When most people think of the 4th of July , everything from fireworks and the colors red, white, and blue to barbecues and the beach immediately pop to mind. Even if you're not a history buff, you probably know that it is today we commemorate the signing in of the Declaration of Independence, which took place July 4, 1776 . But there are several little-known facts about the famous holiday that you probably never learned in school. Here is a small sampling of them: 1. Only two individuals actually signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4 : John Hancock, who is best known for his large and elaborate signature on the document, and Charles Thomson, secretary of the Continental Congress. Most of the others didn't sign it until August 2. 2. Not everyone agreed with celebrating the country's independence on July 4 , the day Congress approved the Declaration. John Adams, who would go on to become the second President of the United States, wished to celebrate ...

On this day in 1693, The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, received its charter, thereby becoming the second institution of higher learning in the United States (after Harvard University). The original plans for William & Mary stretch back to 1618 -- decades before Harvard -- but were tabled by an "Indian uprising." James Blair traveled to Britain to advocate for a college on behalf of his fellow Virginians. On February 8, 1693, King William III and Queen Mary II of England signed the charter for a "perpetual College of Divinity, Philosophy, Languages, and other good Arts and Sciences" to be founded in the Virginia Colony. Just like that, William & Mary was born. Workers commenced construction on the Sir Christopher Wren Building, then known as the College Building in 1695, before the town of Williamsburg even existed. Over the next two centuries, the Wren Building would catch fire on three separate occasions, each time being re-...