The U.S. national holiday has been celebrated on every continent, notes James R. Heintze, American University librarian emeritus and author of The 4th of July Encyclopedia.

"In 1934 Richard Byrd was in Antarctica at his base Little America," Heintze said.

"He and his men set off fireworks in a storm when the temperature was actually quite warm for them—33 degrees below zero [-34 degrees Celsius]," Heintze said.

Such 4th of July festivities are as old as the United States itself.

In 1778, while George Washington celebrated the 4th of July with his troops in Princeton, New Jersey, Benjamin Franklin was in Paris, throwing a party for expat Americans and French elites.

Feting the U.S. was only