Interesting
Data About Virginia
- The major cash crop of Virginia is tobacco
and many of the people who live there earn their living
from the tobacco industry.
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Jamestown, the first of the original 13 Colonies was
founded for the purpose of silk cultivation. Silk to be
traded with the Court of King James. After blight fungus
destroyed the mulberry trees (silkworm food),
sericulturist planted tobacco as a cash crop.
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Jamestown was the first English settlement in the U.S. It
was also the first capital of Virginia.
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Virginia is known as "the birthplace of a nation".
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Arlington County was originally part of the ten-mile
square parcel of land surveyed in 1791 to be part of
Washington, DC. The U.S. Congress returned that portion of
the land to the "Commonwealth of Virginia" following a
referendum among its citizens.
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Eight United States Presidents were born in Virginia:
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James
Monroe, William Harrison, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor, and
Woodrow Wilson.
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Six Presidents' wives were born in Virginia: Martha
Washington, Martha Jefferson, Rachel Jackson, Letitia
Tyler, Ellen Arthur, Edith Wilson.
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Seven Presidents are buried in Virginia: Washington,
Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Tyler, Taft and Kennedy.
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The present state capital in Richmond was also the capital
of the Confederacy.
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The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg is the
second oldest in the United States, it was founded in
1693.
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The State nickname is "Old Dominion".
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The State flower is not really a flower, but the blossom
of the dogwood tree, which is also the state tree.
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The first peanuts grown in the United States were grown in
Virginia.
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The Blue Ridge Mountains are located in Virginia.
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The American Revolution ended with the surrender of
Cornwallis in Yorktown.
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On March 9, 1862 at Hampton Roads, Virginia, the USS
Monitor and the CSS Virginia (formerly the USS Merrimac)
met in one of the most famous naval engagements in US
history. Their battle, the first of its kind between metal
armored vessels, changed for all time the nature of naval
warfare.
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10th of the 13 original colonies, Virginia was admitted to
the union June 25, 1788.
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The state motto is "Sic Semper Tyrannis". (Thus always to
tyrants)
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Union Passenger Railway was the first successful electric
street railway transit agency. It was formed in 1888 at
Richmond.
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The states of Kentucky & West Virginia were formed from
sections of the state of Virginia
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About 1/2 of all the people in the United States live
within a 500 mile radius of the Capital of Virginia.
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Virginia has had 3 capital cities: Jamestown,
Williamsburg, and Richmond.
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Richmond was also the capital of the Confederate States
during the Civil War
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Over 1/2 the battles fought in the civil war were fought
in Virginia. Over 2,200 of the 4,000 battles.
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In Virginia more people work for the United States
government than any other industry. About 1/4 of
Virginia's workers.
Google News - Virginia
