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Boston Globe

Fourth of July celebrations start bright and early in Boston

Led by Mayor Michelle Wu, the procession, including the Middlesex County Volunteers Fife & Drums ensemble, will stop off at the Old Granary Burying Ground, the resting place of Revolutionary War heroes, to lay wreaths on gravesites. Paul Revere, three signers of the Declaration of Independence, and Crispus Attucks, the first colonist killed by British troops during the Boston Massacre, among others, are buried at the site. The reading of the Declaration, formally known as The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, is slated for 10 a.m. from the balcony of the Old State House at 206 Washington St., the same balcony where the founding document was first read to Bostonians on July 18, 1776. Advertisement The Captain Commanding of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts will read the text. The USS Constitution Museum will be open for tours all day and Old Ironsides will set sail at 10 a.m. for its annual voyage from the Charlestown Navy Yard through Boston Harbor to Castle Island. The ship will fire a 21-gun salute when it passes Fort Independence on Castle Island at about 11:30 a.m. Advertisement At 12:30 p.m., the Middlesex County Volunteers Fife & Drums ensemble will take to the Summer Street Stage in Downtown Crossing for a two-hour concert. For those set on snagging the best possible seating for the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular at the Hatch Shell on the Charles River Esplanade, it's best to get there bright and early. The free concert doesn't start until 7 p.m. followed by fireworks at 9:40 p.m., but folks have been known to get in line as early as 6 a.m. According to Tonya Alanez can be reached at