ABC, National Geographic unveil America’s seven natural wonders for July 4 event

ABC will open its July 4 coverage at 10 p.m. ET on Friday, July 3, with a Statue of Liberty segment tied to the Consulate General of France before a special three-hour "Good Morning America" leads viewers into the reveal of "Seven Natural Wonders of America." The package turns a holiday broadcast into a question of cultural authority: which places make the cut when a media brand decides what counts as one of America’s wonders.

The 24-hour "Disney Celebrates America" broadcast will run through Saturday, July 4, 2026, with ABC News anchor David Muir leading coverage across ABC, Disney+, Hulu, National Geographic, FX, Freeform, ABC News Live, ESPN and ABC Owned Television Stations and affiliates. ABC is framing the effort as a company-wide celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary, and the scale is clear in the platform list alone, which stretches from broadcast television to streaming and cable.

National Geographic and ABC News will unveil the new seven-site list between now and July 4, but the broader project behind it is much larger. National Geographic says its "Wonders of America" project spans all 50 states and five major territories, a wider map than the top-seven reveal and a reminder that any short list is an act of selection as much as celebration. In practice, the comparison is the point: a country this large can be packaged as a handful of signature places, and holiday television depends on that compression.

ABC’s July 4 schedule also leans hard into spectacle and place. The network says coverage will begin with a landmark event at the Statue of Liberty, continue to the first parade in the nation in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and build toward the Nashville Star-Spangled Bash, where one of the largest fireworks and drone shows in the United States will be set to a live score by the Nashville Symphony. ABC says the Nashville event is expected to draw hundreds of thousands.

The broader celebration includes a primetime special, "Disney Celebrates America: The Pursuit of Happiness," built around stories of American innovation, culture and history, and ABC says the July 4 programming pays homage to its 30 hours of continuous Apollo 11 coverage in 1969. With a French-linked Statue of Liberty opening, a Tennessee parade, a Nashville finale and a seven-wonder reveal in between, ABC and National Geographic are not just naming landmarks. They are defining patriotism through a media-curated geography of icons, destinations and tourist-ready spectacle.