The Indian name Shenandoah means "Daughter of the stars." Virginia's tidal shoreline is 1,280 miles long. Hampton is the oldest municipality founded by the English in the United States. The largest canyon east of the Mississippi River is Breaks Interstate Canyon. Virginia ranks thirty-sixth in area among the states. King William County is the home of the Pamunkey and Mattaponi Indian reservations. Virginia was named the "Old Dominion" by King Charles II. Counties were originally called "shires" in Virginia. The Blue Ridge Parkway extends from the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia to the Great Smoky Mountains
National Park in North Carolina and Tennessee. Under the first charter of colonization in 1606, Virginia extended to the Pacific Ocean. The Atlantic Command of NATO is headquartered at the Norfolk Naval Base. The terms of surrender for the Confederacy were drawn up in the Wilmer McLean House in Appomattox. The Chesapeake-Bay Bridge-Tunnel is the world's largest bridge-tunnel complex. The Commonwealth of Virginia is comprised of ninety-five counties. Lee County is the southwesternmost county in Virginia. The total area of Virginia, excluding the Chesapeake Bay, is 40,817 square miles. The longest battle of the Civil War was fought near Petersburg. The highest elevation in Virginia is Mount Rogers, at 5,719 feet. Patrick Henry delivered his "Give me liberty or give me death" speech in St. Johns Church in Richmond. Virginia is bordered by North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Maryland. On April 19, 1781, Lord Corwallis surrendered his troops at Yorktown. "James Towne" (Jamestown) was named for King James I of England. Mr. Peanut was born in Suffolk, Virginia. State Street in Bristol is the dividing line between Virginia and Tennessee. Williamsburg was the colonial capitol of Virginia. Discovery, Godspeed, and Susan Constant were the three ships that brought the first colonists to Jamestown. The Declaration of Independence was written by Thomas Jefferson. The first official Thanksgiving took place in 1619 at Berkley Plantation. The popular soft drink, Dr. Pepper, was developed in Waco, Texas, but named after Dr. Charles Kenneth Pepper
of Rural Retreat. In 1619, the Virginia House of Burgesses became the first democratically elected legislative body to meet in the
New World. On May 15, 1776, the Fifth Virginia Convention declared Virginia to be a free and independent state. In 1778 Virginia became the first government in the world to outlaw slave traffiking. The military melody, "Taps" was composed at Berkley Plantation in 1862. The Barksdale Theatre/Hanover Tavern is the nation's oldest dinner theater. The first theater in America was erected in Williamsburg in 1716. America's oldest African-American weekly publication is the Richmond Afro-American. The Stalacpipe Organ, found in the Cathedral Room of the Luray Caverns is the world's largest musical instrument. The first seven United States astronauts were trained at the NASA Langley Space Center in Hampton. The Natural Bridge is listed as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. The Assateague Lighthouse can be seen for nineteen nautical miles. Three poisonous snakes, copperhead, cottonmouth, and rattlesnake are indigenous to Virginia. Sixty percent of Virginia's land area is made up of forests. The wind tunnels at Langley Research Center can produce wind speeds in excess of 15,000 miles per hour. One and one-half million acres of forests in the Commonwealth of Virginia are designated as national forests. The Virginia General Assembly was the first representative assembly in America. The first humans who lived in Virginia came to the Shenandoah River, near the current site of Front Royal,
around 9,000 BC. Virginia was the oldest, largest, and most populous of the British colonies in America. King Charles II nicknamed Virginia the "Old Dominion" because of the colony's loyalty to the English crown. The geographical center of Virginia is near Mount Rush in Buckingham County. Washington County was the first spot in the world named in honor of the "Father of Our Country." George Washington was the first man to sign the U. S. Constitution. Fort Monroe, near Hampton, is the largest stone fort ever built in the United States, and the only one with a moat still in active use. More Civil War battles were fought in Virginia than in any other state. The Tip Corporation of Marion began bottling and distributing the popular soft drink Mountain Dew in 1959. More than 50% of all Internet traffic passes through Fairfax. Richmond's stretch of the James' River offers the only urban whitewater rafting in the nation.
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The Indian name Shenandoah means "Daughter of the stars."
