Celebrate Your Freedom with Fireworks and Festivities at a Bed and Breakfast

The Fourth of July brings parades, patriotism and picnics-in-the-park with people, places and things decorated in red, white and blue. American Historic Inns (AHI) and iloveinns.com have selected bed and breakfasts and country inns for you that are planning special events and offering creative packages.

By Shirley Anitra Swagerty

FRONT-ROW SEATS

Two lawn tickets to Tanglewood for the Independence Day concert and fireworks are included in the package available from Christine’s Bed-Breakfast & Tearoom in Housatonic, near Great Barrington, Massachusetts in the Berkshires.

North Conway Village in New Hampshire holds a weeklong event full of festivities. The five-night package for two at Cranmore Mt. Lodge includes tickets for The Little Engine That Could, three concerts in Schouler Park, a juried artisan show, village sidewalk sale and fireworks on the Fourth.

Grab a chair to sit along the curb and watch the parade while staying at Candlelite Inn. The Fourth of July Committee in Bradford, New Hampshire has planned something for everyone from food to crafts to a midway. At dusk, munch popcorn in the backyard during the fireworks display, rated the third best in the state. Before turning in, indulge in the mouth-watering dessert buffet.

The Richmond Victorian Inn in Richmond, Vermont offers reserved front-row lawn chair seating for their guests and provides lemonade and cookies while the parade with antique cars and colorful floats passes by.

After a musical bandstand and regional foods, chairs are carried from the dining room and the porch down to the street to watch the hour-long fireworks from Inn on Main Street in Weaverville, North Carolina.

The Chatelaine Bed & Breakfast in Pine Grove Mills is restoring an historic flag in time for the Central Pennsylvania Fourth Fest and offers an individually-designed package of choice for a two-night stay. See the fireworks at the Bryce Jordan Center Complex, receive a diner's certificate and VIP seating. Include ballooning, gliding, spelunking and patriotic museum tours.

FROM THE PORCH

A picnic lunch is provided on the porch of The Middlebury Inn, an historic inn right on the village green in Middlebury, Vermont. They also offer a Fourth of July motor coach tour.

The front porch of Holladay House Bed & Breakfast is in the center of the festivities on Main Street in Orange, Virginia as the historic town comes alive with a parade, musical entertainment, a street fair and fireworks.

Inn at the Crossroads in Charlottesville, Virginia will commemorate the July 1907 speech given on the front porch of the Inn by Teddy Roosevelt and the 1936 speech by FDR. As an eight-year-old boy, John Deis attended the speech given by FDR and will be a special guest this year in 2007.

In Banner Elk, North Carolina the local parade features everything from bagpipes to decorated dogs and can be enjoyed from the wraparound front porch of Perry House Bed & Breakfast. The B&B also owns a deli on Main Street with parade seating on the patio with lunch.

Watch the parade pass by with a great view from the huge wraparound porch of The Gables Bed & Breakfast in Cheboygan, Michigan, located right on Main Street. At dusk, there are spectacular fireworks both in Cheboygan and in Mackinaw City, over the Straits, just a short 15-mile-drive away.

Colorful fireworks over Atwood Lake explode in front of your eyes on the porch at Whispering Pines Bed and Breakfast in Dellroy, Ohio. A first-annual picnic with classic American cuisine is included in the price. If you have any room left after build-your-own burgers, side dishes, drinks and dessert you can make your own s'mores out by the fire pit.

Families can safely celebrate with an evening picnic and a great fireworks show from the back courtyard of La Hacienda Grande in the small town of Bernalillo, New Mexico.

ON THE WATER

Stay in the waterfront Gingerbread Cottages in Nice, California or get in your boat and watch the fireworks burst over Clear Lake, the largest natural lake in California and the oldest in North America. Local festivities and parades will be held nearby.

Watch the fireworks over the Mississippi River from Covington Inn Bed and Breakfast in St. Paul, Minnesota, the only floating B&B in the Midwest. Experience the six-day Taste of Minnesota on Harriett Island with free music and lots of food.

Camden Harbour Inn boasts great views over the water, perfect for when the fireworks on the islands are displayed in Camden, Maine. Festive meals created by the executive chef will be served at Natalie’s, the inn’s restaurant.

Indulge in a backyard barbecue at A White Swan Bed and Breakfast in Plymouth, Massachusetts before oohing and aahing at the fireworks on a private beach.

A magnificent fireworks display is held over Chautauqua Lake at The Spencer Hotel in New York. This national holiday is a big event here, with local clubs participating, an orchestra in the amphitheater, parades, food vendors, cruises, games and activities for children and adults.

Descendants of John Hancock, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, owned The Old Bridge Inn in Jeffersonville, Indiana for many years. Watch the morning parade and evening fireworks from the inn or walk to the river.

Picnics, bonfires, a band and fireworks along Lake Huron make the Fourth of July weekend extra special at Sweet Dreams Inn Victorian Bed & Breakfast in Bay Port, Michigan.