Virginia Trivia & Tidbits - Page 11

Looking for Virginia trivia? Try our list Virginia little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

Much of the hardwood curly maple used in the finest Gibson guitars is grown in Dickenson County and milled by Mike Hill.

first appeared: 5/11/2003

George Washington frequented Gadsby’s Tavern, established about 1785, in Alexandria. The restored tavern and hotel was a gathering spot for theatrical and musical performances.

first appeared: 5/4/2003

Commissioned by King George II and built in 1725, the courthouse in King William County (pop. 13,146) is the oldest courthouse in continual use in the United States.

first appeared: 4/27/2003

The state’s record low temperature of minus 29 was set in Monterey (pop. 158) in February 1899, during the worst arctic outbreak of the 19th and 20th centuries.

first appeared: 4/20/2003

Prince Edward State Park for African-Americans, and Goodwin State Park for whites, merged in 1964 and then renamed Twin Lakes State Park. Located near Burkeville (pop. 489), the history is showcased in the park’s conference center.

first appeared: 4/13/2003

Singers Glen near Harrisonburg (pop. 40,468) is the birthplace of Southern gospel music. In 1832, Joseph Funk opened a Mennonite publishing house and printed Genuine Church Music, the country’s oldest hymnal still in use.

first appeared: 4/6/2003

Blacksburg (pop. 39,573) claims the world’s highest Internet use per capita with more than 87 percent of residents online.

first appeared: 3/30/2003

The nation’s tallest tulip poplar tree, measuring 111 feet tall and more than 31 feet in circumference, stands in Bedford (pop. 6,299).

first appeared: 3/23/2003

The official “Keeper of the Kitten” archives about Chessie, the snoozing kitten who debuted in a 1933 ad for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, is the Chesapeake and Ohio Historical Society in Clifton Forge (pop. 4,289).

first appeared: 3/16/2003

Famous since the mid-1700s for its salt-cured hams, Smithfield (pop. 6,324) celebrated the 100th birthday of its oldest ham—cured in 1902 and today displayed at the Isle of Wight County Museum. The ham may be the world’s oldest edible dried meat.

first appeared: 3/9/2003

When the 1950 Hull’s Drive-in Theater in Lexington (pop. 6,867) closed in 1999, residents staged an encore performance. They formed Hull’s Angels and bought, restored, and re-opened the nation’s first community-owned drive-in.

first appeared: 3/2/2003

Quantico (pop. 561) is the only American city surrounded by a U.S. Marine Corps base.

first appeared: 2/23/2003

The cardinal became Virginia’s official bird in 1950, chosen for its bright red plumage and pleasant song.

first appeared: 2/16/2003

Nancy Astor, born in Danville (pop. 48,411) in 1879, became the first female member of British Parliament in 1919 when she was elected to succeed her husband, Waldorf Astor, an American millionaire who had been made a British peer.

first appeared: 2/9/2003

The Mariners’ Museum in Newport News houses one of the world’s largest maritime collections, with more than 35,000 artifacts. In 1998, it joined forces with New York City’s South Street Seaport Museum to form America’s National Maritime Museum.

first appeared: 2/2/2003

In 1863 in Hampton, an oak tree served as the site of the first Southern reading of the Emancipation Proclamation. The Emancipation Oak’s branches now spread more than 98 feet in diameter.

first appeared: 1/26/2003

Virginia’s state fossil is the Chesapecten Jeffersonius. Adopted in 1993, the fossil—which is a scallop—was named after Thomas Jefferson.

first appeared: 1/19/2003

The 1735 Blandford Church in Petersburg (pop. 33,740) has one of the world’s largest collections of Tiffany windows. In 1901, 15 windows, designed and executed by Louis Comfort Tiffany, were placed in the church.

first appeared: 1/12/2003

Virginia Beach is the world’s longest resort beach. Its 28 miles are visited year-round.

first appeared: 1/5/2003

In the 1820s, Charlottesville had no churches, so the Albemarle County Court-house served as a common worship site for the town’s Episcopalian, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Baptist congregations. Each held services one Sunday a month.

first appeared: 12/29/2002

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