All About Virginia
Virginia is a constituent state of the United States of America, one of the original 13 colonies. It has an area of 40,767 square miles (105,587 square kilometres). It is bordered by Maryland to the northeast, North Carolina and Tennessee to the south, Kentucky to the west, and West Virginia to the northwest. The state capital is Richmond.
Virginia was nicknamed the Old Dominion for its loyalty to the exiled Charles II of England during the Puritan Commonwealth. It has one of the longest continuous histories among the American states, dating from the settlement of Jamestown in 1607. It was named for Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen, and under its original charter was granted most of the unexplored lands west of the Atlantic seaboard settlements, to the Mississippi River and beyond. The contributions of such Virginians as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison were crucial in the formation of the American nation, and in the early decades of the republic the state was known as the Birthplace of Presidents.
Although Virginia gave its support - including the leadership of Robert E. Lee and other generals - to the Confederacy during the Civil War, it has developed in the 20th century into a bridge state between the North and the South. Its northern counties reflect the cosmopolitan character of the national capital, Washington, D.C., which lies across the Potomac River to the north. Other areas of the state retain the tinge of conservatism developed over centuries of agricultural life and through aristocratic traditions that made the term ''a Virginia gentleman'' synonymous with gentility and refinement.
History and nature make Virginia a leading tourist centre. Within its borders lie many important historical monuments. They include colonial restorations and reconstructions, such as those at Williamsburg; the homes of Washington, Jefferson, and other noted Virginians; and many of the battlefields of the American Revolution and the Civil War. Although it is becoming increasingly an industrialized and urbanized state, slightly more than three-fifths of Virginia's land remains under forest cover as it descends from the mountains and valleys in the west to the beaches of the Atlantic shore.
Virginia has developed a well-balanced economy far beyond its original agricultural base. Farming has dropped to approximately 1 percent of the total yearly value of the state's goods and services, surpassing only the economic contribution of commercial fishing. Virginia's economy has changed markedly toward a mixture of the old and new and the opportunity for increases in the standard of living from both private and public initiatives and cooperation.
Millions of visitors annually are attracted to Virginia's historical sites. In the forefront is Colonial Williamsburg, its many restored or reconstructed 17th- and 18th-century buildings representing expert research. Striking examples of colonial architecture are found at such preserved homes as George Washington's Mount Vernon, near Washington, D.C., and Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, near Charlottesville. Civil War monuments in the state include the battlefield known to Southerners as Manassas and to Northerners as Bull Run, near Washington, D.C., and Appomattox Court House, the site of General Robert E. Lee's surrender to General Ulysses S. Grant in 1865. There are more than 100 historical societies and museums in the state and several scholarly and popular historical journals with national readership.
Virginia's major transportation facilities are roads, railroads, and airports. Most traffic is north–south, adding to Virginia's status as a ''bridge'' state. Among the many scenic routes is the Colonial National Historical Parkway, connecting Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown; planned in the 1930s, this road has only two lanes. The Skyline Drive and Blue Ridge Parkway, which join at Rockfish Gap to form a continuous road following the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia and North Carolina, offer spectacular views and park facilities. Also striking is the 17 1/2-mile (28-kilometre) Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel linking Cape Charles on the Eastern Shore with the vacation centre of Virginia Beach, east of Norfolk. Comprising a trestled roadway raised above the mouth of the Bay and two tunnels (under the main shipping channels), it is the nation's largest structure of its kind.
