84 Facts About Virginia

The capital of the Commonwealth is Richmond; Virginia Beach is the most-populous city, and Fairfax County is the most-populous political subdivision.

Virginia's state nickname, the Old Dominion, is a reference to this status.

Virginia was one of the original Thirteen Colonies in the American Revolution, and battles in Virginia secured the independence of the United States.

Virginia's economy has many sectors: agriculture in the Shenandoah Valley; high tech and federal agencies, including the headquarters of the U S Department of Defense and Central Intelligence Agency, in Northern Virginia; and military facilities in Hampton Roads, the site of the region's main seaport.

Virginia celebrated its quadricentennial year in 2007, marking 400 years since the establishment of the Jamestown Colony.

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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.

Over that century however, three-fourths of the native population in Virginia would die from smallpox and other Old World diseases.

The shift to a system of African slavery in Virginia was propelled by the legal cases of John Punch, who was sentenced to lifetime slavery for attempting to escape servitude in 1640, and of John Casor, who was claimed by Anthony Johnson as his servant for life in 1655.

Virginia is called the "Mother of States" because of its role in being carved into states such as Kentucky, which became the fifteenth state in 1792, and for the numbers of American pioneers born in Virginia.

One response to Nat Turner's rebellion by the Virginia government was to arrange for ships to transport free Blacks to Liberia.

Virginia was formally restored to the United States in 1870, due to the work of the Committee of Nine.

Virginia adopted a constitution in 1868 which guaranteed political, civil, and voting rights, and provided for free public schools.

Racial injustice and the presence of Confederate monuments in Virginia have led to large demonstrations, including in August 2017, when a white supremacist drove his car into protesters, killing one, and in June 2020, when protests that were part of the larger Black Lives Matter movement brought about the removal of statues on Monument Avenue in Richmond and elsewhere.

Virginia is located in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.

Virginia has a humid subtropical climate that transitions to humid continental west of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Hurricanes and tropical storms can occur from August to October, and though they typically impact coastal regions, the deadliest natural disaster in Virginia was Hurricane Camille, which killed over 150 people mainly in inland Nelson County in 1969.

Climate change in Virginia is leading to higher temperatures year-round as well as more heavy rain and flooding events.

Virginia'snandoah was established in 1935 and encompasses the scenic Skyline Drive.

White-tailed deer, one of 75 mammal species found in Virginia, rebounded from an estimated population of as few as 25 thousand in the 1930s to over one million by the 2010s.

The Virginia opossum is the only marsupial native to the United States and Canada, and the native Appalachian cottontail was recognized in 1992 as a distinct species of rabbit, one of three found in the state.

Virginia has 226 species of freshwater fish from 25 families; the state's diverse array of fish species is attributable to its varied and humid climate, topography, interconnected river system, and lack of Pleistocene glaciers.

Virginia is divided into 95counties and 38independent cities, the latter acting in many ways as county-equivalents.

The differences between counties and cities in Virginia are small and have to do with how each assess new taxes, whether a referendum is necessary to issue bonds, and with the application of Dillon's Rule, which limits the authority of cities and counties to countermand acts expressly allowed by the General Assembly.

Virginia has the fourth largest overseas population of U S states due to its federal employees and military personnel.

Largest minority group in Virginia are Blacks and African Americans, who include about one-fifth of the population.

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Virginia was a major destination of the Atlantic slave trade, and the first generations of enslaved men, women, and children were brought primarily from Angola and the Bight of Biafra.

Blacks in Virginia have more European ancestry than those in other southern states, and DNA analysis shows many have asymmetrical male and female ancestry contributions from before the Civil War, evidence of European fathers and African or Native American mothers during the time of slavery.

Northern Virginia has a significant population of Vietnamese Americans, whose major wave of immigration followed the Vietnam War.

Tribal membership in Virginia is complicated by the legacy of the state's "pencil genocide" of intentionally categorizing Native Americans and Blacks together, and many tribal members do have African and European ancestry.

Virginia has extended state recognition to eleven indigenous tribes resident in the state.

The Tidewater accent, sometimes described as a subset of the Old Virginia accent, evolved from the language that upper-class English typically spoke in the early Colonial period, while the Appalachian accent has much more influence from the English spoken by Scottish and Irish immigrants from that time.

Virginia is predominantly Christian and Protestant; Baptist denominations combined to form largest group with over a quarter of the population as of 2014.

Virginia's economy has diverse sources of income, including local and federal government, military, farming and high-tech.

Virginia has a median household income of $72, 600, 11th-highest nationwide, and a poverty rate of 10.

Loudoun County meanwhile has the highest median household income in the nation, and the wider Northern Virginia region is among the highest-income regions nationwide.

Additionally, in 2014 a survey of 12, 000 small business owners found Virginia to be one of the most friendly states for small businesses.

Virginia has been an employment-at-will state since 1906 and a "right to work" state since 1947, and though state minimum wage increased to $11 in 2021 and will increase to $12 in 2023, farm and tipped workers are specifically excluded.

Virginia has one of the highest concentrations of veterans of any state, and the Hampton Roads area has the largest concentration of military personnel and assets of any metropolitan area in the world.

Virginia became the world's largest data center market in 2016, with Loudoun County specifically branding itself "Data Center Alley" due to the roughly 13.

Tourism in Virginia supported an estimated 234, 000 jobs in 2018, making tourism the state's fifth largest industry.

Virginia is the country's third-largest producer of seafood as of 2018, with sea scallops, oysters, Chesapeake blue crabs, menhaden, and hardshell clams as the largest seafood harvests by value, and France, Canada, and Hong Kong as the top export destinations.

Virginia has the seventh-highest number of wineries in the nation, with 307 as of 2020.

Virginia collects personal income tax from those with incomes above a filing threshold; there are five income brackets, with rates ranging from 2.

Unlike the majority of states, Virginia collects sales tax on groceries, but at a lower rate than the general sales tax; the sales tax for food and certain essential personal hygiene goods is 2.

Virginia's culture was popularized and spread across America and the South by figures such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Robert E Lee.

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Smithfield ham, sometimes called "Virginia ham", is a type of country ham which is protected by state law, and can be produced only in the town of Smithfield.

The Barter Theatre in Abingdon, designated the State Theatre of Virginia, won the first Regional Theatre Tony Award in 1948, while the Signature Theatre in Arlington won it in 2009.

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

Virginia is known for its tradition in the music genres of old-time string and bluegrass, with groups such as the Carter Family and Stanley Brothers.

Contemporary Virginia is known for folk rock artists like Dave Matthews and Jason Mraz, hip hop stars like Pharrell Williams, Missy Elliott and Pusha T, as well as thrash metal groups like GWAR and Lamb of God.

Virginia'snandoah Apple Blossom Festival is a six-day festival held annually in Winchester which includes parades and bluegrass concerts.

Northern Virginia is part of the much larger Washington, D C media market, which is the country's 7th-largest.

Public K–12 schools in Virginia are generally operated by the counties and cities, and not by the state.

Besides the general public schools in Virginia, there are Governor's Schools and selective magnet schools.

Virginia has one of the smaller racial gaps in graduation rates among U S states, with 89.

Virginia has comparatively large public school districts, typically comprising entire counties or cities, and this helps mitigate funding gaps seen in other states such that non-white districts average slightly more funding, $255 per student as of 2019, than majority white districts.

Virginia has a mixed health record, and was ranked as the 16st for overall health outcomes and 18th healthy behaviors in the state according to the 2021 United Health Foundation's Health Rankings.

Virginia does have above average percentage of residents who receive annual immunizations, ranking eleventh for yearly flu vaccinations.

In 2008, Virginia became the first U S state to mandate the HPV vaccine for girls for school attendance, and 56.

Traffic on Virginia's roads is among the worst in the nation according to the 2019 American Community Survey.

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

The Eastern Shore of Virginia is the site of Wallops Flight Facility, a rocket launch center owned by NASA, and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, a commercial spaceport.

The government today functions under the seventh Constitution of Virginia, which was approved by voters in 1970 went into effect in July 1971.

Virginia's legislature is bicameral with a 100-member House of Delegates and 40-member Senate, who together write the laws for the Commonwealth.

Virginia was the last state to guarantee an automatic right of appeal for all civil and criminal cases, and their Court of Appeals increased from eleven to seventeen judges in 2021.

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Code of Virginia is the statutory law, and consists of the codified legislation of the General Assembly.

Virginia has no "pocket veto, " and bills will become law if the governor chooses to neither approve nor veto legislation.

The largest law enforcement agency in Virginia is the Virginia State Police, with 3, 022 sworn and civilian members as of 2018.

Virginia has the fourth lowest violent crime rate and thirteenth lowest property crime rate as of 2018.

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

These changes moved Virginia from being ranked as the second most difficult state to vote in in 2016, to the twelfth easiest to in 2020.

Educational attainment and gender have become strong indicators of political alignment, with the majority of women in Virginia supporting Democratic presidential candidates since 1980.

State elections in Virginia occur in odd-numbered years, with executive department elections occurring in years following U S presidential elections and Senate elections occurring in the years prior to presidential elections, as both have four-year terms.

At this time, Virginia was ranked as having the most gerrymandered state legislature, as Republicans controlled the House with only 44.

Virginia had previously voted for Republican presidential candidates in thirteen out of fourteen presidential elections from 1952 to 2004, including ten in a row from 1968 to 2004.

Virginia currently holds its presidential primary election on Super Tuesday, the same day as thirteen other states, with the most recent held on March 3, 2020.

Virginia has had eleven U S House of Representatives seats since 1993, and control of the majority has flipped four times since then, often as part of "wave elections".

Virginia is the most populous U S state without a major professional sports league franchise.

Virginia Beach had previously been considered for an NBA franchise in 1987, which ultimately became the Charlotte Hornets.

Virginia is home to several of the nation's top high school basketball programs, including Paul VI Catholic High School and Oak Hill Academy, the latter of which has won nine national championships.

Virginia has several nicknames, the oldest of which is the "Old Dominion.

Students at the University of Virginia began using The Cavalier Song as their school fight song in 1925, and the school's sports teams were named Cavaliers after the song.

The Virginia reel is among the square dances classified as the state dance.

In 1940, Virginia made "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny" the state song, but it was retired in 1997 due to its references to slavery.