1. Out of the nearly 10 million personalized plates issued in the country, one in 10 are registered to Virginia residents. This one’s unfortunately no longer on the road—it was revoked after numerous complaints. Bummer.
2. The first peanuts grown in the U.S. were grown in Virginia, making school lunches a little more exciting for kids everywhere.
3. Virginia claims to have the true first Thanksgiving, which predates the school-taught Plymouth feast by two years. It took place in Berkeley, Virginia on December 4, 1619.
4. America can thank Virginia for many of its greatest Presidents. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, William Harrison, John Tyler and Woodrow Wilson were all born here. Maybe it’s something in the air?
5. Beachy crooner Jason Mraz was born in Mechanicsville where his family still resides. You might assume that he took band in school, but while attending Lee-David High School, Mraz was a member of the cheerleading squad.
6. You’re going to have to find another way to irritate laughter out of your girlfriend, because it’s illegal to tickle women in Virginia.
7. Likewise, seven U.S. Presidents are buried in Virginia, some of whom are among the most popular, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John F. Kennedy, James Madison, James Monroe, John Tyler and William Taft.
8. Virginia is also the proud birthplace of six Presidents’ wives including Martha Washington, Martha Jefferson, Rachel Jackson, Letitia Tyler, Ellen Arthur and Edith Wilson.
9. Even though it’s on the East Coast, Virginia could be considered the Center of America. About half of all of American residents live within a 500 mile radius of the capital of the state.
10. The College of William & Mary is also responsible for the first college fraternity, the still popular Phi Beta Kappa, which was founded by five students in 1776.
11. The Flowering Dogwood is the state flower and its state tree, making Virginia the only state to have the same plant for both.
12. The first recorded frat boy to ever streak across a college campus was George William Crump. He ran across the grounds of Washington College, now known as Washington and Lee University, in 1804 and was reportedly arrested for his… ballsy… stunt. Where would “Old School” be without him.
13. Said-streaker, George William Crump, didn’t see his reputation marred by barring his bum for everyone to see. He went on to win seats in both the Virginia House of Delegates and the 19th United States Congress years later.
14. Spitting on a sea gull is strictly forbidden in Virginia. In case you needed to be told not to do that.
15. The state’s school year depends on—get this—the state’s popular amusement parks. According to the Kings Dominion Law schools cannot start before Labor Day.
16. Virginia goes through capitals like Taylor Swift does boyfriends. Jamestown, Williamsburg and Richmond have all been capital cities at one point.
17. You can visit George Washington’s home, Mount Vernon, in Virginia. The home does have a basement – a space which played a key role in the Nicholas Cage movie, National Treasure: Book of Secrets. However, there are no secret tunnels leading in or out of it. Also, no book of treasure.
18. More than half of the 4,000 grueling battles that were fought in the Civil War took place on Virginia soil.
19. President Thomas Jefferson designed his impressive home, naming it Monticello. The home is the only house in the U.S. on the United Nations World Heritage sites list, with the exception of Taos pueblos.
20. Inside the entry hall of the house, you will find a pair of elk antlers that are the only remaining artifact from the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804-1806 in which the famous duo explored the western part of what would go on to become the continental United States.
Talk about a party pooper. Overage trick-or-treating is illegal in Virginia. The maximum age for the Halloween pastime is 11 years old.
21. It’s against the law to keep a skunk as a pet here in the state. Which seems like it shouldn’t even need to be mentioned, but someone somewhere had to do it for it to be made into a law.
22. Get your jazz hands ready. Legendary singer Ella Fitzgerald was born in Newport News in 1917. She went on to sell 40 million copies of her 70-plus albums and took home 14 Grammy Awards. She was also awarded the National Medal Of Arts by Ronald Reagan.
23. Edgar Allan Poe attended the University of Virginia for a semester in 1820. His restored dorm room is visible through a glass panel wall.
24. The Mountain Lake Lodge is the real location of the fictional Kellerman’s Resort, where nobody was allowed to put Baby in a corner in the 1980s cult classic Dirty Dancing. Located in Pembroke, the lodge is still open and offers Dirty Dancing packages for visitors along with a Patrick Swayze monument.
25. Virginia knows how to share. Kentucky and West Virginia were both formed using sections of the state.
26. The Pentagon, located in Arlington, is the largest office building in the world. It’s so big, the U.S. Capitol could fit into just one of the sides of the building. It has twice the office space that the Empire State Building does.
27. Before territories and counties were formed in the 1600s, Virginia was broken up into shires, like the Lord of the Rings. No hobbits, though.
28. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel is the world’s largest bridge-tunnel complex. But this 20 mile long structure’s official name is actually the Lucius J. Kellam, Jr. Bridge-Tunnel.
29. Bristol, VA is technically two cities that share the same main street. One city is in Virginia and the other is located in Tennessee. Each has its own government and city services, but they share the same road.
30. Crabtree Falls is the highest waterfall east of the Mississippi. Located in the George Washington National Forest, it has a series of falls that run a thousand feet down the mountainside.
31. The first successful electric street railway started in Richmond in 1888 known as the Union Passenger Railway.
32. Spudnuts, the specialized donuts using potato starch rather than wheat flour began in Charlottesville. Although Spudnuts was once a big national chain, they went out of business and only survive as a few independent branches.
33. An April Fool’s joke left the town of Glasgow overflowing with fiberglass dinosaurs. Only a few still remain.
Feature Image Source: Busch Gardens Facebook
What’s your favorite fun Virginia fact? Tell us in the comments below!
