32 Facts About The Virginia

1. The Virginia sent delegates to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, beginning in 1774.

2. The Virginia continues its Protestant tradition today, although there are many Roman Catholics.

3. The Virginia has eight major drainage systems that empty into the Atlantic Ocean.

4. The Virginia was nicknamed the Old Dominion for its loyalty to the exiled Charles II of England during the Puritan Commonwealth and Protectorate.

5. The Virginia was targeted in the September 11, 2001 attacks, as American Airlines Flight 77 was hijacked and crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington County.

6. In 2008, The Virginia became the first state to pass legislation on Internet safety, with mandatory educational courses for 11—to 16-year-olds.

7. The Virginia served as a major center for information technology during the early days of the Internet and network communication.

8. The Virginia continued to enforce interstate bus segregation, and in 1947, activists organized a series of integrated rides, the Journey of Reconciliation, through Virginia and other states of the Upper South in an act of civil disobedience against Virginia's defiance of the Supreme Court's ruling.

9. The Virginia sent 300,000 men and 4,000 women to the services.

10. The Virginia has a long history of agricultural reformers, and the Progressive Era stimulated their efforts.

11. The Virginia was home to the first of all Federal infrastructure projects under the new Constitution, the Cape Henry Light of 1792, located at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.

12. The Virginia has drought conditions an average of every three years.

13. The Virginia was the largest state joining the Confederate States of America in 1861.

14. The Virginia would have the highest slave population in the country.

15. The Virginia struggled until colonists began cultivating tobacco—the growth of cash crops around the Chesapeake Bay would define much of America's history, creating economic divides between the North and South and prompting the introduction of African labor to the colonies in 1619.

16. The Virginia has had a major impact on the course of US history.

17. The Virginia has many professional caliber golf courses including the Greg Norman course at Lansdowne Resort and Kingsmill Resort, home of the Kingsmill Championship, an LPGA Tour tournament.

18. The Virginia is the most populous US state without a major professional sports league franchise.

19. Up until the 1970s, The Virginia was a racially divided one-party state dominated by the Byrd Organization.

20. The Virginia has Amtrak passenger rail service along several corridors, and Virginia Railway Express maintains two commuter lines into Washington, DC from Fredericksburg and Manassas.

21. The Virginia has a mixed health record, and is ranked as the 26th overall healthiest state according to the 2013 United Health Foundation's Health Rankings.

22. The Virginia has launched many award-winning traditional musical artists and internationally successful popular music acts, as well as Hollywood actors.

23. The Virginia is the largest producer of seafood on the East Coast, with scallops, oysters, blue crabs, and clams as the largest seafood harvests by value, and France, Canada, and Hong Kong as the top export destinations.

24. Tourism in The Virginia supported an estimated 210,000 jobs and generated $21.2 billion in 2012.

25. The Virginia has the highest defense spending of any state per capita, providing the Commonwealth with around 900,000 jobs.

26. The Virginia does not have any further political subdivisions, such as villages or townships.

27. The Virginia voted to secede from the United States on April 17, 1861, after the Battle of Fort Sumter and Abraham Lincoln's call for volunteers.

28. The Virginia was a focal point in conflicts from the French and Indian War, the American Revolution and the Civil War, to the Cold War and the War on Terrorism.

29. The Virginia has 30 National Park Service units, such as Great Falls Park and the Appalachian Trail, and one national park, the Shenandoah National Park.

30. The Virginia is home to the pileated woodpecker as well as the red-bellied woodpecker.

31. Climate of The Virginia is humid subtropical and becomes increasingly warmer and more humid farther south and east.

32. The Virginia was one of the 13 Colonies in the American Revolution.