Fireworks Pay Tribute to City's History

As a New Englander, I have seen my share of awesome fireworks shows on the Fourth of July that ranged from the Boston Pops' concert over the Charles River Esplanade to displays in small towns throughout the region.
But I believe Portsmouth's Fourth of July fireworks, which are scheduled to burst across the city sky high over South Mill Pond on Wednesday night, are among the best because they celebrate the city's rich history and spirit of liberty that is now going on 237 years.
The city's fireworks display is held in the same place where John Paul Jones spent a few years while he was waiting for his ship, The Ranger, to be built at what is now Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. Downtown is the Moffatt-Ladd House where William Whipple, an original signer of the Declaration of Independence, lived during the Revolutionary War.
At Strawbery Banke Museum where 125 new Americans will have the oath of citizenship administered by Gov. Maggie Hassan on Thursday morning, George Washington and President Barack Obama both spoke to Portsmouth area residents.
Nearly everywhere one walks in downtown Portsmouth, they are confronted with the city's rich history. At Fort Constitution in nearby New Castle, some believe that Portsmouth area patriots actually started the Revolutionary War when they overpowered the British soldiers that stood guard over the former Fort William and Mary in 1774 and took the gun powder and ammunition that was stored there several months before Paul Revere made his famous ride and the shot heard round the world was fired at the Battle of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775.
A few miles away off of Sagamore Avenue lies the Wentworth-Coolidge Mansion where New Hampshire's last Royal Gov. John Wentworth once lived before the Revolution forced him to head back to England. A few miles south of Portsmouth, New Hampshire's original signed copy of the Declaration of Independence can be viewed at the American Independence Museum in Exeter, which served as New Hampshire's capital city before Concord.
While many cities and towns throughout New England have their share of history related to the nation's birth on July 4,1776, Portsmouth's cup of patriotism clearly runneth over.
So when we watch the fireworks burst in red, white and blue across the night sky over South Mill Pond, we will once again pay tribute to all of the Portsmouth area's men and women who helped achieve America's independence so that subsequent generations can continue to preserve it.