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Latest: Find the best places
to watch the
Macy's 4th July fireworks display live
streaming here.
Independence
Day 4th July will be marked as ever by the
famous New York fireworks display,
where this year Macy's will have fireworks
being released from six barges in the Hudson
River. New York City has the largest fireworks
display in the country, with over 22 tons
of pyrotechnics exploded. Other major displays
are in Chicago on Lake Michigan; in San
Diego over Mission Bay; in Boston on the
Charles River; in St. Louis on the Mississippi
River; in San Francisco over the San Francisco
Bay; and on the National Mall in Washington,
D.C.
Independence
Day fireworks are often accompanied by patriotic
songs such as the national anthem "The
Star-Spangled Banner", "God Bless
America", "America the Beautiful", "My
Country, 'Tis of Thee", "This
Land Is Your Land", "Stars and
Stripes Forever", and, regionally, "Yankee
Doodle" in northeastern states and "Dixie"
in southern states. Some of the lyrics recall
images of the Revolutionary War or the War
of 1812. Firework shows are held in many
states, and many fireworks are sold for
personal use or as an alternative to a public
show. Safety concerns have led some states
to ban fireworks or limit the sizes and
types allowed. Illicit traffic transfers
many fireworks from less restrictive states.
The Hudson
River is a 315-mile (507 km) river that
flows from north to south through eastern
New York. It rises at Lake Tear of the Clouds,
on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack
Mountains, flows past Albany, and finally
forms the border between New York City and
New Jersey at its mouth before emptying
into Upper New York Bay. Its lower half
is a tidal estuary which occupies the Hudson
Fjord created during the most recent North
American glaciation over the latter part
of the Wisconsin Stage of the Last Glacial
Maximum (26,000 to 13,300 years ago). Tidal
waters influence the Hudson's flow as far
north as Troy.
The river
is named after Henry Hudson, an Englishman
sailing for the Dutch East India Company,
who explored it in 1609. It had previously
been observed by Italian explorer Giovanni
da Verrazano sailing for King Francis I
of France in 1524 as he became the first
European known to have entered the Upper
Bay, but he mistook it for an estuary. The
river was named by Hudson's employers the
North River (with the Delaware River called
the South River) and formed the spine of
the Dutch colony of New Netherland. Settlement
of the colony clustered around the Hudson
and its strategic importance as the gateway
to the American interior led to years of
competition between the English and the
Dutch over control of the river and colony.
Note:
If you're a big fireworks fan, then be sure
to check out the
New York New Year's Eve Fireworks Live Streaming.
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