renowned Italian American folk artist Oscar de Mejo, works originally commissioned for the 1976 bicentennial. Blending historical facts and patriotic myths, the works offer a vibrant, playful and sometimes absurd look at events like the signing of the Declaration of Independence and Washington crossing the Delaware. The exhibit runs through August 31.
National Geographic Museum of Exploration
National Geographic storytelling and photography meets 21st-century technology at the $300 million National Geographic Museum of Exploration, which opens June 26 in Washington, DC.
The sprawling, interactive collection features several highlights including wildlife photographer Joel Sartore’s “Photo Ark: Animals of the Earth,” a Rolex Explorers Landing exhibit that traces the history of National Geographic exploration from 1888 through today, and a food hall with dishes from around the globe. There’s also a “Red, White & Blue” exhibit exploring the United States through the colors of the US flag.
Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library
The Obama Presidential Center in Chicago isn’t the only POTUS attraction debuting this summer. Rising above the fabled Badlands, the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, North Dakota, focuses on Roosevelt’s cattle ranching and cowboy days in 1880s North Dakota.
Roosevelt credits that experience with transforming him from a frail, nearsighted youth into a rugged individual who years later would become the 26th president and a pioneering conservationist.
The library lies on the doorstep of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, which preserves the remains of his Elkhorn Ranch and the humble Maltese Cross Cabin where “TR” lived when he first arrived in the Badlands.
The town of Medora is hosting a four-day festival around July 4 to mark the library’s opening and America’s big birthday.
‘What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?’
The Cedar Hill home in Washington DC where Frederick Douglass spent the last 17 years of his life provides an apt setting for the annual reading on July 4 of his most famous speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”
Although born into slavery, Douglass rose to become a leader of the Abolitionist movement before the Civil War and a leading advocate of African American rights after the conflict.
Delivered in Rochester, New York, in 1852, this thought-provoking speech examined the contradiction between “life, liberty and happiness” as outlined in the Declaration of Independence and the continued enslavement of so many Americans.
Gettysburg reenactment
It wasn’t the final act of the Civil War — that would come almost two years later at Appomattox Court House in Virginia — but the Battle of Gettysburg was the 1863 battle that thwarted the most serious Confederate invasion of the North and that shifted momentum to the Union.
A massive recreation of the battle (July 3-5) with hundreds of uniform-clad reenactors takes place every year at historic Daniel Lady Farm, which served as a Confederate field hospital and General Edward Johnson’s headquarters during combat.
The reenactment complements various 250th anniversary events in Gettysburg like a “Revolutionary Reads” book club series that explores the people, conflicts and ideas that shaped the American Revolution (July 9 and August 13); “Voices of 1776: The Diverse Faces Behind America’s Founding” (July 16); and “1776, The Musical” (various dates in July and August).
Big Boy No. 4014
The world’s largest operating steam locomotive is making an epic 250th anniversary journey from Scranton, Pennsylvania, to Cheyenne, Wyoming, with multiple stops along the way.
The Union Pacific Railroad built the massive 1.2-million-pound engine, Big Boy No. 4014, in 1941 to haul heavy machinery used during World War II and renovated it in 2019 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad.
The month-long journey, which begins on June 30, includes public display events in eight cities — including Philadelphia, Buffalo, Chicago and Omaha — and whistle stops in dozens more cities and towns in eight states.
Easton Heritage Day
The eastern Pennsylvania town of Easton was one of only three places (along with Philadelphia and Trenton) where the Declaration of Independence was read out loud to colonists, following its adoption on July 4, 1776.
A reading of the document by the current town crier is the centerpiece of the city’s annual Heritage Day, on July 11, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year as one of Pennsylvania’s most patriotic festivals.
Other events include a parade with fife and drum music, a block party with live tunes and food vendors, plus reenactors playing Ben Franklin, President Ulysses S. Grant, Civil War soldiers and British Redcoats.
The Presidio: Celebrate a Different 250
Founded by Spanish conquistadores in 1776, San Francisco’s Presidio is also celebrating its 250th anniversary this year.
Now managed by the National Park Service, the vast wooded parkland at the south end of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco is marking the occasion on June 27 with a living history program on the Anza Expedition of 1775-76 from Mexico to Alta California that also recognizes events happening in the 13 colonies at the time.
Reflecting the nation’s diversity, the Presidio is also housing the touring exhibit “I Am An American: The Nisei Soldier Experience” about the Japanese American soldiers who served with US forces in World War II (through August 31).
Turning Point Parade
The Turning Point Parade in Schuylerville, New York, on August 2, commemorates the American victory over the Redcoats at the 1777 Battles of Saratoga.
The triumph — which frustrated a British attempt to split the American colonies in half by marching down the Hudson Valley to New York City — radically shifted momentum in the Revolutionary War and encouraged France to enter the conflict as an American ally.
Following the route that British General John Burgoyne used to surrender to the Patriots, the parade features more than 100 units, including marching bands, military veterans, and historic reenactors.
Freedom 250 Grand Prix
The nation’s capital will host its first ever Indy Car race on August 22-23 with top drivers from around the world on a brand new street course.
The Freedom 250 Grand Prix features a 1.66-mile circuit that includes a straightaway and pit lane on Pennsylvania Avenue, a wrap around three sides of the National Archives, two straightaways that shoot across the National Mall, and a back straight along Independence Avenue behind the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum.
Little Learners Pikes Peak Wonders Series
Games, crafts, songs and history challenges for kids ages 3 to 5 and their favorite adults are on offer to celebrate both the nation’s 250th birthday and Colorado’s 150th anniversary since joining the Union.
Offered on the third Thursday of each month, Little Learners Pikes Peak Wonders Series takes place at the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum and features a slightly different theme each time.
Meanwhile, the museum will celebrate Colorado’s 150th on August 1 with a birthday party that includes live music, food trucks and a special Centennial State birthday cake.
Recreating Washington’s crossing of the Delaware
General George Washington and his troops cross the Delaware again. Twice this time! As costume-clad reenactors in this celebration spanning Pennsylvania and New Jersey will make their way across the river in replica wooden Durham boats from Pennsylvania’s Washington Crossing Historic Park.
The first reenactment on December 13 is complemented by a Historic Village with living history programs that demonstrate late 18th century military and civilian life, as well as family activities and food vendors.
The second reenactment takes place on the actual anniversary of Washington’s crossing — a freezing, snowy, gloomy Christmas Day in 1776.
Amtrak Stars & Stripes Collection
Amtrak is celebrating the anniversary of a nation that largely sparked the age of trains with a collection of 23 rail vacations linking iconic routes, cities, sights and national parks.
The journeys that are part of the Amtrak Stars & Stripes Collection include the 14-day “Route 66 by Rail” (which also marks the route’s centennial) between Chicago, Illinois, and Los Angeles, California; a 12-day “Lewis & Clark Trail by Rail” between St. Louis, Missouri, and Portland, Oregon; a 13-day “Founding Fathers by Rail Trail” between Boston, Massachusetts, and Charleston, South Carolina; and an 11-day “Yellowstone to Yosemite by Rail” ramble.
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