This week’s block is Virginia
Here’s some facts about the state
Entered Union (rank): June 25, 1788 (10)
Nicknames: The Old Dominion; Mother of Presidents
Virginia was named for England’s “Virgin Queen,” Elizabeth I.
The major cash crop of Virginia is tobacco and many of the people who live there earn their living from the tobacco industry.
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.
Jamestown was the first English settlement in the U.S. It was also the first capital of Virginia.
Virginia is known as “the birthplace of a nation”.
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.
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.
The State flower is not really a flower, but the blossom of the dogwood tree, which is also the state tree.
The first peanuts grown in the United States were grown in Virginia.
The states of Kentucky & West Virginia were formed from sections of the state of Virginia
About 1/2 of all the people in the United States live within a 500 mile radius of the Capital of Virginia.
Virginia has had 3 capital cities: Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Richmond.
In Virginia more people work for the United States government than any other industry. About 1/4 of Virginia’s workers.
Virginia’s largest private employer is also the world’s largest ship building yard.
Virginia is the home base for the United States Navy’s Atlantic Fleet.
The tomb of the Unknown Soldier is in Arlington National Cemetery.
The Pentagon building in Arlington is the largest office building in the world.
The Pentagon has nearly 68,000 miles of internal telephone lines.
Dulles International Airport is one of the busiest airports in the world.
Virginia has been dubbed the “Internet Capital of the world”.
The Atlantic headquarters of NATO is located in Norfolk.
The Great Dismal Swamp is in Virginia near the North Carolina border.
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel is the world’s largest bridge-tunnel complex.