50 Fun Facts About Charlottesville

Charlottesville is named after which British queen?

The town was established by an act of the Albemarle County assembly in 1762, when Charlotte was the new bride of George III.

Which two US presidents lived in Charlottesville?

Both commuted to Richmond as governors along the 71-mile Three Notch'd Road; Madison's home, Montpelier, is in nearby Orange.

What was Charlottesville's population at the 2020 census?

Combined with Albemarle County for statistics, the area comes to roughly 160,000 people.

What is Charlottesville's common nickname?

The University of Virginia gives the city an unusually young median age of under 30.

In what year was Charlottesville established by an act of the Albemarle County assembly?

It sat on the Three Notched Road, a trade route from Richmond to the Great Valley that is now US Route 250.

Who was named Charlottesville's first trustee at its founding?

Walker was a physician and explorer who is credited with the first recorded crossing of the Cumberland Gap.

Which Monacan village occupied part of the Charlottesville area before European settlement?

The Monacans were pushed off their land and dispersed as far as North Carolina, Tennessee and possibly Canada.

Who rode 40 miles in June 1781 to warn Jefferson at Monticello of a British raid?

Colonel Banastre Tarleton's cavalry arrived to find the legislators gone; Jouett is remembered as the "Paul Revere of the South".

Which Union general skirmished with Home Guards at Rio Hill, Charlottesville's only Civil War battle?

A year later the mayor surrendered the town to Custer and Sheridan to keep it from being burned.

Which downtown African American neighborhood did the city raze in 1965 as urban renewal?

One hundred thirty homes, five Black-owned businesses and a church were destroyed; the land sat undeveloped until the late 1970s.

Which architect designed Old Cabell Hall at the south end of UVA's Lawn?

Jefferson designed the Rotunda at the other end; the dormitory rooms along the Lawn are reserved for distinguished students.

In what year did Thomas Jefferson found the University of Virginia?

Jefferson had lost faith in his own alma mater, William & Mary, partly because it required students to recite a catechism.

Jefferson modeled the University of Virginia's Rotunda on which ancient building?

Its dome is 77 feet across, exactly half the Pantheon's, and the building was gutted by fire in 1895 before being rebuilt.

Which poet enrolled at the University of Virginia in 1826, the year Jefferson died?

He excelled in Latin during his single semester; the Raven Society still maintains his room, 13 West Range.

In what year did Monticello and the University of Virginia become a UNESCO World Heritage Site?

They are the only such site in the US designed by a former president.

The name Monticello comes from Italian words meaning what?

The house sits on an 850-foot peak in the Southwest Mountains, about three miles southeast of downtown.

Monticello appeared on the reverse of which US coin every year from 1938 to 2003?

Jefferson's portrait is on the front, making it a two-sided tribute to the same man; the Westward Journey designs interrupted Monticello in 2004-05 before it returned in 2006.

Which Italian Renaissance architect's principles did Jefferson follow in designing Monticello?

The most dramatic element is the octagonal dome, whose room was rarely used because it was hot in summer, cold in winter and hard to reach.

Which organization bought Monticello in 1923 and still operates it as a house museum?

Jefferson Monroe Levy sold it for $500,000 after his family had owned and preserved the house for decades.

James Monroe's estate near Monticello, long called Ash Lawn, was renamed what in 2016?

Operated since Monroe's death by his alma mater, the College of William & Mary, the estate dropped 'Ash Lawn' from its name in 2016.

Which famous rock group formed in Charlottesville in 1991?

Dave Matthews was tending bar downtown when a lawyer friend talked him into recording a demo of his songs.

At which Charlottesville bar was Dave Matthews working when he started the band?

Local jazz drummer Carter Beauford and saxophonist LeRoi Moore were his first recruits.

Which instrument did founding DMB member Boyd Tinsley play?

Stefan Lessard joined on bass while still a junior in high school, recommended by UVA jazz director John D'earth.

Charlottesville's Downtown Mall is notable as one of the nation's longest what?

It is home to the Paramount Theater, the Virginia Discovery Museum and the 3,500-seat Ting Pavilion.

Charlottesville's Downtown Mall amphitheater took which company's name in 2019?

Ting became the venue's third telecom naming sponsor in 2019, following nTelos and Sprint.

Which small area a few blocks from the Downtown Mall is the original center of Charlottesville?

Several of its buildings date back to the city's founding in 1762.

What is the name of the commercial strip of bars and eateries along University Avenue next to UVA?

Much of the university's Greek life sits on nearby Rugby Road.

Charlottesville lies along which river, a tributary of the James?

The city sits on rolling hills between the university to its west and the river to its east.

Roughly how far is Charlottesville from Washington, D.C.?

Richmond is closer, at about 72 miles away.

Which two major highways pass through Charlottesville?

I-64 runs east to Richmond and west to Staunton, where it meets I-81.

Which Amtrak long-distance train links Charlottesville with Chicago and New York City?

The Crescent, from New York to New Orleans, also stops at the West Main Street station.

Which scientific institution has its headquarters in Charlottesville?

The city is also home to the Leander McCormick Observatory and the CFA Institute.

Which UVA team won the 2019 NCAA men's basketball championship?

A year earlier they had become the first No. 1 seed to lose to a 16 seed, falling to UMBC.

Which coach led Virginia to its first NCAA basketball title in 2019?

Kyle Guy was the tournament's Most Outstanding Player and De'Andre Hunter went fourth in that year's NBA draft.

Which seven-foot-four Virginia center went first overall in the 1983 NBA draft?

He later teamed with Olajuwon on the Houston Rockets as the original "Twin Towers".

The Charlottesville Tom Sox are a summer collegiate team in which sport?

They won league titles in 2017 and 2019 and play at Crutchfield Park at Charlottesville High School.

The Foxfield Races, held near Charlottesville each April and September, feature which sport?

The Virginia Festival of the Book in March and the Virginia Film Festival in October are the city's other big annual draws.

Which of these events takes place at Monticello every Fourth of July?

New citizens are sworn in on the grounds of the man who drafted the Declaration of Independence.

The Unite the Right rally took place in Charlottesville in August of which year?

Counter-protester Heather Heyer was killed when a white supremacist drove his car into a crowd half a mile from the rally site.

The Unite the Right rally was organized to oppose the removal of a statue of which Confederate general?

The city finally removed the Lee and Jackson statues, and one of Lewis, Clark and Sacagawea, on July 10, 2021.

A 2016 petition to remove the Lee statue was written by Zyahna Bryant, who was what at the time?

Her petition also asked the city to rename the park, which became Emancipation Park and later Market Street Park.

Congregation Beth Israel's 1882 synagogue in Charlottesville holds what distinction in Virginia?

Christ Episcopal Church, the city's first church, was begun in 1820 by builders on loan from Thomas Jefferson.

Which of these novelists has made a home in Charlottesville's Albemarle County?

Movie stars Rob Lowe, Sissy Spacek and Jessica Lange and poet Rita Dove have also lived in the area.

Which of these is one of Charlottesville's four sister cities?

The others are Pleven in Bulgaria, Poggio a Caiano in Italy and Winneba in Ghana.

Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport, eight miles north of the city, uses which three-letter code?

It opened in 1955 with Piedmont Airlines DC-3s; the first jets, Piedmont 727s, arrived in 1967.

Charlottesville closed its white public schools in the fall of 1958 as part of which Virginia policy?

The closures were mandated by the Stanley Plan, which cut off funding to any integrated school.

The Blue Ridge Parkway meets Skyline Drive at the southern entrance of which national park?

The parkway runs 469 miles south from that junction to the Great Smokies in North Carolina.

What share of Charlottesville residents hold a graduate or professional degree, about double the US rate?

The University of Virginia's presence also gives the city a median age well under 30.

On July 10, 2021, the city removed statues of Lee, Jackson and which expedition's leaders?

The Meriwether Lewis, William Clark and Sacagawea statue came down the same day as the two Confederate monuments after years of legal wrangling.

The Charlottesville and Albemarle Railway ran electric streetcars in the city until which year?

Streetcar lines had existed in the city since the late 1880s under various names before being organised as the C&A in 1903.