Celebrating America's 250th in the Nation's Capitol with Illuminations in the Sky

Beginning at 11:59 PM on July 4th, 2026, an enormous fireworks show was displayed over Washington, DC.

While taking a momentary and much-needed break from my current doctoral work, my wife and I watched the festivities (which simultaneously included fireworks over National Harbor, Maryland that we could also witness) from across the Potomac in Arlington, Virginia.

Incredibly, two separate lightning storms were gathering on either side of us as the show went on. The rare moments of reprieve from explosions in the sky were intermittently replaced with claps of thunder and random lightning strikes that lit up the entire sky, almost as if it was a planned part of the demonstration.

For one last bit of strange serendipity, the very moment the show was over, rain began to pour down on us watching from across the Potomac at Long Bridge Park in Arlington. The drops began light during the final minutes, but within seconds of the last set of explosions, the rain began to pour down on us. The entire scene was surreal for its timing.

As the two of us, as well as much of the crowd, quickly walked from the park to the Crystal City Metro stop to begin our trek home at approximately 1:00 AM, the heavens rained down on us relentlessly. Regardless of the wetness and the eighty-five degree weather (which was a miracle, as it had been about a hundred degrees the night before), everything seemed intentional to the experience.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Independence Day/250th. It was a very welcome and needed respite for yours truly before I return to my historical work very soon.

-JMM

[James M. Masnov is a Columbian Distinguished Fellow at George Washington University’s History Department in Washington, DC. He has been a scholar at the Institute for Constitutional Studies and a contributor at Pure Insights, the Brownstone Institute, Armstrong Journal of History, and the Oregon Encyclopedia, among other publications. His books include Imperfect Vehicles, available here, Rights Reign Supreme: An Intellectual History of Judicial Review and the Supreme Court, available here, and History Killers and Other Essays by an Intellectual Historian, available here. The founder of History Killers, now celebrating over five years of publishing, he is also the founder of History is Human: A Journal of American Intellectual History.]

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