50 Fun Facts About Virginia

Jamestown, founded in 1607, holds what distinction?

The Virginia Company of London landed on 14 May 1607; only 60 of 214 settlers survived the 'Starving Time' winter of 1609-10.

Which crop, first cultivated successfully by John Rolfe after 1614, made the Virginia colony profitable?

1619 then brought America's first representative assembly, its first recorded labour strike and the first documented Africans in English North America.

Virginia's colonial assembly, first elected in 1619, was known as what?

It is regarded as the first elected legislative body in the Americas.

Virginia is named after which English monarch?

The 'Virgin Queen' gave her nickname to the colony; the state motto, Sic semper tyrannis, means 'thus always to tyrants'.

How many US presidents were born in Virginia, more than any other state?

Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, William Henry Harrison, Tyler, Taylor and Wilson; Ohio is next with seven.

Which city is the capital of Virginia?

The capital moved there from Williamsburg in 1780; the State Capitol was designed by Thomas Jefferson.

Which is the Commonwealth's most populous city?

Guinness lists it as home to the world's longest pleasure beach, and its Neptune Festival draws about half a million visitors.

Where did the Jamestown settlers first make landfall in April 1607 before moving upriver?

The spot in today's Virginia Beach is marked by First Landing State Park and the Cape Henry lighthouses.

Virginia ratified the US Constitution on 25 June 1788, becoming which state to join the Union?

The Commonwealth had already produced the Virginia Declaration of Rights, written by George Mason in 1776.

Where did Patrick Henry deliver his 'Give me liberty, or give me death!' speech in March 1775?

Henry went on to be Virginia's first and sixth governor and opposed the US Constitution for lacking a Bill of Rights.

Which British general surrendered at Yorktown on 19 October 1781?

Washington and Rochambeau besieged him while de Grasse's French fleet blocked the sea; it was the war's last major land battle.

The state capital served as the seat of which government from 1861 to 1865?

Evacuating Confederate troops burned tobacco warehouses in April 1865 and the fires destroyed a quarter of the city.

In whose parlour at Appomattox Court House did the Confederate commander surrender to Grant on 9 April 1865?

McLean had moved there to escape the war after the First Battle of Bull Run was fought near his previous farm at Manassas.

West Virginia broke away from Virginia and joined the Union in which year?

Lincoln admitted it on 20 June 1863 on condition that its constitution provided for the gradual abolition of slavery.

Loving v. Virginia (1967) struck down state laws banning what?

Richard and Mildred Loving of Caroline County had been convicted under the 1924 Racial Integrity Act; 12 June is now Loving Day.

The Pentagon, headquarters of the US Department of Defense, is in which Virginia county?

Ground was broken on 11 September 1941 and it was finished in about 16 months; it has 17.5 miles of corridors.

Arlington National Cemetery was established in 1864 on land confiscated from which Confederate general's family?

More than 400,000 people are buried there, and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier has been guarded around the clock since 1937.

Which two US presidents are buried in the national cemetery on the former Lee estate?

Kennedy's grave is marked by an eternal flame; astronauts from Challenger and Columbia also rest there.

Jefferson's home Monticello takes its name from Italian words meaning what?

Its west front has appeared on the nickel since 1938, and it shares a UNESCO listing with Jefferson's University of Virginia.

Which US coin has carried an image of Monticello since 1938?

Jefferson is buried on the grounds in a cemetery still run by his descendants.

George Washington's Potomac estate was named after whom?

Washington's half-brother Lawrence named it for Vice Admiral Edward Vernon; a rye whiskey distillery became the estate's most profitable venture.

Which organisation bought Washington's Potomac estate in 1858?

The Mount Vernon Ladies' Association has run the estate ever since; by 2020 more than 85 million people had visited it.

Which philanthropist bankrolled the restoration of Colonial Williamsburg from the late 1920s?

The Reverend W. A. R. Goodwin persuaded him; the 301-acre living-history museum forms the Historic Triangle with Jamestown and Yorktown.

Williamsburg was Virginia's capital from 1699 until which year?

The seat of government moved to Richmond during the Revolutionary War.

The College of William & Mary, chartered in 1693, is the second-oldest US college after which?

Phi Beta Kappa was founded there in 1776 and Jefferson created the nation's first student honour code there in 1779.

Which founding father established the University of Virginia in 1819?

He also designed its Academical Village, part of a UNESCO World Heritage listing with Monticello.

Which is Virginia's official state bird?

Adopted in 1950; the state is one of only two whose state flower and state tree are the same plant, the American dogwood.

Which breed is Virginia's official state dog?

Adopted in 1966; other symbols include the eastern oyster as state shell and milk as state beverage.

Which spirit did Virginia name its official state spirit in 2017?

It is distilled at the reconstructed Mount Vernon distillery; the state fossil is the scallop Chesapecten jeffersonius.

Virginia's tourism slogan 'Virginia is for Lovers' dates from which year?

Richmond agency Martin & Woltz nearly went with 'Virginia is for History Lovers'; the line joined the Madison Avenue Advertising Walk of Fame in 2009.

The Sewells Point installation in Norfolk is notable as what?

Founded on 4 July 1917 at Sewells Point, it hosts some 75 ships along 14 piers and 134 aircraft.

In which Virginia city is NASA's oldest field centre, where the Mercury astronauts trained?

Langley Research Center was founded in 1917 as the nation's first civilian aeronautical lab and runs more than 40 wind tunnels.

Which intelligence agency moved its headquarters to Langley, Virginia, in 1961?

More than a third of Virginians live in Northern Virginia, where federal jobs and data centres dominate the economy.

Skyline Drive runs the length of which protected area along the Blue Ridge?

The 105-mile road was built largely by the Civilian Conservation Corps and FDR opened the park in 1936.

How many miles of the Appalachian Trail run through Virginia's Blue Ridge national park?

Hawksbill Mountain, at 4,051 feet, is the park's highest point, and almost 40% of the park is designated wilderness.

Which peak, at 5,728 feet, is the highest point in Virginia?

The Shenandoah Valley below the ridges holds the state's most productive farm counties.

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, opened in 1964, is roughly how long?

It links Virginia Beach with the Eastern Shore using two mile-long tunnels and four artificial islands, and was built without federal money.

The famous annual Chincoteague pony swim takes place on which day?

The Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company has run it since 1924 and auctions foals afterwards; Misty of Chincoteague made the ponies famous in 1947.

Which 1947 children's novel by Marguerite Henry made the Assateague Island ponies world-famous?

Legend says the ponies descend from a wrecked Spanish galleon, and 2022 DNA evidence gave the story some support.

Which 1676 uprising saw several hundred followers of a Virginia planter burn Jamestown?

The colonial capital was moved to Williamsburg in 1699, partly because of the damage.

Which 1776 document drafted by George Mason influenced the first ten amendments?

Fellow Virginian James Madison went on to draft the Bill of Rights itself.

Which is Virginia's most populous jurisdiction?

The state's population is about 8.8 million, with more than a third living in Northern Virginia.

Which street in the state capital lost its Confederate statues in 2020-22, leaving only Arthur Ashe's memorial?

The last to go, A. P. Hill's, came down on 12 December 2022.

Which two later presidents, along with Jefferson, attended the College of William & Mary?

The school calls itself the 'Alma Mater of a Nation' and is the only US university with a coat of arms granted by London's College of Arms.

Roughly how many people died at the Pentagon on 9/11, including those on Flight 77?

The memorial that opened in 2008 has one bench for each victim.

Which large-scale employer is the biggest in Virginia Beach?

The city also hosts the East Coast Surfing Championships and welcomes some 2.75 million visitors a year.

Which region gives Virginia its 'Tidewater' nickname?

The Eastern Shore is cut off from the mainland by the bay and linked to it by the Bridge-Tunnel.

Besides its 95 counties, how many independent cities does Virginia have as county-equivalents?

Treating cities on a par with counties is unique to Virginia; only three other independent cities exist anywhere else in the US.

Which Virginia county has branded itself 'Data Center Alley'?

Northern Virginia became the world's largest data centre market in 2016 and handles about a third of all internet traffic.

Which Virginian invented the tobacco cigarette rolling machine in 1880?

His invention brought large-scale cigarette production to Richmond, while Huntington founded Newport News Shipbuilding in 1886.