Also see Specific Destinations, Travel and Location Humor.

Page Toppers

• Somewhere in Virginia in the Rain
• Sweet Virginia Breeze
• Vacation in Virginia
• Virginia Bound
• Virginia Moon
• Where the South Begins

Quotes

• Across the river was the town of Austinville, small and pleasant. (Noah Adams)
• At sunset on the New River at Radford the gold light flickers through the trees and gleams off the water. The settlers' accounts, from this region, speak of the "pale green light" in the land they called the Great Forest. (Noah Adams)
• Thickly planted with trees, Charlottesville in its natural bowl appears as an immense many pavilioned garden. (WPA Guide to Virginia, 1940)
• The town was prosperous through the wars but lost its high school in 1953 and then the elementary school, and when the last big plant shut down, the vines started growing over Ivanhoe. (Noah Adams)

Virginia Symbols

• Nicknames: The Old Dominion State; Mother of Presidents (8 presidents were born in VA); Mother of States; Where the South Begins
• Virginia is for Lovers
• Motto: Thus Always to Tyrants
• Song Emeritus: Carry Me Back to Old Virginia (words and music by James A. Bland)
• Folk Dance: Square Dance
• Dog: American Foxhound
• Bird: Northern Cardinal
• Fish: Brook Trout
• Insect: Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly
• Tree: Flowering Dogwood
• Flower: American Dogwood
• Shell: Oyster Shell
• Fossil: Chesapecten jeffersonius
• Beverage: Milk

Facts About Virginia

• Capital: Richmond (was also the capital of the Confederacy)
• Residents: Virginians
• State Name Origin: named after Queen Elizabeth I of England (known as the "Virgin Queen")
• Admitted to Statehood: 25 Jun 1788
• Order of Admission: 10th state
• Coastline/Shoreline: 112/3,315 miles
• Length: 430 miles
• Width: 200 miles
• Area: 42,774 square miles
• Size Rank: 35
• Number of Counties: 95
• Streams and Rivers: 49,350 miles
• Geographic Center: 5 miles SW of Buckingham in Buckingham Co.
• Mean Elevation: 950 feet
• Highest Point: Mt. Rogers, 5,729 feet
• Lowest Point: Atlantic coast, sea level
• Agricultural Products: food products, livestock, tobacco
• Commercial Products: government services (about 25 percent of workers are employed by the US government), transportation equipment, textiles, printing, chemicals, machinery, electronic equipment, wood products, furniture
• Average Annual Rainfall: 45.2 inches
• Average Winter High Temperature: 32 degrees
• Record Low Temperature: -30 degrees (22 Jan 1985 Mountain Lake)
• Average Summer High Temperature: 85 degrees
• Record High Temperature: 110 degrees (15 Jul 1954 Balcony Falls)
• Official Language: English (since 1996)
• More information about Virginia

Items of Interest

• Jamestown was the first English settlement in the U.S and the first capital of VA.
• The final battle of the American Revolution ended with the surrender of Cornwallis in Yorktown.
• The tomb of the Unknown Soldier is in Arlington National Cemetery.
• Over 1/2 the battles fought in the civil war were fought in Virginia.
• General Robert E. Lee surrendered his men to General Ulysses S. Grant, on April 9, 1865 at the Appomattox Court House.
• The Pentagon building in Arlington is the largest office building in the world and has nearly 68,000 miles of internal phone lines.
• The first Thanksgiving in North America was held in Virginia in 1619.
• Virginia is known as the "Internet Capital of the world".
• The Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel is the world's largest bridge-tunnel complex.
• The world's only oyster museum is on Chincoteague Island.
• The first peanuts grown in the United States were grown in Virginia.
• The first theater in the US opened in Williamsburg, VA in 1716.

Notable Natives

some of these were born here, others just lived a while in the state.

• Richard Arlen - actor (Charlottesville)
• Arthur Ashe (1943-1993) - tennis player (Richmond)
• Nancy Langhorne Astor - first woman to serve in the British House of Commons (born and raised in VA)
• Pearl Bailey - singer (Newport News)
• Admiral Richard E. Byrd - Arctic explorer
• Pearl Bailey - singer
• Russell Baker - columnist (Loudoun county)
• Warren Beatty (1937- ) - actor, producer, director (Richmond)
• George Bingham - painter (Augusta county)
• Richard E. Byrd - polar explorer (Winchester)
• Willa Cather - author (Winchester)
• Roy Clark (1933- ) - country music singer (Meherrin)
• William Clark (1770-1838) - explorer (Caroline City)
• Henry Clay - statesman (Hanover county)
• Joseph Cotten - actor (Petersburg)
• Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996) - jazz singer (Newport News)
• Patrick Henry - patriot, statesman, made his "give me liberty or give me death" speech in Richmond (Hanover county)
• Sam Houston - political leader (Rockbridge county)
• Robert E. Lee - Confederate general (Stratford)
• Meriwether Lewis (1774-1809) - explorer (Ambermarle county)
• Shirley MacLaine - actress (Richmond)
• John Marshall - supreme court justice (Germantown)
• George Mason - patriot
• Cyrus Hall McCormick - inventor (Rockbridge county)
• Opechancanough - Powhatan leader
• John Payne - actor (Roanoke)
• Edgar Allen Poe(1809-1849) - author and poet (lived in Richmond)
• Walter Reed - army surgeon (Glousester county)
• Matthew Ridgway - Army Chief of Staff (Fort Monroe)
• Bill "Bojangles" Robinson - dancer (Richmond)
• George C. Scott - actor (Wise)
• Sam Snead golfer (Hot Springs)
• James Jeb Stuart - Confederate army officer (Patrick county)
• Thomas Sumter - general (Hanover county)
• Nat Turner - leader of slave uprising (Southhampton county)
• Booker T. Washington (1856-1915) - African-American educator, founder of Tuskegee Institute (Franklin county)
• Thomas Wolfe - journalist, writer (Richmond)

Virginia-born Presidents

• 1st president: George Washington (1732-1799) - born in Westmoreland County, VA; buried in VA
• 3rd president: Thomas Jefferson (1743-1799) - born in Shadwell, VA; buried in VA
• 4th president: James Madison (1751-1836) - born in Port Conway, VA; buried in VA
• 5th president: James Monroe (1758-1831) born in Westmoreland County, VA; buried in VA
• 9th president: William Henry Harrison (1773-1841) born in Berkeley, VA
• 10th president: John Tyler (1790-1862) born in Greenway, VA; buried in VA
• 12th president: Zachary Taylor (1784-1850) born in Orange county, VA
• 28th president: Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) born in Staunton, VA
• Presidents Taft and Kennedy were buried in VA
• Six wives of presidents were born in VA: Martha Washington, Martha Jefferson, Rachel Jackson, Letitia Tyler, Ellen Arthur, and Edith Wilson

The Virginia State Flag
The flag, adopted in 1776, is a deep blue rectangle. The state seal is in the center. Around the seal is the state motto "Sic Semper Tyrannis" ("Thus Always to Tyrants"). The seal has a scene with two figures acting out the meaning of the motto. They are dressed as warriors. The woman, named "Virtue", represents Virginia. The man is holding a scourge and chain to show he is a tyrant. His fallen crown is on the ground nearby.

You know you are from Virginia if...

• Speed limits are just suggestions.
• You have at least two friends who have no idea what their relatives do...because its "top secret" government work.
• Most of your senior class went to Mason, JMU, Tech, VCU or UVA.
• When people ask where you're from, you tell them DC because its easier to explain.
• You've never told someone you're from Virginia without putting "northern," "central," or "southern" in front of it. (see above)
• It's not actually tailgating unless your bumper is touching the car in front of you.
• You know a yellow light means at least five more cars can get through. (Yeah, man...at least.) A red light means two more can.
• You actually know what the black boxes at stoplights are for.
• Despite the fact that Virginia fought for the south in the Civil War, you are not, under any circumstances, a "southerner".
• You are amused by visiting relatives who are actually excited to see Washington, DC.
• You took a field trip to Williamsburg as a kid.
• You are amazed when you go out of town and the people at McDonalds speak English.
• You or someone in your family has a Smart Tag.
• An inch of snow and you miss three days of school.
• All the potholes just add a little excitement to your driving experience.
• Crown Victoria = undercover cop
• Subway is a fast food place. The transportation system is known as Metro, and only Metro.
• They just tore down the old farm house across the street and put twelve new McMansions in its place.
• For the cost of your house, you could own a small town in Iowa.
• If you stay on the same road long enough, it will eventually have three new names.
• You have to dial the area code to call your neighbor.
• "Vacation" means spending a day at King's Dominion or Busch Gardens.
• "Going to the River" means any stream with water.
• You have never been served tea without the waitress asking "sweet or unsweetened?"
• Your favorite past time is telling West Virginia jokes.
• Anyone who can't trace his or her ancestry back to at least four generations in Virginia is an outsider.
• "Going to the beach" means going to Virginia Beach, Hatteras, or Nags Head.
• You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends from Virginia.

Songs about Virginia

• East Virginia - The Tarriers (1956)
• East Virginia Blues - Ramblin' Jack Elliott (1957)
• In the Blue Hills of Virginia - The Delmore Brothers (1940)
• My Old Virginia Home - Big Country Bluegrass (2005)
• Old Virginia Hills - The Wolfe Brothers (2009)
• Somewhere in Virginia in the Rain - Bluesville (1976)
• Sweet Virginia Breeze - Robbin Thompson (1999)
• Virginia Bound - Mary Flower (2001)
• Virginia Girl - Five Americans (1969)
• Virginia Moon - Foo Fighters (2007)
• Virginia's Real - Guy Clark (1976)
• Wild Rose of Virginia - John Wesley Ryles (1977)

Songs about Virginia Cities

• Danville Girl - Cisco Houston (1962)
• Jamestown Ferry - Kenny Price (1973)
• Roanoke - Alan Munde (1983)
• Virginia Beach - Johnny Dowd (2002)