Virginia

U.S. state

This article is about the U.S. state. For other uses, see Virginia (disambiguation).

"The Old Dominion" redirects here. For other uses, see Old Dominion.

State in the United States

Virginia

State

Commonwealth of Virginia

Flag

Official seal of Virginia

Seal

Nickname(s):

Old Dominion, Mother of Presidents

Motto(s):

Sic semper tyrannis
(English: Thus Always to Tyrants)[1]

Anthem: "Our Great Virginia"
Map of the United States with Virginia highlighted

Map of the United States with Virginia highlighted

Country| United States
Before statehood| Colony of Virginia
Admitted to the Union| June 25, 1788 (10th)
Capital| Richmond
Largest city| Virginia Beach
Largest metro and urban areas| Washington–Baltimore (combined)
Washington (metro and urban)
Government

• Governor| Glenn Youngkin (R)
• Lieutenant Governor| Winsome Sears (R)
Legislature| General Assembly
• Upper house| Senate
• Lower house| House of Delegates
Judiciary| Supreme Court of Virginia
U.S. senators|

* Mark Warner (D)
* Tim Kaine (D)

U.S. House delegation|

* 7 Democrats
* 4 Republicans

(list)
Area

• Total| 42,774.2 sq mi (110,785.67 km2)
• Rank| 35th
Dimensions

• Length| 430 mi (690 km)
• Width| 200 mi (320 km)
Elevation

| 950 ft (290 m)
Highest elevation

(Mount Rogers[2])

| 5,729 ft (1,746 m)
Lowest elevation

(Atlantic Ocean)

| 0 ft (0 m)
Population

(2020)

• Total| 8,654,542[3]
• Rank| 12th
• Density| 206.7/sq mi (79.8/km2)
• Rank| 14th
• Median household income

| $71,535[4]
• Income rank

| 10th
Demonym| Virginian
Language

• Official language| English
• Spoken language|

* English 86%
* Spanish 6%
* Other 8%

Time zone| UTC-05:00 (Eastern)
• Summer (DST)| UTC-04:00 (EDT)
USPS abbreviation|

ISO 3166 code| US-VA
Traditional abbreviation| Va.
Latitude| 36° 32′ N to 39° 28′ N
Longitude| 75° 15′ W to 83° 41′ W
Website| www.virginia.gov
Virginia state symbols

Flag of Virginia

File:Seal of Virginia.svg
Living insignia
Bird| Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)
Butterfly| Tiger swallowtail butterfly (Papilio glaucus)
Dog breed| American Foxhound (Canis familiaris)
Fish| Brook trout, striped bass
Flower| Flowering dogwood
Insect| Tiger swallowtail butterfly (Papilio glaucus)
Tree| Flowering dogwood
Inanimate insignia
Beverage| Milk
Dance| Square dance
Fossil| Chesapecten jeffersonius
Rock| Nelsonite
Shell| Eastern oyster
Slogan| "Virginia is for Lovers"
Tartan| Virginia Quadricentennial tartan
State route marker
Virginia state route marker
State quarter
Virginia quarter dollar coin

Released in 2000

Lists of United States state symbols

Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia,[a] is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay, which provide habitat for much of its flora and fauna. The capital of the Commonwealth is Richmond; Virginia Beach is the most-populous city, and Fairfax County is the most-populous political subdivision. The Commonwealth's population in 2020[update] was over 8.65 million, with 36% of them living in the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area.

The area's history begins with several indigenous groups, including the Powhatan. In 1607, the London Company established the Colony of Virginia as the first permanent English colony in the New World. Virginia's state nickname, the Old Dominion, is a reference to this status. Slave labor and land acquired from displaced native tribes fueled the growing plantation economy, but also fueled conflicts both inside and outside the colony. Virginia was one of the original Thirteen Colonies in the American Revolution, and battles in Virginia secured the independence of the United States. During the American Civil War, Virginia was split when the state government in Richmond joined the Confederacy, but many of the state's northwestern counties wanted to remain with the Union, helping form the state of West Virginia in 1863. Although the Commonwealth was under one-party rule for nearly a century following the Reconstruction era, both major political parties are competitive in modern Virginia.

Virginia's state legislature is the Virginia General Assembly, which was established in July 1619, making it the oldest current law-making body in North America. It is made up of a 40-member Senate and a 100-member House of Delegates. The state government is unique in how it treats cities and counties equally, manages local roads, and prohibits governors from serving consecutive terms. 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.

## Contents

* 1 History
* 1.1 Original inhabitants
* 1.2 Colony
* 1.3 Statehood
* 1.4 Civil War
* 1.5 Reconstruction and Jim Crow
* 1.6 Civil Rights to present
* 2 Geography
* 2.1 Geology and terrain
* 2.2 Climate
* 2.3 Ecosystem
* 2.4 Wildlife
* 2.5 Cities and towns
* 3 Demographics
* 3.1 Race and ethnicity
* 3.2 Languages
* 3.3 Religion
* 4 Economy
* 4.1 Government agencies
* 4.2 Business
* 4.3 Agriculture
* 4.4 Taxes
* 5 Culture
* 5.1 Fine and performing arts
* 5.2 Festivals
* 6 Media
* 7 Education
* 7.1 Colleges and universities
* 8 Health
* 9 Transportation
* 10 Law and government
* 10.1 Judicial system
* 11 Politics
* 11.1 State elections
* 11.2 Federal elections
* 12 Sports
* 12.1 College sports
* 12.2 High school sports
* 13 State symbols
* 14 See also
* 15 Notes
* 16 References
* 17 Bibliography
* 18 External links
* 18.1 Government
* 18.2 Tourism and recreation
* 18.3 Culture and history
* 18.4 Maps and demographics

## History[edit | edit source]

Main article: History of Virginia

File:John Smith Saved by Pocahontas.jpg

The story of Pocahontas was romanticized by later artists, in part because of her association with the First Families of Virginia.[5]

May 2007 marked 400 years since the establishment of the Jamestown Colony. Observances for this quadricentennial highlighted contributions from Native Americans, Africans, and Europeans, each of which had a significant part in shaping Virginia's history.[6][7] Warfare, including among these groups, has also had an important role. 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.[8] Fictionalized stories about the early colony, in particular the story of Pocahontas and John Smith, first became popular in the period after the Revolutionary War, and together with other myths surrounding George Washington's childhood and the plantation elite in the antebellum period, became touchstones of Virginian and American culture and helped shape the state's historic politics and beliefs.[9][5]

### Original inhabitants[edit | edit source]

The first people are estimated to have arrived in Virginia over 12,000 years ago.[10] By 5,000 years ago, more permanent settlements emerged, and farming began by 900 AD. By 1500, the Algonquian peoples had founded towns such as Werowocomoco in the Tidewater region, which they referred to as Tsenacommacah. The other major language groups in the area were the Siouan to the west and the Iroquoians, who included the Nottoway and Meherrin, to the north and south. After 1570, the Algonquians consolidated under Wahunsenacawh, known in English as Chief Powhatan, in response to threats from these other groups on their trade network.[11] Powhatan controlled more than thirty smaller tribes, which shared a common Virginia Algonquian language, with more than 150 settlements that had total population of around 15,000 in 1607.[12] Over that century however, three-fourths of the native population in Virginia would die from smallpox and other Old World diseases.[13]

### Colony[edit | edit source]

Main article: Colony of Virginia

Several European expeditions, including a group of Spanish Jesuits, explored the Chesapeake Bay during the 16th century.[14] To help counter Spain's colonies in the Caribbean, Queen Elizabeth I of England supported Walter Raleigh's April 1584 expedition to the Atlantic coast of North America.[15][16] The name "Virginia" was used by Captain Arthur Barlowe in the expedition's report, and may have been suggested that year by Raleigh or Elizabeth, perhaps noting her status as the "Virgin Queen" or that they viewed the land as being untouched, and may also be related to an Algonquin phrase, Wingandacoa or Windgancon, or leader's name, Wingina, as heard by the expedition.[17][18] Initially the name applied to the entire coastal region from South Carolina to Maine, plus the island of Bermuda.[19] Raleigh's colony failed, but in 1606, the new king James I of England issued the First Virginia Charter to the London Company, a joint stock company that financed a new expedition, which was led by Christopher Newport and sailed that December. They landed in Virginia in May 1607, and established a settlement named for the king, Jamestown.[20]

File:The Governor's Palace -- Williamsburg (VA) September 2012.jpg

Williamsburg was Virginia's capital from 1699 to 1780.

Life in the colony was perilous, and many died during the Starving Time in 1609 and in a series of conflicts with the Powhatan Confederacy that started in 1610, and flared up again in 1622, when led by Powhatan's brother, Opechancanough.[21] Only 3,400 of the 6,000 early settlers had survived by 1624.[22] However, European demand for tobacco fueled the arrival of more settlers and servants.[23] The headright system tried to solve the labor shortage by providing colonists with land for each indentured servant they transported to Virginia.[24] Colonists struggled with rule from both the London Company and English monarchy, which took direct control of the colony in 1624 in part because in 1619, colonists had gained greater local control with an elected leadership. Later called the House of Burgesses, it shared power with the governors appointed by the crown.[25] In 1635, colonists arrested a despised governor and forced him to return to England against his will.[26] The turmoil of the English Civil War permitted Virginia even greater autonomy during the 1650s, and many supporters of the king fled to the colony, becoming known as "Virginia Cavaliers."[27]

African workers were first imported to Jamestown in 1619 initially under the rules of indentured servitude. 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.[28] Slavery first appears in Virginia statutes in 1661 and 1662, when a law made it hereditary based on the mother's status.[29] Tensions and the geographic differences between the working and ruling classes led to Bacon's Rebellion in 1676, by which time current and former indentured servants made up as much as eighty percent of the population.[30] The rebels, who burned Jamestown, were largely from the colony's frontier, and opposed to the governor's conciliatory policy towards native tribes. One result of the rebellion was the signing at Middle Plantation of the Treaty of 1677, which made the signatory tribes tributary states and was part of a pattern of appropriating tribal land by force and treaty.[31]

In 1693, the College of William & Mary was founded in Middle Plantation, which was renamed Williamsburg in 1699, when it became the new capital of the growing colony.[32] Colonists in the 1700s were likewise moving inland, and in 1747, a group of Virginian speculators formed the Ohio Company, with the backing of the British crown, to start English settlement and trade in the Ohio Country west of the Appalachian Mountains.[33] The Kingdom of France, which claimed this area as part of their colony of New France, viewed this as a threat, and the ensuing French and Indian War became part of the Seven Years' War (1756–1763). A militia from several British colonies, called the Virginia Regiment, was led by then-Lieutenant Colonel George Washington.[34]

### Statehood[edit | edit source]

See also: Virginia in the American Revolution

File:Patrick Henry Rothermel.jpg

In 1765, Patrick Henry led a protest of the unpopular Stamp Act in the House of Burgesses, later painted by Peter Rothermel.

The British Parliament's efforts to levy new taxes in the decade following the French and Indian War were deeply unpopular in the colonies. In the House of Burgesses, opposition to taxation without representation was led by Patrick Henry and Richard Henry Lee, among others.[35] Virginians began to coordinate their actions with other colonies in 1773, and sent delegates to the Continental Congress the following year.[36] After the House of Burgesses was dissolved by the British governor in 1774, Virginia's revolutionary leaders continued to govern via the Virginia Conventions. On May 15, 1776, the Convention declared Virginia's independence from the British Empire and adopted George Mason's Virginia Declaration of Rights, which was then included in a new constitution.[37] Another Virginian, Thomas Jefferson, drew upon Mason's work in drafting the national Declaration of Independence.[38]

When the American Revolutionary War began in 1776, George Washington was selected to head the Continental Army, and many Virginians joined the army and other revolutionary militias. Virginia was the first colony to ratify the Articles of Confederation in December 1777.[39] In April 1780, the capital was moved to Richmond at the urging of Governor Thomas Jefferson, who feared that Williamsburg's coastal location would make it vulnerable to British attack.[40] British forces indeed landed around Portsmouth in October 1780, and soldiers under Benedict Arnold managed to raid Richmond in January 1781.[41] The British army had over seven thousand soldiers in Virginia that year, but General Charles Cornwallis and his superiors were indecisive, and maneuvers by the three thousand soldiers under the Marquis de Lafayette and twenty-nine French warships together managed to trap the British on the Virginia Peninsula in September 1781. Around sixteen thousand soldiers under George Washington and Comte de Rochambeau quickly converged there and defeated Cornwallis in the siege of Yorktown.[42] His surrender on October 19, 1781, led to peace negotiations in Paris and secured the independence of the colonies.[43]

Virginians were instrumental in the new country's early years and in writing the United States Constitution. James Madison drafted the Virginia Plan in 1787 and the Bill of Rights in 1789.[38] Virginia ratified the Constitution on June 25, 1788. The three-fifths compromise ensured that Virginia, with its large number of slaves, initially had the largest bloc in the House of Representatives. Together with the Virginia dynasty of presidents, this gave the Commonwealth national importance. In 1790, both Virginia and Maryland ceded territory to form the new District of Columbia, though the Virginian area was retroceded in 1846.[44] 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.[45]

### Civil War[edit | edit source]

Main article: Virginia in the American Civil War

Eyre Crowe painted Slaves Waiting for Sale: Richmond, Virginia in 1853, after visiting the city's slave markets, where thousands were sold every year.[46]

Between 1790 and 1860, the number of slaves in Virginia rose from around 290 thousand to over 490 thousand, roughly one-third of the state population during that time, and the number of slaveholders rose to over fifty thousand, both the most in the U.S.[47][48] Soil exhausted by years of monoculture tobacco farming pushed the plantation economy to expand westward,[49] and as labor-intensive cotton came to dominate southern agriculture after 1800, Virginia plantations turned to exporting slaves by the thousands, breaking up many families in the process.[50] In addition to agriculture, slave labor was increasingly used in mining, shipbuilding and other industries.[51] The failed slave uprisings of Gabriel Prosser in 1800, George Boxley in 1815, and Nat Turner in 1831, however, marked the growing resistance to the system of slavery. One response to Nat Turner's rebellion by the Virginia government was to arrange for ships to transport free Blacks to Liberia.[49]

On October 16, 1859, abolitionist John Brown led a raid on an armory in Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in an attempt to start a slave revolt across the southern states. The polarized national response to his raid and execution in Charles Town that December marked a tipping point for many who believed the end of slavery would need to be achieved by force.[52] Abraham Lincoln's 1860 election further convinced many southern supporters of slavery that his opposition to its expansion would ultimately mean the end of slavery across the country. In South Carolina, the first state to secede to preserve the institution of slavery, a regiment loyal to the newly-formed Confederate States of America seized Fort Sumter on April 14, 1861, prompting President Lincoln to call for a federal army of 75,000 men from state militias the next day.[53]

Richmond was the capital of the Confederacy from 1861 to 1865, when it was partially burned by them prior to its recapture by Union forces.

In Virginia, a special convention called by the General Assembly voted on April 17 to secede on the condition it was approved in a referendum the next month. The convention then voted to join the Confederacy, which named Richmond its capital on May 20.[45] During the May 23 referendum, armed pro-Confederate groups prevented the casting and counting of votes from many northwestern counties that opposed secession. Representatives from 27 of these counties instead began the Wheeling Convention that month, which organized a government loyal to the Union and led to the separation of West Virginia as a new state.[54]

The armies of the Union and Confederacy first met on July 21, 1861 in Battle of Bull Run near Manassas, Virginia, where a Confederate victory established that the war would not be easily decided. Union General George B. McClellan organized the Army of the Potomac, which landed on the Virginia Peninsula in March 1862 and reached the outskirts of Richmond that June. With Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston wounded in fighting outside the city, command his Army of Northern Virginia fell to Robert E. Lee. Over the next month, Lee drove the Union army back, and starting that September, led the first of several invasions into Union territory. During the next three years of war, more battles were fought in Virginia than anywhere else, including the battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Spotsylvania, and the concluding Battle of Appomattox Court House, where Lee surrendered on April 9, 1865.[55] After the capture of Richmond that month, the state capital was briefly moved to Lynchburg,[56] while the Confederate leadership fled to Danville.[57] 32,751 Virginians died in the Civil War.[58]

### Reconstruction and Jim Crow[edit | edit source]

With nearly 800,000 soldiers passing through, Hampton Roads was America's second largest port of embarkation during World War I.[59]

Virginia was formally restored to the United States in 1870, due to the work of the Committee of Nine.[60] During the post-war Reconstruction era, African Americans were able to unite in communities, particularly around Richmond, Danville, and the Tidewater region, and take a greater role in Virginia society, as many achieved some land ownership during the 1870s.[61][62] Virginia adopted a constitution in 1868 which guaranteed political, civil, and voting rights, and provided for free public schools.[63] However, with much of the railroads and other infrastructure investments destroyed during the Civil War, the Commonwealth was deeply in debt, and in the late 1870s redirected money from public schools to pay bondholders. The Readjuster Party formed in 1877 and won legislative power in 1879 by uniting Black and white Virginians behind a shared opposition to debt payments and the perceived plantation elites.[64]

The Readjusters focused on building up schools, like Virginia Tech and Virginia State, and successfully forced West Virginia to share in the pre-war debt.[65] But in 1883, they were divided by a proposed repeal of anti-miscegenation laws, and days before that year's election, a riot in Danville involving armed policemen left four Black men and one white man dead.[66] These events motivated a push by white supremacists to seize political power, and segregationists in the Democratic Party won the legislature that year and maintained control for decades.[67] They passed Jim Crow laws and in 1902 rewrote the state constitution to include a poll tax and other voter registration measures that effectively disenfranchised most African Americans and many poor whites.[68]

New economic forces would meanwhile industrialize the Commonwealth. Virginian James Albert Bonsack invented the tobacco cigarette rolling machine in 1880 leading to new large-scale production centered around Richmond. Railroad magnate Collis Potter Huntington founded Newport News Shipbuilding in 1886, which was responsible for building six World War I-era dreadnoughts, seven battleships, and 25 destroyers for the U.S. Navy from 1907 to 1923.[69] During the war, German submarines like U-151 attacked ships outside the port,[70] which was a major site for transportation of both soldiers and supplies.[59] A homecoming parade to honor African-American veterans returning from the war was attacked in July 1919 as part of a renewed white-supremacy movement that was known as Red Summer.[71] During World War II, the shipyard quadrupled its labor force to 70,000 by 1943, while the Radford Arsenal outside Blacksburg had 22,000 workers making explosives.[72]

### Civil Rights to present[edit | edit source]

Protests against segregated schools started by Barbara Rose Johns in 1951 in Farmville led to the lawsuit Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County. This case, filed by Richmond natives Spottswood Robinson and Oliver Hill, was decided in 1954 with Brown v. Board of Education, which rejected the doctrine of "separate but equal". But, in 1956, under the policy of "massive resistance" led by the influential segregationist Senator Harry F. Byrd and his Byrd Organization, the Commonwealth prohibited desegregated local schools from receiving state or private funding as part of the Stanley Plan. After schools in many districts began closing in September 1958, state and district courts ruled the plan unconstitutional, and on February 2, 1959, the first Black students integrated schools in Arlington and Norfolk, where they were known as the Norfolk 17.[73] Prince Edward County still refused to integrate, and closed their county school system in June 1959. The Supreme Court ordered the county's public schools to be, like others in the state, open and integrated in May 1964, which they finally did that September.[74][75]

File:RVA 2020 MDPC (50041262732).jpg

Protests in 2020 were focused on the Confederate monuments in the state.

The civil rights movement gained national support during the 1960s. Federal passage of the Civil Rights Act in June 1964 and Voting Rights Act in August 1965, and their later enforcement, helped end racial segregation in Virginia and overturn Jim Crow era state laws.[76] In June 1967, the Supreme Court also struck down the state's ban on interracial marriage with Loving v. Virginia. In 1968, Governor Mills Godwin called a commission to rewrite the state constitution. The new constitution, which banned discrimination and removed articles which now violated federal law, passed in a referendum with 71.8% support and went into effect in June 1971.[77] In 1977, Black members became the majority of Richmond's city council; in 1989, Douglas Wilder became the first African American elected as governor in the United States; and in 1992, Bobby Scott became the first Black congressman from Virginia since 1888.[78][79]

The expansion of federal government offices into Northern Virginia's suburbs during the Cold War boosted the region's population and economy.[80] The Central Intelligence Agency outgrew their offices in Foggy Bottom during the Korean War, and moved to Langley in 1961, in part due to a decision by the National Security Council that the agency relocate outside the District of Columbia.[81] The agency was involved in various Cold War events, and its headquarters was a target of Soviet espionage activities. The Pentagon, built in Arlington during World War II as the headquarters of the Department of Defense, was one of the targets of the September 11, 2001 attacks; 189 people died at the site when a jet passenger plane was flown into the building.[82] Mass shootings at Virginia Tech in 2007 and in Virginia Beach in 2019 led to passage of gun control measures in 2020.[83] Racial injustice and the presence of Confederate monuments in Virginia have also 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.[84]

## Geography[edit | edit source]

Main article: Environment of Virginia

File:Virginia geographic map-en.svg

Virginia is shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed, and the parallel 36°30′ north.

Virginia is located in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.[85][86] Virginia has a total area of 42,774.2 square miles (110,784.7 km2), including 3,180.13 square miles (8,236.5 km2) of water, making it the 35th-largest state by area.[87] The Commonwealth is bordered by Maryland and Washington, D.C. to the north and east; by the Atlantic Ocean to the east; by North Carolina to the south; by Tennessee to the southwest; by Kentucky to the west; and by West Virginia to the north and west. Virginia's boundary with Maryland and Washington, D.C. extends to the low-water mark of the south shore of the Potomac River.[88]

The Commonwealth's southern border is defined as 36°30' north latitude, though surveyor error in the 1700s led to deviations of as much as three arcminutes as the North Carolina border moved west.[89] Surveyors appointed by Virginia and Tennessee worked in 1802 and 1803 to reset the border as a line from the summit of White Top Mountain to the top of Tri-State Peak in the Cumberland Mountains. However, errors in this line were discovered in 1856, and the Virginia General Assembly proposed a new surveying commission in 1871. Tennessee's representatives preferred to keep the 1803 line, and in 1893, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in their favor in the case Virginia v. Tennessee.[90][91] One result of this is the division of the city of Bristol between the two states.[92]

### Geology and terrain[edit | edit source]

Main article: Geology of Virginia

The Chesapeake Bay separates the contiguous portion of the Commonwealth from the two-county peninsula of Virginia's Eastern Shore. The bay was formed from the drowned river valley of the ancient Susquehanna River.[93] Many of Virginia's rivers flow into the Chesapeake Bay, including the Potomac, Rappahannock, York, and James, which create three peninsulas in the bay, traditionally referred to as "necks" named Northern Neck, Middle Peninsula, and the Virginia Peninsula from north to south.[94] Sea level rise has eroded the land on Virginia's islands, which include Tangier Island in the bay and Chincoteague, one of 23 barrier islands on the Atlantic coast.[95][96]

Great Falls is on the fall line of the Potomac River, and its rocks date to the late Precambrian.[97]

The Tidewater is a coastal plain between the Atlantic coast and the fall line. It includes the Eastern Shore and major estuaries of Chesapeake Bay. The Piedmont is a series of sedimentary and igneous rock-based foothills east of the mountains which were formed in the Mesozoic era.[98] The region, known for its heavy clay soil, includes the Southwest Mountains around Charlottesville.[99] The Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the Appalachian Mountains with the highest points in the Commonwealth, the tallest being Mount Rogers at 5,729 feet (1,746 m).[2] The Ridge-and-Valley region is west of the mountains, carbonate rock based, and includes the Massanutten Mountain ridge and the Great Appalachian Valley, which is called the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia.[100] The Cumberland Plateau and Cumberland Mountains are in the southwest corner of Virginia, south of the Allegheny Plateau. In this region, rivers flow northwest, with a dendritic drainage system, into the Ohio River basin.[101]

The Virginia Seismic Zone has not had a history of regular earthquake activity. Earthquakes are rarely above 4.5 in magnitude, because Virginia is located away from the edges of the North American Plate. The Commonwealth's largest earthquake in at least a century, at a magnitude of 5.8, struck central Virginia on August 23, 2011, near Mineral.[102] Due to the area's geologic properties, this earthquake was felt from Northern Florida to Southern Ontario.[103] 35 million years ago, a bolide impacted what is now eastern Virginia. The resulting Chesapeake Bay impact crater may explain what earthquakes and subsidence the region does experience.[104] A meteor impact is also theorized as the source of Lake Drummond, the largest of the two natural lakes in the state.[105]

The Commonwealth's carbonate rock is filled with more than 4,000 limestone caves, ten of which are open for tourism, including the popular Luray Caverns and Skyline Caverns.[106] Virginia's iconic Natural Bridge is also the remaining roof of a collapsed limestone cave.[107] Coal mining takes place in the three mountainous regions at 45 distinct coal beds near Mesozoic basins.[108] More than 72 million tons of other non-fuel resources, such as slate, kyanite, sand, or gravel, were also mined in Virginia in 2020[update].[109] The largest-known deposits of uranium in the U.S. are under Coles Hill, Virginia. Despite a challenge that reached the U.S. Supreme Court twice, the state has banned its mining since 1982 due to environmental and public health concerns.[110]

### Climate[edit | edit source]

Main article: Climate of Virginia

See also: Climate change in Virginia

Virginia state-wide averages 1895–2021

Climate chart (explanation)

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

3.3

3.1

3.8

3.4

4.1

4.6

4.3

3.7

3.3

2.9

3.3

Average max. and min. temperatures in °F
Precipitation totals in inches
Source: U.S. Climate Divisional Dataset
| Metric conversion

102

104

117

109

Average max. and min. temperatures in °C
Precipitation totals in mm

Virginia has a humid subtropical climate that transitions to humid continental west of the Blue Ridge Mountains.[111] Seasonal extremes vary from average lows of 25 °F (−4 °C) in January to average highs of 86 °F (30 °C) in July.[112] The Atlantic Ocean and Gulf Stream have a strong effect on eastern and southeastern coastal areas of the Commonwealth, making the climate there warmer and more constant. Most of Virginia's recorded extremes in temperature and precipitation have occurred in the Blue Ridge Mountains and areas west.[113] Virginia receives an average of 43.49 inches (110 cm) of precipitation annually,[112] with the Shenandoah Valley being the state's driest region due to the mountains on either side.[113]

Virginia has around 35–45 days with thunderstorms annually, and storms are common in the late afternoon and evenings between April and September.[114] These months are also the most common for tornadoes,[115] fifteen of which touched down in the Commonwealth in 2020.[116] 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.[113][117] Between December and March, cold-air damming caused by the Appalachian Mountains can lead to significant snowfalls across the state, such as the January 2016 blizzard, which created the state's highest recorded snowfall of 36.6 inches (93 cm) near Bluemont.[118][119] Virginia only received 13.1 inches (33 cm) of snow during winter 2018–19, just above the state's average of 10 inches (25 cm).[120]

Climate change in Virginia is leading to higher temperatures year-round as well as more heavy rain and flooding events.[121] Urban heat islands can be found in many Virginia cities and suburbs, particularly in neighborhoods linked to historic redlining.[122][123] Arlington had the most code orange days in 2021 for high ozone pollution in the air, with four, followed by Fairfax County with three.[124] Exposure of particulate matter in Virginia's air has been cut in half from 13.5 micrograms per cubic meter in 2003 to 6.5 in 2021.[125] The closure and conversion of coal power plants in Virginia and the Ohio Valley region has reduced haze in the mountains, which peaked in 1998.[126] Coal has declined as a source of Virginia's electricity from 44% in 2008 to just 4% in 2019,[127] and current plans call for 30% of the Commonwealth's electricity to be renewable by 2030 and for all to be carbon-free by 2050.[128]

### Ecosystem[edit | edit source]

See also: List of Virginia state parks

Forests cover 62% of Virginia as of 2019[update], of which 78% is considered hardwood forest, meaning that trees in Virginia are primarily deciduous and broad-leaved. The other 22% is pine, with Loblolly and shortleaf pine dominating much of central and eastern Virginia.[129] In the western and mountainous parts of the Commonwealth, oak and hickory are most common, while lower altitudes are more likely to have small but dense stands of moisture-loving hemlocks and mosses in abundance.[113] Spongy moth infestations in oak trees and the blight in chestnut trees have decreased both of their numbers, leaving more room for hickory and invasive ailanthus trees.[130][113] In the lowland tidewater and Piedmont, yellow pines tend to dominate, with bald cypress wetland forests in the Great Dismal and Nottoway swamps.[129] Other common trees include red spruce, Atlantic White cedar, tulip-poplar, and the flowering dogwood, the state tree and flower, as well as willows, ashes, and laurels.[131] Plants like milkweed, dandelions, daisies, ferns, and Virginia creeper, which is featured on the state flag, are also common.[132] The Thompson Wildlife Area in Fauquier is known for one of the largest populations of trillium wildflowers in all of North America.[113]

File:Shenandoah 2020.jpg

Oak trees in particular produce a haze of isoprene, which helps gives the Blue Ridge Mountains their signature color.[133]

As of 2019[update], roughly 16.2% of land in the Commonwealth is protected by federal, state, and local governments and non-profits.[134] Federal lands account for the majority, with thirty National Park Service units in the state, such as Great Falls Park and the Appalachian Trail, and one national park, Shenandoah.[135] Shenandoah was established in 1935 and encompasses the scenic Skyline Drive. Almost forty percent of the park's total 199,173 acres (806 km2) area has been designated as wilderness under the National Wilderness Preservation System.[136] The U.S. Forest Service administers the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests, which cover more than 1.6 million acres (6,500 km2) within Virginia's mountains, and continue into West Virginia and Kentucky.[137] The Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge also extends into North Carolina, as does the Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge, which marks the beginning of the Outer Banks.[138]

State agencies control about one-third of protected land in the state,[134] and the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation manages over 75,900 acres (307.2 km2) in forty Virginia state parks and 59,222 acres (239.7 km2) in 65 Natural Area Preserves, plus three undeveloped parks.[139][140] Breaks Interstate Park crosses the Kentucky border and is one of only two inter-state parks in the United States.[141] Sustainable logging is allowed in 26 state forests managed by the Virginia Department of Forestry totaling 71,972 acres (291.3 km2),[142] and hunting in 44 Wildlife Management Areas run by the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources covering over 205,000 acres (829.6 km2).[143] The Chesapeake Bay is not a national park, but is protected by both state and federal legislation and the inter-state Chesapeake Bay Program, which conducts restoration on the bay and its watershed.[144]

### Wildlife[edit | edit source]

See also: List of endangered species in Virginia

File:Deer and fawn in Shenandoah 2019.jpg

White-tailed deer are also known as Virginia deer, and up to seven thousand live in Shenandoah National Park.[145]

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.[146][147] Native carnivorans include black bears, who have a population of around five to six thousand in the state,[148] as well as bobcats, coyotes, both gray and red foxes, raccoons, weasels and skunks. Rodents include groundhogs, nutria, beavers, both gray squirrels and fox squirrels, chipmunks, and Allegheny woodrats, while the seventeen bat species include brown bats and the Virginia big-eared bat, the state mammal.[149][147] The Virginia opossum is also the only marsupial native to the United States and Canada,[150] and the native Appalachian cottontail was recognized in 1992 as a distinct species of rabbit, one of three found in the state.[151] Whales, dolphins, and porpoises have also been recorded in Virginia's coastal waters, with bottlenose dolphins being the most frequent aquatic mammals.[147]

Virginia's bird fauna consists of 422 counted species, of which 359 are regularly occurring, 41 are accidental (vagrant), 20 are hypothetical, and two are extinct; of the regularly occurring species, 214 have bred in Virginia, while the rest are winter residents or transients in Virginia.[152] Water birds include sandpipers, wood ducks, and Virginia rail, while common inland examples include warblers, woodpeckers, and cardinals, the state bird. Birds of prey include osprey, broad-winged hawks, and barred owls.[153] There are no species of bird endemic to the Commonwealth.[152] Audubon recognizes 21 Important Bird Areas in the state.[154] Peregrine falcons, whose numbers dramatically declined due to DDT pesticide poisoning in the middle of the 20th century, are the focus of conservation efforts in the state and a reintroduction program in Shenandoah National Park.[155]

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. The state's lakes and rivers are home to Eastern blacknose dace and sculpin on the Appalachian Plateau; smallmouth bass and redhorse sucker in the Ridge-and-Valley region; brook trout, the state fish, and Kanawha darter in the Blue Ridge; stripeback darter and Roanoke bass in the Piedmont; and swampfish, bluespotted sunfish, and pirate perch in the Tidewater.[156] The Chesapeake Bay is host to clams, oysters, and 350 species of saltwater and estuarine fish, including the bay's most abundant finfish, the Bay anchovy, as well as the invasive blue catfish.[157][158] An estimated 405 million Chesapeake blue crabs live in the bay as of 2020[update].[159] There are 34 native species of crayfish, like the Big Sandy, which often inhabit rocky bottomed streambeds.[160][113] Amphibians found in Virginia include the Cumberland Plateau salamander and Eastern hellbender,[161] while the northern watersnake is the most common of the 32 snake species.[162]

### Cities and towns[edit | edit source]

See also: Political subdivisions of Virginia and Virginia statistical areas

Population density of Virginia counties and cities in 2020

Virginia is divided into 95 counties and 38 independent cities, the latter acting in many ways as county-equivalents.[163] This general method of treating cities and counties on par with each other is unique to Virginia; only three other independent cities exist elsewhere in the United States, each in a different state.[164] 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.[165][166] Within counties, there can also be incorporated towns, which do operate their own governments, and unincorporated communities, which do not. There are no further administrative subdivisions, such as villages or townships.

Over 3.1 million people, 36% of Virginians, live in Northern Virginia, which is part of the larger Washington metropolitan area and the Northeast megalopolis.[167] Fairfax County is the most populous locality in the state, with more than 1.1 million residents, although that does not include its county seat Fairfax City, which is one of the independent cities.[168] Fairfax County has a major urban business and shopping center in Tysons Corner, Virginia's largest office market.[169] Neighboring Prince William County is Virginia's second most populous county, with a population exceeding 450,000, and is home to Marine Corps Base Quantico, the FBI Academy and Manassas National Battlefield Park. Loudoun County, with its county seat at Leesburg, is the fastest-growing county in the state.[168][170] Arlington County is the smallest self-governing county in the U.S. by land area,[171] and has considered reorganizing as an independent city due to its high density.[165]

Richmond is the capital of Virginia, and its city proper has a population of over 230,000, while its metropolitan area has over 1.2 million.[172] As of 2019[update], Virginia Beach is the most populous independent city in the Commonwealth, with Chesapeake and Norfolk second and third, respectively.[173] The three are part of the larger Hampton Roads metropolitan area, which has a population over 1.7 million people and is the site of the world's largest naval base, Naval Station Norfolk.[172][174] Suffolk, which includes a portion of the Great Dismal Swamp, is the largest city by area at 429.1 square miles (1,111 km2).[175] In western Virginia, Roanoke city and Montgomery County, part of the Blacksburg–Christiansburg metropolitan area, both have surpassed a population of over 100,000 since 2018.[176]

Largest Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas in Virginia

U.S. Census Bureau MSA Population Totals 2019

| Rank | Name |  Pop. | Rank | Name |  Pop. |
Northern Virginia
Northern Virginia
Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads | 1 | Northern Virginia | 3,112,105 | 11 | Danville | 100,398  |
Richmond
Roanoke
Roanoke
2 | Hampton Roads | 1,718,843 | 12 | Bristol | 92,202
3 | Richmond | 1,291,900 | 13 | Martinsville | 63,111
4 | Roanoke | 313,222 | 14 | Big Stone Gap | 41,364
5 | Lynchburg | 263,566
6 | Charlottesville | 218,615
7 | Blacksburg–Christiansburg | 167,531
8 | Harrisonburg | 134,964
9 | Staunton–Waynesboro | 123,120
10 | Winchester | 117,391

## Demographics[edit | edit source]

Main article: Demographics of Virginia

Historical population

Census | Pop. |  | %±
1790| 691,737| | —
1800| 807,557| | 16.7%
1810| 877,683| | 8.7%
1820| 938,261| | 6.9%
1830| 1,044,054| | 11.3%
1840| 1,025,227| | −1.8%
1850| 1,119,348| | 9.2%
1860| 1,219,630| | 9.0%
1870| 1,225,163| | 0.5%
1880| 1,512,565| | 23.5%
1890| 1,655,980| | 9.5%
1900| 1,854,184| | 12.0%
1910| 2,061,612| | 11.2%
1920| 2,309,187| | 12.0%
1930| 2,421,851| | 4.9%
1940| 2,677,773| | 10.6%
1950| 3,318,680| | 23.9%
1960| 3,966,949| | 19.5%
1970| 4,648,494| | 17.2%
1980| 5,346,818| | 15.0%
1990| 6,187,358| | 15.7%
2000| 7,078,515| | 14.4%
2010| 8,001,024| | 13.0%
2020| 8,631,393| | 7.9%
1790–1900,[177] 1910–2020[178]

The United States Census Bureau found the state resident population was 8,631,393 on April 1, 2020, a 7.9% increase since the 2010 United States census. Another 23,149 Virginians live overseas, giving the state a total population of 8,654,542. Virginia has the fourth largest overseas population of U.S. states due to its federal employees and military personnel.[3] The birth rate in Virginia was 11.4 per 1,000 over five years,[179] and the median age was 38.4 years old, both identical to the national averages as of 2019[update].[180][181] As of 2010[update], the center of population was located in Louisa County, near Richmond.[182]

Immigration between 2010 and 2018 from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 159,627 people, and migration within the country produced a net increase of 155,205 people.[183] Aside from Virginia, the top birth state for Virginians is New York, having overtaken North Carolina in the 1990s, with the Northeast accounting for the largest number of domestic migrants into the state by region.[184] About twelve percent of residents were born outside the United States as of 2020[update]. El Salvador was the most common foreign country of birth, with India, South Korea, Vietnam, Ethiopia, and the Philippines as other common birthplaces.[185]

### Race and ethnicity[edit | edit source]

The state's most populous racial group, non-Hispanic whites, has declined as a proportion of the population from 76% in 1990 to 58.6% in 2020, as other ethnicities have increased.[186][187] Immigrants from the islands of Britain and Ireland settled throughout the Commonwealth during the colonial period,[188] a time when roughly three-fourths of immigrants came as indentured servants.[189] Those who identify on the census as having "American ethnicity" are predominantly of English descent, but have ancestors who have been in North America for so long they choose to identify simply as American.[190][191] The western mountains have many settlements that were founded by Scotch-Irish immigrants before the American Revolution.[192] There are also sizable numbers of people of German descent in the northwestern mountains and Shenandoah Valley,[193] and 10.6% of Virginians are estimated to have German ancestry, as of 2019[update].[194]

File:L-15-12-22-A-040 (23285802904).jpg

New citizens attend a naturalization ceremony in Northern Virginia, where 25% of residents are foreign-born, almost twice the overall state average[185]

The largest minority group in Virginia are Blacks and African Americans, who include about one-fifth of the population.[187] 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. The Igbo ethnic group of what is now southern Nigeria were the single largest African group among slaves in Virginia.[195] Blacks in Virginia also 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.[196][197] Though the Black population was reduced by the Great Migration to northern industrial cities in the first half of the 20th century, since 1965 there has been a reverse migration of Blacks returning south.[198] The Commonwealth has the highest number of Black-white interracial marriages in the United States,[199] and 8.2% of Virginians describe themselves as multiracial.[200]

More recent immigration in the late 20th century and early 21st century has resulted in new communities of Hispanics and Asians. As of 2020[update], 10.5% of Virginia's total population describe themselves as Hispanic or Latino, and 8.8% as Asian.[200] The state's Hispanic population rose by 92% from 2000 to 2010, with two-thirds of Hispanics in the state living in Northern Virginia.[201] Northern Virginia also has a significant population of Vietnamese Americans, whose major wave of immigration followed the Vietnam War.[202] Korean Americans have migrated more recently, attracted by the quality school system.[203] The Filipino American community has about 45,000 in the Hampton Roads area, many of whom have ties to the U.S. Navy and armed forces.[204]

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.[205] In 2020, the U.S. Census Bureau found that only 0.5% of Virginians were exclusively American Indian or Alaska Native, though 2.1% were in some combination with other ethnicities.[187] The state government has extended recognition to eleven indigenous tribes resident in Virginia. Seven tribes also have federal recognition, including six that were recognized in 2018 after passage of bill named for activist Thomasina Jordan.[206][207] The Pamunkey and Mattaponi have reservations on tributaries of the York River in the Tidewater region.[208]

Largest race by county or city  | Race and ethnicity (2020)  | Alone  | Total

|
|
|

Map of racial plurality in Virginia by county, per the 2020 US Census | Non-Hispanic White |  Black or African American | Hispanic or Latino

|
|

30–40%

40–50%

50–60%

60–70%

70–80%

80–90%

90%+

40–50%

50–60%

60–70%

70–80%

40–50%

Non-Hispanic White  | 58.6%  | 62.8%
Black or African American  | 18.3%  | 20.1%
Hispanic or Latino (of any race)  |  | 10.5%
Asian  | 7.1%  | 8.6%
American Indian and Alaska Native  | 0.2%  | 1.5%
Other  | 0.6%  | 1.5%
Largest ancestry by county or city  | Ancestry (2019 est.)  | Total

American Community Survey five-year estimate

German

| 10.6%

Irish or Scotch-Irish

| 10.5%

American

| 9.7%

English

| 9.2%

Subsaharan African

| 2.3%

### Languages[edit | edit source]

File:Monologue with 93 year old white male, Tangier Island, Virginia.ogg

Recording of a resident of Tangier Island who was born in the late 1800s, showcasing the island's unique accent

According to U.S. Census data as of 2019[update] on Virginia residents age five and older, 83.2% (6,683,027) speak English at home as a first language, while 16.8% (1,352,586) speak something other than English. Spanish is the next most commonly spoken language, with 7.6% (616,226) of Virginia households, though age is a factor, and 10.3% (139,312) of Virginians under age eighteen speak Spanish. 58.2% of Spanish speakers reported speaking English "very well," but again, of Spanish-speakers under age eighteen, 80.3% speak English "very well." Chinese languages, including Standard Mandarin and Cantonese, were the third most commonly spoken languages with around 0.8% of residents, followed by Vietnamese and Arabic, both with just over 0.7%, and then Korean and Tagalog, with 0.6% and 0.5% respectively.[209]

English was passed as the Commonwealth's official language by statutes in 1981 and again in 1996, though the status is not mandated by the Constitution of Virginia.[210] While a more homogenized American English is found in urban areas, various accents are also used.[211] The Piedmont region is known for its non-rhotic dialect's strong influence on Southern American English, and a BBC America study in 2014 ranked it as one of the most identifiable accents in American English.[212] 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.[211][213] The English spoken on Tangier Island in the Chesapeake Bay, preserved by the island's isolation, contains many phrases and euphemisms not found anywhere else and is said to closely resemble Elizabethan English or "Restoration English."[214][215]

### Religion[edit | edit source]

See also: Religion in early Virginia

Religious groups (2014 est.)

|  |
Protestant |

| 58%
Unaffiliated |

| 20%
Catholic |

| 12%
Mormon |

| 2%
Eastern Orthodox |

| 1%
Other faith |

| 6%

Virginia is predominantly Christian and Protestant; Baptist denominations combined to form largest group with over a quarter of the population as of 2014[update].[216] Baptist denominational groups in Virginia include the Baptist General Association of Virginia, with about 1,400 member churches, which supports both the Southern Baptist Convention and the moderate Cooperative Baptist Fellowship; and the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia with more than 500 affiliated churches, which supports the Southern Baptist Convention.[217][218] Roman Catholics are the next largest religious group with around twelve percent.[216] The Roman Catholic Diocese of Arlington includes most of Northern Virginia's Catholic churches, while the Diocese of Richmond covers the rest.

File:Easter Sunrise Service at Arlington National Cemetery 2019.jpg

Since 1927, Arlington National Cemetery has hosted an annual nondenominational sunrise service every Easter.[219]

The United Methodist Church, representing about six percent of Virginians, has the Virginia Conference as their regional body in most of the Commonwealth, while the Holston Conference represents much of extreme Southwest Virginia. Around five percent of Virginians attend Pentecostal churches, while around three percent attend Presbyterian churches, which are split between the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the Presbyterian Church in America. The Lutheran Church, under the Virginia Synod, Congregational churches, and Episcopalian adherents each comprised less than two percent of the population as of 2014[update].[216] The Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, Southern Virginia, and Southwestern Virginia support the various Episcopal churches.

In November 2006, fifteen conservative Episcopal churches voted to split from the Diocese of Virginia over the ordination of openly gay bishops and clergy in other dioceses of the Episcopal Church; these churches continue to claim affiliation with the larger Anglican Communion through other bodies outside the United States. Though Virginia law allows parishioners to determine their church's affiliation, the diocese claimed the secessionist churches' buildings and properties. The resulting property law case, ultimately decided in favor of the mainline diocese, was a test for Episcopal churches nationwide.[220]

Among other religions, adherents of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints constitute just over one percent of the population, with 216 congregations in Virginia as of 2022[update].[221] Fairfax Station is the site of the Ekoji Buddhist Temple, of the Jodo Shinshu school, and the Hindu Durga Temple. Sterling is the home of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society, which, with its eleven satellite branches, considers itself the second largest Muslim mosque community in the country.[222] While the state's Jewish population is small, organized Jewish sites date to 1789 with Congregation Beth Ahabah.[223] Megachurches in the Commonwealth include Thomas Road Baptist Church, Immanuel Bible Church, and McLean Bible Church,[224] and the twenty percent who describe themselves as unaffiliated also include seven percent who say religion is important to them, but may not attend regular services with formal membership.[225] Several Christian universities are also based in the state, including Regent University, Liberty University, and the University of Lynchburg.

## Economy[edit | edit source]

Main article: Economy of Virginia

See also: Virginia locations by per capita income

Virginia counties and cities by median household income (2015–2019)

Virginia's economy has diverse sources of income, including local and federal government, military, farming and high-tech. The state's average earnings per job was $63,281, the 11th-highest nationwide,[226] and the gross domestic product (GDP) was $476.4 billion in 2018, the 13th-largest among U.S. states.[227] Prior to the COVID-19 recession, in March 2020, Virginia had 4.36 million people employed with an unemployment rate of 2.9%,[228] but jobless claims due to the virus soared over 10% in early April 2020,[229] before leaving off around 5% in November 2020.[230] In September 2022, it was 2.6%, which was the 10th-lowest nationwide.[231]

Virginia has a median household income of $72,600, 11th-highest nationwide, and a poverty rate of 10.7%, 12th-lowest nationwide, as of 2018[update]. Montgomery County outside Blacksburg has the highest poverty rate in the state, with 28.5% falling below the U.S. Census poverty thresholds. 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.[232] As of 2013[update], six of the twenty highest-income counties in the United States, including the two highest,[233] as well as three of the fifty highest-income towns, are all located in Northern Virginia.[234] Though the Gini index shows Virginia has less income inequality than the national average,[235] the state's middle class is also smaller than the majority of states.[236]

Virginia's business environment has been ranked highly by various publications. In 2021, CNBC named Virginia their Top State for Business, with its deductions being mainly for the high cost of living,[237] while Forbes magazine ranked it fourth, though number one in quality of life.[238] Additionally, in 2014 a survey of 12,000 small business owners found Virginia to be one of the most friendly states for small businesses.[239] Oxfam America however ranked Virginia in 2021[update] as only the 23rd-best state to work in, with pluses for new worker protections from sexual harassment and pregnancy discrimination, but negatives for laws on organized labor and the low tipped employee minimum wage of $2.13.[240] Virginia has been an employment-at-will state since 1906 and a "right to work" state since 1947,[241][242] and though state minimum wage increased to $11 in 2021 and will increase to $12 in 2023, farm and tipped workers are specifically excluded.[243][240]

### Government agencies[edit | edit source]

File:The Pentagon, cropped square.png

The Department of Defense is headquartered in Arlington at the Pentagon, the world's largest office building.[244]

Government agencies directly employ around 700,000 people, almost 17% of all employees, as of 2021[update].[245] Approximately twelve percent of all U.S. federal procurement money is spent in Virginia, the second-highest amount after California.[246][247] As of 2019[update], 124,870 active-duty personnel and 98,506 civilians work directly for the U.S. Department of Defense across the 27 military bases in the state and the headquarters at the Pentagon,[248] and over 139,000 Virginians work for defense contracting firms, which received over $37.4 billion worth of contracts in the 2018 fiscal year.[249] Virginia has one of the highest concentrations of veterans of any state,[250] and the Hampton Roads area has the largest concentration of military personnel and assets of any metropolitan area in the world.[251]

Other large federal agencies in Northern Virginia include the Central Intelligence Agency in Langley, the National Science Foundation and U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Alexandria, the U.S. Geological Survey in Reston, and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in Bailey's Crossroads. Virginia's state government employs over 106,000 public employees, who combined have a median income of $52,401 as of 2018[update],[252] with the Departments of Education and of Transportation being the largest by expenditure.[253]

### Business[edit | edit source]

File:Virginia Beach waterfront.jpg

Ocean tourism is an important sector of Virginia Beach's economy.

Virginia was home to 653,193 separate firms in the 2012 U.S. Census Survey of Business Owners, with 54% of those majority male-owned and 36.2% majority female-owned. Approximately 28.3% of firms were also majority minority-owned, and 11.7% were veteran-owned.[200] Twenty-one Fortune 500 companies are headquartered in Virginia as of 2019[update], with the largest companies by revenue being Freddie Mac, General Dynamics, and Capital One.[254] The largest by their number of employees are Dollar Tree in Chesapeake and Hilton Worldwide Holdings in McLean.[255]

Virginia has the third highest concentration of technology workers and the fifth highest overall number among U.S. states as of 2020[update], with the 451,268 tech jobs accounting for 11.1% of all jobs in the state and earning a median salary of $98,292.[256] Many of these jobs are in Northern Virginia, which hosts a large number of software, communications, and cybersecurity companies, particularly in the Dulles Technology Corridor and Tysons Corner areas. Amazon additionally selected Crystal City for its HQ2 in 2018, while Google expanded their Reston offices in 2019. Virginia became the world's largest data center market in 2016, with Loudoun County specifically branding itself "Data Center Alley" due to the roughly 13.5 million square feet (1.25 km2) in use for data.[257][258] In 2020, the state had the second highest average internet download speeds in the United States, with 193.1 Mbit/s.[259] Computer chips first became the state's highest-grossing export in 2006,[260] and had a total export value of $827 million in 2020.[261] Though in the top quartile for diversity based on the Simpson index, only 26% of tech employees in Virginia are women, and only 13% are Black or African American.[256]

Tourism in Virginia supported an estimated 234,000 jobs in 2018, making tourism the state's fifth largest industry. It generated $26 billion, an increase of 4.4% from 2017.[262] The state was eighth nationwide in domestic travel spending in 2018, with Arlington County the top tourist destination in the state by domestic spending, followed by Fairfax County, Loudoun County, and Virginia Beach.[263] Virginia also saw 1.1 million international tourists in 2018, a five percent increase from 2017.[264]

### Agriculture[edit | edit source]

File:Farmers in Rockingham County, Virginia.jpg

Rockingham County accounts for twenty percent of Virginia's agricultural sales as of 2017[update].[265]

As of 2017[update], agriculture occupied 28% of the land in Virginia with 7.8 million acres (12,188 sq mi; 31,565 km2) of farmland. Nearly 54,000 Virginians work on the state's 43,225 farms, which average 181 acres (0.28 sq mi; 0.73 km2). Though agriculture has declined significantly since 1960 when there were twice as many farms, it remains the largest single industry in Virginia, providing for over 334,000 jobs.[266] Soybeans were the most profitable crop in Virginia in 2017, ahead of corn and cut flowers as other leading agricultural products.[267] However, the ongoing China-U.S. trade war led many Virginia farmers to plant cotton instead of soybeans in 2019.[268] Though it is no longer the primary crop, Virginia is still the third-largest producer of tobacco in the United States.[266]

Virginia is also the country's third-largest producer of seafood as of 2018[update], 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.[269][270] Commercial fishing supports 18,220 jobs as of 2020[update], while recreation fishing supports another 5,893.[271] Eastern oyster harvests had increased from 23,000 bushels in 2001 to over 500,000 in 2013,[272] but fell to 248,347 in 2019 because of low salinity in coastal waters due to heavy spring rains.[273] Those same rains however made 2019 a record wine harvest for vineyards in the Northern Neck and along the Blue Ridge Mountains, which also attract 2.3 million tourists annually.[274][275] Virginia has the seventh-highest number of wineries in the nation, with 307 as of 2020[update].[276] Cabernet franc and Chardonnay are the most grown varieties.[277]

### Taxes[edit | edit source]

State income tax is collected from those with incomes above a filing threshold; there are five income brackets, with rates ranging from 2.0% to 5.75% of taxable income.[278][279] The state sales and use tax rate is 4.3%. There is an additional 1% local tax, for a total of a 5.3% combined sales tax on most Virginia purchases. The sales tax rate is higher in three regions: Northern Virginia (6%), Hampton Roads (6%) and the Historic Triangle (7%).[280] Unlike the majority of states, Virginia has a sales tax on groceries, but at a lower rate than the general sales tax;[281] the sales tax for food and certain essential personal hygiene goods is 2.5%.[280]

Virginia's property tax is set and collected at the local government level and varies throughout the Commonwealth. Real estate is also taxed at the local level based on one hundred percent of fair market value.[282] As of fiscal year 2018, the median real estate tax rate per $100 of assessed taxable value was $1.07 for cities, $0.67 for counties, and $0.17 for towns; town rates are lower because towns (unlike cities) have a narrow range of responsibilities and are subordinate to counties.[283] Of local government tax revenue, about 61% is generated from real property taxes; about 24% from tangible personal property, sales and use, and business license tax; and 15% from other taxes (such as restaurant meal taxes, public service corporation property tax, consumer utility tax, and hotel tax).[284]

## Culture[edit | edit source]

Main article: Culture of Virginia

File:Colonial Williamsburg ladies.jpg

Colonial Virginian culture, language, and style are reenacted in Williamsburg.

Modern Virginian culture has many sources, and is part of the culture of the Southern United States.[285] The Smithsonian Institution divides Virginia into nine cultural regions, and in 2007 used their annual Folklife Festival to recognize the substantial contributions of England and Senegal on Virginian culture.[286] Virginia's culture was popularized and spread across America and the South by figures such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Robert E. Lee. Their homes in Virginia represent the birthplace of America and the South.[287]

Besides the general cuisine of the Southern United States, Virginians maintain their own particular traditions. Virginia wine is made in many parts of the Commonwealth.[275] 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.[288] Virginia furniture and architecture are typical of American colonial architecture. Thomas Jefferson and many of the Commonwealth's early leaders favored the Neoclassical architecture style, leading to its use for important state buildings. The Pennsylvania Dutch and their style can also be found in parts of the Commonwealth.[193]

Literature in Virginia often deals with the Commonwealth's extensive and sometimes troubled past. The works of Pulitzer Prize winner Ellen Glasgow often dealt with social inequalities and the role of women in her culture.[289] Glasgow's peer and close friend James Branch Cabell wrote extensively about the changing position of gentry in the Reconstruction era, and challenged its moral code with Jurgen, A Comedy of Justice.[290] William Styron approached history in works such as The Confessions of Nat Turner and Sophie's Choice.[291] Tom Wolfe has occasionally dealt with his southern heritage in bestsellers like I Am Charlotte Simmons.[292] Mount Vernon native Matt Bondurant received critical acclaim for his historic novel The Wettest County in the World about moonshiners in Franklin County during prohibition.[293] Virginia also names a state Poet Laureate.[294]

### Fine and performing arts[edit | edit source]

See also: Music of Virginia

File:The Steel Wheels The Jefferson Theater Charlottesville VA February 2019.jpg

Americana Roots Folk Rock band The Steel Wheels play at the Jefferson Theater in Charlottesville

Virginia ranks near the middle of U.S. states in terms of public spending on the arts as of 2021[update], at just over half of the national average.[295] The state government does fund some institutions, including the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the Science Museum of Virginia. Other museums include the popular Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the National Air and Space Museum and the Chrysler Museum of Art.[296] Besides these sites, many open-air museums are located in the Commonwealth, such as Colonial Williamsburg, the Frontier Culture Museum, and various historic battlefields.[297] The Virginia Foundation for the Humanities works to improve the Commonwealth's civic, cultural, and intellectual life.[298]

Theaters and venues in the Commonwealth are found both in the cities and in suburbs. The Harrison Opera House, in Norfolk, is home of the Virginia Opera. The Virginia Symphony Orchestra operates in and around Hampton Roads.[299] Resident and touring theater troupes operate from the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton.[300] 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. There is also a Children's Theater of Virginia, Theatre IV, which is the second largest touring troupe nationwide.[301] Notable music performance venues include The Birchmere, the Landmark Theater, and Jiffy Lube Live.[302] Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts is located in Vienna and is the only national park intended for use as a performing arts center.[303]

Many award-winning traditional musical artists and internationally successful popular music acts, as well as Hollywood actors come from Virginia.[1] 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.[304] The state's African tradition is found through gospel, blues, and shout bands, with both Ella Fitzgerald and Pearl Bailey coming from Newport News.[305] Contemporary Virginia is also 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.[306] Several members of country music band Old Dominion grew up in the Roanoke area, and took their band name from Virginia's state nickname.[307]

### Festivals[edit | edit source]

File:Chincoteague pony swim 2007.jpg

The annual Pony Penning features more than two hundred wild ponies swimming across the Assateague Channel into Chincoteague.

Many counties and localities host county fairs and festivals. The Virginia State Fair is held at the Meadow Event Park every September. Also in September is the Neptune Festival in Virginia Beach, which celebrates the city, the waterfront, and regional artists. Norfolk's Harborfest, in June, features boat racing and air shows.[308] Fairfax County also sponsors Celebrate Fairfax! with popular and traditional music performances.[309] The Virginia Lake Festival is held during the third weekend in July in Clarksville.[310] On the Eastern Shore island of Chincoteague the annual Pony Penning of feral Chincoteague ponies at the end of July is a unique local tradition expanded into a week-long carnival.[311]

The Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival is a six-day festival held annually in Winchester which includes parades and bluegrass concerts. The Old Time Fiddlers' Convention in Galax, begun in 1935, is one of the oldest and largest such events worldwide, and Wolf Trap hosts the Wolf Trap Opera Company, which produces an opera festival every summer.[303] The Blue Ridge Rock Festival has operated since 2017, and has brought as many as 33,000 concert-goers to the Blue Ridge Amphitheater in Pittsylvania County.[312] Two important film festivals, the Virginia Film Festival and the VCU French Film Festival, are held annually in Charlottesville and Richmond, respectively.[313]

## Media[edit | edit source]

See also: List of newspapers in Virginia, List of radio stations in Virginia, and List of television stations in Virginia

File:USA Today building.jpg

USA Today, one of the nation's most circulated newspapers, has its headquarters in McLean.

The Hampton Roads area is the 42nd-largest media market in the United States as ranked by Nielsen Media Research, while the Richmond-Petersburg area is 54th and Roanoke-Lynchburg is 69th as of 2020[update]. Northern Virginia is part of the much larger Washington, D.C. media market, which is the country's 7th-largest.[314]

There are 36 television stations in Virginia, representing each major U.S. network, part of 42 stations which serve Virginia viewers including those broadcasting from neighboring jurisdictions.[315] According the Federal Communications Commission, 595 FCC-licensed FM radio stations broadcast in Virginia, with 239 such AM stations as of 2020[update].[316][317] The nationally available Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is headquartered in Arlington. Independent PBS affiliates exist throughout Virginia, and the Arlington PBS member station WETA-TV produces programs such as the PBS NewsHour and Washington Week.

The most circulated native newspapers in the Commonwealth are Norfolk's The Virginian-Pilot with around 132,000 subscribers,[318] the Richmond Times-Dispatch with 86,219,[319] and The Roanoke Times as of 2018[update].[320] USA Today, which is headquartered in McLean, has seen its daily subscription number decline significantly from over 500,000 in 2019 to just over 180,000 in 2021, but is still the third-most circulated paper nationwide.[321] USA Today is the flagship publication of Gannett, Inc., which merged with GateHouse Media in 2019, and operates over one hundred local newspapers nationwide.[322] In Northern Virginia, The Washington Post is the dominant newspaper and provides local coverage for the region.[323] Politico, which covers national politics, has its offices in Rosslyn.[324]

## Education[edit | edit source]

Main article: Education in Virginia

File:BUF IMG 5559 (33491723285).jpg

Middle school students in Albemarle County participate in an engineering program in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution

Virginia's educational system consistently ranks in the top five states on the U.S. Department of Education's National Assessment of Educational Progress, with Virginia students outperforming the average in all subject areas and grade levels tested.[325] The 2020 Quality Counts report ranked Virginia's K–12 education eighth in the country, with a letter grade of B.[326] All school divisions must adhere to educational standards set forth by the Virginia Department of Education, which maintains an assessment and accreditation regime known as the Standards of Learning to ensure accountability.[327]

Public K–12 schools in Virginia are generally operated by the counties and cities, and not by the state. As of the 2018–19 academic year,[update] a total of 1,290,576 students were enrolled in 2,293 local and regional schools in the Commonwealth, including eight charter schools, and an additional 98 alternative and special education centers across 133 school divisions.[328][329] 2018 marked the first decline in overall enrollment in public schools, by just over 2,000 students, since 1984.[330] Besides the general public schools in Virginia, there are Governor's Schools and selective magnet schools. The Governor's Schools are a collection of more than forty regional high schools and summer programs intended for gifted students.[331] The Virginia Council for Private Education oversees the regulation of 483 state accredited private schools.[332] An additional 17,283 students receive homeschooling.[333]

In 2019, 91.5% of high school students graduated on-time after four years,[334] an increase of two percent from 2013,[335] and 89.3% of adults over the age 25 had their high school diploma.[200] Virginia has one of the smaller racial gaps in graduation rates among U.S. states,[336] with 89.7% of Black students graduating on time, compared to 94.7% of white students and 97.5% of Asian students.[334] Despite ending school segregation in the 1960s, seven percent of Virginia's public schools were rated as "intensely segregated" by The Civil Rights Project at UCLA in 2019, and the number has risen since 1989, when only three percent were.[337] 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[update], than majority white districts.[338] Elementary schools, with Virginia's smallest districts, were found to be more segregated than state middle or high schools by a 2019 VCU study.[339]

### Colleges and universities[edit | edit source]

See also: List of colleges and universities in Virginia

File:Falling Upwards; The Rotunda at the University of Virginia.jpg

The University of Virginia, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, guarantees full tuition scholarships to all in-state students from families earning up to $80,000.[340]

As of 2020[update], Virginia has the sixth highest percent of residents with bachelor's degrees or higher, with 39.5%.[200] The Department of Education recognizes 163 colleges and universities in Virginia.[341] In the 2021 U.S. News & World Report ranking of national public universities, the University of Virginia is ranked 4th, the College of William and Mary is 11th, Virginia Tech is 29th, George Mason University is 65th, and Virginia Commonwealth University is 77th.[342] James Madison University is also ranked the third best regional university in the South.[343] There are 124 private institutions in the state, including Washington and Lee University and the University of Richmond, which are ranked as the country's 9th and 22nd best liberal arts colleges respectively.[341][344]

Virginia Tech and Virginia State University are the state's land-grant universities, and Virginia State is one of five historically black colleges and universities in Virginia.[345] The Virginia Military Institute is the oldest state military college.[346] Virginia also operates 23 community colleges on 40 campuses which enrolled 218,985 degree-seeking students during the 2020–2021 school year.[347] In 2021, the state made community college free for most low- and middle-income students.[348] George Mason University had the largest on-campus enrollment at 38,542 students as of 2021[update],[349] though the private Liberty University had the largest total enrollment in the state, with 88,283 online and 15,105 on-campus students in Lynchburg as of 2019[update].[350]

## Health[edit | edit source]

File:200318-N-BB298-1072 (49786116842).jpg

Patients are screened for COVID-19 outside Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, the Navy's oldest continuously operating hospital.[351]

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. Among U.S. states, Virginia has the eighteenth lowest rate of premature deaths, with 6,790 per 100,000,[125] and an infant mortality rate of 5.61 per 1,000 live births.[352] The rate of uninsured Virginians dropped to 7.9% in 2020, following an expansion of Medicare the year before.[125] Falls Church and Loudoun County were both ranked in the top ten healthiest communities in 2020 by U.S. News & World Report.[353]

There are however racial and social health disparities. With high rates of heart disease and diabetes, African Americans in Virginia had an average life expectancy four years lower than whites and twelve years lower than Asian Americans and Latinos in 2017,[354] and were disproportionately affected by COVID-19 during the coronavirus pandemic.[355] African-American mothers are also three times more likely to die while giving birth in the state.[356] Mortality rates among white middle-class Virginians have also been rising, with drug overdose, alcohol poisoning, and suicide as leading causes.[357] Suicides in the state increased by 11% between 2009 and 2021, while deaths from drug overdoses more than doubled in that time.[125]

Weight is an issue for many Virginians, and 32.2% of adults and 14.9% of 10- to 17-year-olds are obese as of 2021[update].[358] Additionally, 35% of adults are overweight and 23.3% do not exercise regularly.[359] Smoking in bars and restaurants was banned in January 2010,[360] and the percent of tobacco smokers in the state has declined from 19% in that year to 13.6% in 2021, but an additional 5.2% use e-cigarettes. Virginia does have above average percentage of residents who receive annual immunizations, ranking eleventh for yearly flu vaccinations.[125] In 2008, Virginia became the first U.S. state to mandate the HPV vaccine for girls for school attendance,[361] and 56.4% of adolescents have the vaccine.[125] As of August 2022[update], 82.2% of Virginians had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.[362]

The Virginia Board of Health regulates health care facilities, and there are ninety hospitals in Virginia with a combined 17,706 hospital beds as of 2020[update].[363] Notable examples include Inova Fairfax Hospital, the largest hospital in the Washington Metropolitan Area, and the VCU Medical Center, located on the medical campus of Virginia Commonwealth University. The University of Virginia Medical Center, part of the University of Virginia Health System, is highly ranked in endocrinology according to U.S. News & World Report.[364] Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, a teaching institution of Eastern Virginia Medical School, was the site of the first successful in-vitro fertilization program.[365] Virginia has a ratio of 241 primary care physicians per 10,000 residents, the fifteenth worst rate nationally, and only 207.8 mental health providers per that number, the thirteenth worst nationwide.[125] As of 2021[update], the state's eight public mental health care facilities were 96% full, causing delays in admissions.[366]

## Transportation[edit | edit source]

Main article: Transportation in Virginia

File:Tysons Corner Sunset .jpg

The Silver Line extension of the Washington Metro system opened in Tysons in 2014.

Because of the 1932 Byrd Road Act, the state government controls most of Virginia's roads, instead of a local county authority as is usual in other states.[367] As of 2018[update], the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) owns and operates 57,867 miles (93,128 km) of the total 70,105 miles (112,823 km) of roads in the state, making it the third largest state highway system in the United States.[368] Traffic on Virginia's roads is among the worst in the nation according to the 2019 American Community Survey. The average commute time of 28.7 minutes is the eighth longest among U.S. states, and the Washington Metropolitan Area, which includes Northern Virginia, has the second worst rate of traffic congestion among U.S. cities.[369] About 9.2% of workers in Virginia reported carpooling to work in 2019,[370] and Virginia hit peak car usage before the year 2000, making it one of the first such states.[371]

About 4.4% of Virginians commute on public transit,[370] and there were over 171.9 million public transit trips in Virginia in 2019, over 62% of which were done on the Washington Metro transit system, which serves Arlington and Alexandria, and extends into Loudoun and Fairfax Counties.[372] Virginia has Amtrak passenger rail service along several corridors, and Virginia Railway Express (VRE) maintains two commuter lines into Washington, D.C. from Fredericksburg and Manassas. VRE averaged over 90,000 weekly riders in 2019, but saw a dramatic 90% decline in ridership due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.[373] Major freight railroads in Virginia include Norfolk Southern and CSX Transportation, and in 2021 the state finalized a deal to purchase 223 miles (359 km) of track and over 350 miles (560 km) of right of way from CSX for future passenger rail service.[374] Commuter buses include the Fairfax Connector, FRED buses in Fredericksburg, and OmniRide in Prince William County,[375] while the state-run Virginia Breeze buses run four inter-city routes from Washington, D.C. to Bristol, Blacksburg, Martinsville, and Danville.[376] VDOT operates several free ferries throughout Virginia, the most notable being the Jamestown Ferry which connects Jamestown to Scotland Wharf across the James River.[377]

Virginia has five major airports: Washington Dulles International and Reagan Washington National in Northern Virginia, both of which handle more than twenty million passengers a year, Richmond International southeast of the state capital, and Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport and Norfolk International in Hampton Roads. Several other airports offer limited commercial passenger service, and sixty-six public airports serve the state's aviation needs.[378] The Virginia Port Authority's main seaports are those in Hampton Roads, which carried 61,505,700 short tons (55,797,000 t) of total cargo in 2021[update], the sixth most of United States ports.[379] 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.[380][381] Space tourism is also offered through Vienna-based Space Adventures.[382]

## Law and government[edit | edit source]

Main article: Government of Virginia

File:MJK50147 Virginia State Capitol.jpg

The Virginia State Capitol, designed by Thomas Jefferson and Charles-Louis Clérisseau, is home to the Virginia General Assembly.

In 1619, the first Virginia General Assembly met at Jamestown Church, and included 22 locally elected representatives, making Virginia's legislature the oldest of its kind in the North America.[383] The elected members became the House of Burgesses in 1642, and governed with the Governor's Council, which was appointed by the British monarchy, until Virginians declared their independence from Britain in 1776. The current General Assembly is the 162nd since that year. The government today functions under the seventh Constitution of Virginia, which was approved by voters in 1970 went into effect in July 1971.[77] It is similar to the federal structure in that it provides for three branches: a strong legislature, an executive, and a unified judicial system.[384]

Virginia's legislature is bicameral with a 100-member House of Delegates and 40-member Senate, who together write the laws for the Commonwealth. Delegates serve two-year terms, while senators serve four-year terms, with the next scheduled elections for both taking place in November 2023. The executive department includes the governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general, who are elected every four years in separate elections, with the most recent taking place in November 2021. The governor must be at least thirty years old and incumbent governors cannot run for re-election, however the lieutenant governor and attorney general can, and governors can and have served non-consecutive terms.[384] The lieutenant governor is the official head of the Senate, and is responsible for breaking ties. The House elects a Speaker of the House and the Senate elects a President pro tempore, who presides when the lieutenant governor isn't present, and both houses elect a clerk and majority and minority leaders.[385] The governor also nominates their eleven cabinet members and others who head various state departments.

State budgets are biannual and proposed by the governor in even years.[386] Based on data through 2018, the Pew Center on the States found Virginia's government to be above average in running surpluses,[387] and U.S. News & World Report ranked the state eighteenth in fiscal stability.[388] The legislature starts regular sessions on the second Wednesday of every year, which meet for up to 48 days in odd years and 60 days in even years to allow more time for the state budget.[385] After regular sessions end, special sessions can be called either by the governor or with agreement of two-thirds of both houses, and nineteen special sessions have been called since 2000, typically for legislation on preselected issues.[389] Though not a full-time legislature, the Assembly is classified as a hybrid because special sessions are not limited by the state constitution and often last several months.[390]

### Judicial system[edit | edit source]

File:SupremeCourtofVirginiaBuilding.JPG

Unlike the federal system, justices of the Virginia Supreme Court have term limits and a mandatory retirement age, and select their own Chief Justice.

The judges and justices who make up Virginia's judicial system, also the oldest in America, are elected by a majority vote in both the House and Senate without input from the governor, one way Virginia's legislature is stronger than its executive. The system consists of a hierarchy from the Supreme Court of Virginia and the Court of Appeals of Virginia to the Circuit Courts, the trial courts of general jurisdiction, and the lower General District Courts and Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Courts.[391] The Supreme Court has seven justices who serve twelve-year terms, with a mandatory retirement age of 73. The Supreme Court selects its own Chief Justice from among their seven members, who is informally limited to two four-year terms.[392] 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.[393][394]

The 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.[395] The largest law enforcement agency in Virginia is the Virginia State Police, with 3,022 sworn and civilian members as of 2018[update].[396] The Virginia Marine Police patrol coastal areas, and were founded as the "Oyster Navy" in 1864 in response to oyster bed poaching.[397] The Virginia Capitol Police protect the legislature and executive department, and are the oldest police department in the United States, dating to the guards who protected the colonial leadership.[398] The governor can also call upon the Virginia National Guard, which consists of approximately 7,200 army soldiers, 1,200 airmen, 300 Defense Force members, and 400 civilians.[399]

The death penalty was abolished in 2021. Over 1,300 people have been executed by the state since 1608, including 113 following the resumption of capital punishment in 1982.[400] Virginia's prison system incarcerates 30,936 people as of 2018[update], 53% of whom are Black,[401] and the state has the sixteenth-highest rate of incarceration in the country, at 422 per 100,000 residents.[402] Prisoner parole was ended in 1995,[403] and Virginia's rate of recidivism of released felons who are re-convicted within three years and sentenced to a year or more is 23.1%, the lowest in the country as of 2019[update].[404][405] Virginia has the fourth lowest violent crime rate and thirteenth lowest property crime rate as of 2018[update].[406] Between 2008 and 2017, arrests for drug-related crimes rose 38%, with 71% of those related to marijuana,[407] which Virginia decriminalized in July 2020 and legalized in July 2021.[408][409]

## Politics[edit | edit source]

Main article: Politics of Virginia

File:Shad Planking.jpg

Mirroring Virginia's political transition, the annual Shad Planking event in Wakefield has evolved from a vestige of the Byrd era into a regular stop for many state campaigns.[410]

Over the past century, Virginia has shifted politically from being a largely rural, conservative, Southern bloc member to a state that is more urbanized, pluralistic, and politically moderate, as both greater enfranchisement and demographic shifts have changed the electorate. Up until the 1970s, Virginia was a racially divided one-party state dominated by the Byrd Organization.[411] They sought to stymie the political power of Northern Virginia, perpetuate segregation, and successfully restricted voter registration such that between 1905 and 1948, roughly one-third of votes in the state were cast by state employees and officeholders themselves, and voter turnout was regularly below ten percent.[412][413] The organization used malapportionment to manipulate what areas were over-represented in the General Assembly and the U.S. Congress until ordered to end the practice by the 1964 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Davis v. Mann and the 1965 Virginia Supreme Court decision in Wilkins v. Davis respectively.[414]

Enforcement of federal civil rights legislation passed in the mid-1960s helped overturn the state's Jim Crow laws that effectively disfranchised African Americans, who have since become the most reliable bloc of Democratic voters.[415] The Voting Rights Act of 1965 made Virginia one of nine states that were required to receive federal approval for changes to voting laws, until the system for including states was struck down in 2013.[416] A strict photo identification requirement, added under Governor Bob McDonnell in 2014, was repealed in 2020,[417] and the Voting Rights Act of Virginia was passed in 2021, requiring preclearance from the state Attorney General for local election changes that could result in disenfranchisement, including closing or moving polling sites.[418] Though many Jim Crow provisions were removed in Virginia's 1971 constitution, a lifetime ban on voting for felony convictions was unchanged, and by 2016, up to twenty percent of African Americans in Virginia were disenfranchised because of prior felonies.[419] That year, Governor Terry McAuliffe ended the lifetime ban and individually restored voting rights to over 200,000 ex-felons.[412] 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.[420]

Regional differences also play a large part in Virginia politics. While urban and expanding suburban areas, including much of Northern Virginia, form the modern Democratic Party base, rural southern and western areas moved to support the Republican Party in response to its "southern strategy" starting around 1970.[421][422] Rural Democratic support has nevertheless persisted in union-influenced Roanoke in Southwest Virginia, college towns such as Charlottesville and Blacksburg, and the southeastern Black Belt Region.[423] Educational attainment and gender have become strong indicators of political alignment, with the majority of women in Virginia supporting Democratic presidential candidates since 1980.[424] International immigration and domestic migration into Virginia have also increased the proportion of eligible voters born outside the state from 44% in 1980 to 55% in 2019.[425]

### State elections[edit | edit source]

See also: Elections in Virginia and Political party strength in Virginia

File:Virginia House of Delegates election map by party changes, 2021.svg

2021 Virginia House of Delegates election results:

Republican hold (45 seats)

Republican gain (7 seats)

Democratic hold (48 seats)

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. House of Delegates elections take place concurrent with each of those elections as members have two-year terms. National politics often play a role in state election outcomes, and Virginians have elected governors of the party opposite the U.S. president in eleven of the last twelve contests, with only Terry McAuliffe beating the trend in 2013.[426][427] McAuliffe, a Democrat, was elected during Barack Obama's second presidential term.[428] Republicans at that time held a supermajority of seats in the House of Delegates, which they had first gained in the 2011 state elections,[429] and a one-vote majority the state senate, both of which they maintained in the 2015 elections.[430] The 2011 and 2015 elections also had the lowest voter turnout in recent history, with just 28.6% and 29.1% of registered voters participating respectively.[431]

The 2017 state elections resulted in Democrats holding the three executive offices, with outgoing lieutenant governor Ralph Northam winning the governorship, Justin Fairfax elected lieutenant governor, and Mark Herring continuing as attorney general. In concurrent House of Delegates elections, Democrats flipped fifteen of the Republicans' previous sixteen-seat majority.[432] Control of the House came down to a tied election in the 94th district, which the Republican won by a drawing of lots, giving the party a slim 51–49 majority in the 2018–19 legislative sessions.[433] At this time, Virginia was ranked as having the most gerrymandered state legislature, as Republicans controlled the House with only 44.5% of the total vote.[434] In 2019, federal courts found that eleven House district lines, including the 94th, were unconstitutionally drawn to discriminate against African Americans.[435][436] Adjusted districts were used in the 2019 elections, when Democrats won full control of the General Assembly, despite a political crisis earlier that year.[437][438] Voters in 2020 then passed a referendum to give control of drawing both state and congressional districts to a commission of eight citizens and four legislators from each of the two major parties, rather than the legislature.[439]

In 2021, Glenn Youngkin became the first Republican to win the governor's race since 2009.[440] Republicans also won the lieutenant governor's race[441] and the race for attorney general.[442]

### Federal elections[edit | edit source]

See also: United States presidential elections in Virginia

Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, Virginia's two U.S. Senators, are both former governors.

Though Virginia was considered a "swing state" in the 2008 presidential election,[443] Virginia's thirteen electoral votes were carried in that election and the three since by Democratic candidates, including Joe Biden, who won by over ten percent in 2020, suggesting the state has shifted to being reliably Democratic in presidential elections. 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.[444] 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.[445]

Virginia's two U.S. Senators are in classes 1 and 2. In class 1, Republican incumbent George Allen lost races in 2006 to Democratic newcomer Jim Webb, and again in 2012 to Webb's successor, former Governor Tim Kaine.[446] In 2008, Democrats also won the class 2 seat when former Governor Mark Warner was elected to replace retiring Republican John Warner.[447] 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". In the 2010 mid-term elections, the first under President Obama, Republicans flipped the 2nd and 5th seats from the Democrats, who had flipped both in the previous election, as well as the 9th. In the 2018 mid-terms, the first under President Trump, Democrats took back the 2nd, as well as the 7th and 10th, giving them currently seven seats to the Republicans' four.[448]

## Sports[edit | edit source]

See also: Sports teams in Virginia

The annual Monument Avenue 10K in Richmond has become one of the ten largest timed races in the U.S.[449]

Virginia is the most populous U.S. state without a major professional sports league franchise. The reasons for this include the lack of any dominant city or market within the state, a reluctance to publicly finance stadiums, and the proximity of teams in Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Charlotte, and Raleigh.[450] A proposed arena in Virginia Beach designed for an NBA franchise became the latest unsuccessful sports initiative when the city council there ended support in 2017.[451] Virginia Beach had previously been considered for an NBA franchise in 1987, which ultimately became the Charlotte Hornets.[452] The Virginia Squires of the ABA started in Norfolk in 1970, but lost momentum after trading "Dr. J" Julius Erving and folded just one month before the ABA–NBA merger in 1976.[453]

Five minor league baseball and two mid-level hockey teams play in Virginia. Norfolk is host to two: The Triple-A Norfolk Tides and the ECHL's Norfolk Admirals. The Double-A Richmond Flying Squirrels began playing at The Diamond in 2010,[454] while the Fredericksburg Nationals, Lynchburg Hillcats, and Salem Red Sox play in the Low-A East league.[455] Loudoun United FC, the reserve team of D.C. United, debuted in the USL Championship in 2019,[456] while the Richmond Kickers of the USL League One have operated since 1993 and are the only team in their league to win both the league championship and the U.S. Open Cup in the same year.[457] The Washington Commanders also have their headquarters in Ashburn and their training facility in Richmond,[458] and the Washington Capitals practice at MedStar Capitals Iceplex in Ballston.

Virginia has many professional caliber golf courses including Kingsmill Resort outside Williamsburg, which hosts an LPGA Tour tournament in May, and the Country Club of Virginia outside Richmond, which hosts a charity classic on the men's senior tour in October. NASCAR currently schedules Cup Series races on two tracks in Virginia: Martinsville Speedway and Richmond Raceway. Virginia natives currently competing in the series include Denny Hamlin and Elliott Sadler.[459] Hampton Roads has produced several Olympic gold medalists, including Gabby Douglas, the first African American to win gymnastics individual all-around gold,[460] and LaShawn Merritt, Francena McCorory, and Michael Cherry, who have all won gold in the 4 × 400 metres relay.[461] Major long-distance races in the state include the Richmond Marathon, the Blue Ridge Marathon on the Parkway, and the Monument Avenue 10K.

### College sports[edit | edit source]

File:VT - UVA 2012 - Waiting for the rebound.jpg

Mike Scott and Joe Harris of the Virginia Cavaliers battle Cadarian Raines of the Virginia Tech Hokies for a rebound at Cassell Coliseum

In the absence of professional sports, several of Virginia's collegiate sports programs have attracted strong followings, with a 2015 poll showing that 34% of Virginians were fans of the Virginia Cavaliers and 28% were fans of the rival Virginia Tech Hokies, making both more popular than the surveyed regional professional teams.[462] The men's and women's college basketball programs of the Cavaliers, VCU Rams, and Old Dominion Monarchs have combined for 63 regular season conference championships and 48 conference tournament championships between them as of 2021[update]. The Hokies football team sustained a 27-year bowl streak between 1993 and 2019; James Madison Dukes football won FCS NCAA Championships in both 2004 and 2016.[463] The overall UVA men's athletics programs won the national Capital One Cup in both 2015 and 2019, and lead the Atlantic Coast Conference in NCAA championships.[464][465]

Fourteen universities in total compete in NCAA Division I, with multiple programs each in the Atlantic Coast Conference, Atlantic 10 Conference, Big South Conference, and Colonial Athletic Association. Three historically Black schools compete in the Division II Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association, and two others (Hampton and Norfolk State) compete in Division I. Several smaller schools compete in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference and the USA South Athletic Conference of NCAA Division III. The NCAA currently holds its Division III championships in football, men's basketball, volleyball, and softball in Salem.[466] State appropriated funds are not allowed to be used for either operational or capital expenses for intercollegiate athletics.[467]

### High school sports[edit | edit source]

Virginia is also 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.[468] In the 2018–2019 school year, 174,224 high school students participated in fourteen girls sports and thirteen boys sports managed by the Virginia High School League, with the most popular sports being football, outdoor track and cross country, soccer, basketball, baseball and softball, and volleyball.[469] Youth soccer leagues outside of the high school system are also popular in the state, and 18 teams from Virginia have won national championships, seventh-most among U.S. states.[470] Access to youth soccer in Virginia however has been found to be highly correlated to race and median household income, with opportunities almost completely disappearing in areas where the non-white population exceeded 90%, particularly in the Southwest and Southside regions of the Commonwealth.[471]

## State symbols[edit | edit source]

Main article: List of Virginia state symbols

File:2017-06-12 15 45 41 'Welcome to Virginia' sign along eastbound U.S. Route 58 (Wilderness Road) entering Lee County, Virginia from Claiborne County, Tennessee crop.jpg

The state slogan, "Virginia is for Lovers", has been used since 1969 and is featured on the state's welcome signs.[472]

Virginia has several nicknames, the oldest of which is the "Old Dominion." King Charles II of England first referred to "our auntient dominion of Virginia" in 1660, the year of his restoration, perhaps because Virginia was home to many of his supporters during the English Civil War.[473] These supporters were called Cavaliers, and the nickname "The Cavalier State" was popularized after the American Civil War.[474] 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.[475] Virginia has also been called the "Mother of Presidents", as eight Virginians have served as President of the United States, including four of the first five.[1]

The state's motto, Sic Semper Tyrannis, translates from Latin as "Thus Always to Tyrants", and is used on the state seal, which is then used on the flag. While the seal was designed in 1776, and the flag was first used in the 1830s, both were made official in 1930.[476] The majority of the other symbols were made official in the late 20th century.[477] The Virginia reel is among the square dances classified as the state dance.[478] In 1940, "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny" was named the state song, but it was retired in 1997 due to its references to slavery. In March 2015, Virginia's government named "Our Great Virginia", which uses the tune of "Oh Shenandoah", as the traditional state song and "Sweet Virginia Breeze" as the popular state song.[479]

## See also[edit | edit source]

* Index of Virginia-related articles
* Outline of Virginia

## Notes[edit | edit source]

1. ^ Virginia is one of only four U.S. states to use the term "Commonwealth" in its official name, along with Massachusetts, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania.

## References[edit | edit source]

1. ^ a b c "Factpack" (PDF). Virginia General Assembly. January 11, 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 28, 2008. Retrieved October 14, 2008.
2. ^ a b Burnham & Burnham 2018, pp. 277
3. ^ a b Bureau, US Census (April 26, 2021). "2020 Census Apportionment Results". The United States Census Bureau. Retrieved April 27, 2021.
4. ^ "Median Annual Household Income". The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. 2017. Retrieved March 16, 2019.
5. ^ a b Shapiro, Laurie Gwen (June 22, 2014). "Pocahontas: Fantasy and Reality". Slate Magazine. Archived from the original on June 23, 2014. Retrieved June 23, 2014.
6. ^ Wallenstein 2007, pp. 406–407.
7. ^ Kunkle, Fredrick; Vogel, Steve (May 14, 2007). "President Bush Caps Celebration Of Success in Face of Adversity". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 22, 2010. Retrieved November 11, 2009.
8. ^ "Virginia Military Dead Database Introduction". Library of Virginia. Government of Virginia. 2009. Archived from the original on September 3, 2009. Retrieved April 26, 2009.
9. ^ Puglionesi, Alicia (April 4, 2019). "How a Romanticized Take on Pocahontas Become a Touchstone of American Culture". History Chanel. Archived from the original on October 4, 2019. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
10. ^ Wood, Karenne, ed. (2007). The Virginia Indian Heritage Trail (PDF) (second ed.). Charlottesville, Virginia: Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. ISBN 978-0-9786604-3-7. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 4, 2009.
11. ^ Heinemann et al. 2007, pp. 4–11.
12. ^ Stebbins, Sarah J. (August 20, 2020). "Chronology of Powhatan Indian Activity". National Park Service. Retrieved February 14, 2022.
13. ^ "1700: Virginia Native peoples succumb to smallpox". National Institutes of Health. July 10, 2020. Retrieved June 11, 2021.
14. ^ Glanville, Jim (2009). "16th Century Spanish Invasions of Southwest Virginia" (PDF). Historical Society of Western Virginia Journal (Reprint). XVII (1): 34–42. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 12, 2013. Retrieved January 27, 2014.
15. ^ Wallenstein 2007, pp. 8–9.
16. ^ Moran 2007, p. 8.
17. ^ Stewart 2008, p. 22.
18. ^ Hulette, Elisabeth (March 19, 2012). "What's in a name?". The Virginian-Pilot. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
19. ^ Vollmann 2002, pp. 695–696.
20. ^ Conlin 2009, pp. 30–31.
21. ^ Hoffer 2006, p. 132; Grizzard & Smith 2007, pp. 128–133
22. ^ "The lost colony and Jamestown droughts" Archived September 13, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, Stahle, D. W., M. K. Cleaveland, D. B. Blanton, M. D. Therrell, and D. A. Gay. 1998. Science 280:564–567.
23. ^ Wallenstein 2007, p. 22.
24. ^ Hashaw 2007, pp. 76–77, 239–240.
25. ^ Gordon 2004, p. 17.
26. ^ Heinemann et al. 2007, pp. 37.
27. ^ Billings, Warren (2004). A Little Parliament: The Virginia General Assembly in the Seventeenth Century. Richmond: Library of Virginia. pp. 30–35. ISBN 978-0-88490-202-7.
28. ^ Eschner, Kat (March 8, 2017). "The Horrible Fate of John Casor, The First Black Man to be Declared Slave for Life in America". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved June 5, 2020.
29. ^ Hashaw 2007, pp. 211–215.
30. ^ Heinemann et al. 2007, pp. 51–59.
31. ^ Shefveland, Kristalyn Marie (2016). Anglo-Native Virginia: Trade, Conversion, and Indian Slavery in the Old Dominion, 1646-1722. Athens: University of Georgia Pres. pp. 59–61. ISBN 9780820350257.
32. ^ Heinemann et al. 2007, pp. 76–77.
33. ^ Anderson 2000, p. 23.
34. ^ Anderson 2000, pp. 42–43.
35. ^ "Signers of the Declaration (Richard Henry Lee)". National Park Service. April 13, 2006. Archived from the original on June 11, 2008. Retrieved February 2, 2008.
36. ^ Gutzman 2007, pp. 24–29.
37. ^ Heinemann et al. 2007, pp. 125–133.
38. ^ a b Schwartz, Stephan A. (May 2000). "George Mason: Forgotten Founder, He Conceived the Bill of Rights". Smithsonian. 31 (2): 142.
39. ^ Glass, Andrew (November 15, 2010). "Articles of Confederation adopted, Nov. 15, 1777". Politico. Retrieved April 23, 2021.
40. ^ Cooper 2007, p. 58.
41. ^ Ketchum 2014, pp. 155.
42. ^ Ketchum 2014, pp. 126–131, 137–139, 296.
43. ^ Heinemann et al. 2007, pp. 131–133.
44. ^ Wallenstein 2007, p. 104.
45. ^ a b Robertson 1993, pp. 8–12
46. ^ Nesbit, Scott; Nelson, Robert K.; McInnis, Maurie (November 2010). "Visualizing the Richmond Slave Trade". San Antonio: American Studies Association. Retrieved August 30, 2022.
47. ^ MacKay, Kathryn L. (May 14, 2006). "Statistics on Slavery". Weber State University. Retrieved July 23, 2022.
48. ^ Morgan 1998, p. 490.
49. ^ a b Fischer & Kelly 2000, pp. 202–208
50. ^ Bryson 2011, pp. 466–467.
51. ^ Davis 2006, pp. 125, 208–210.
52. ^ Finkelman, Paul (Spring 2011). "John Brown: America's First Terrorist?". Prologue Magazine. Vol. 43, no. 1\. U.S. National Archives. Retrieved April 24, 2021.
53. ^ Jaffa 2000, pp. 230–236, 357–358.
54. ^ Carroll, Greg (June 22, 2011). "West (by secession!) Virginia: The Wheeling Conventions, legal vs. illegal separation". The Free Lance-Star. Associated Press. Retrieved April 24, 2021.
55. ^ Goodwin 2012, pp. 4.
56. ^ Smith, Samantha (May 5, 2021). "7 things you probably didn't know about the City of Seven Hills, a.k.a Lynchburg". WSLS NBC10. Retrieved June 29, 2021.
57. ^ Robertson 1993, p. 170.
58. ^ "Honoring Virginia's fallen warriors". The Free Lance-Star. May 25, 2019. Retrieved April 25, 2021.
59. ^ a b Erickson, Mark St. John (July 29, 2017). "On this day in 1917, a giant WWI port of embarkation began to transform Hampton Roads". Virginia Daily Press. Retrieved August 10, 2022.
60. ^ Heinemann et al. 2007, pp. 249–250.
61. ^ Medford, Edna Greene (October 1992). "Land and Labor: The Quest for Black Economic Independence on Virginia's Lower Peninsula, 1865–1880". Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. 100 (4): 567–582. JSTOR 4249314. Retrieved May 21, 2021 - via JStor.
62. ^ Davis 2006, pp. 328–329.
63. ^ Morgan 1992, pp. 160–166.
64. ^ Dailey, Gilmore & Simon 2000, pp. 90–96.
65. ^ Tarter, Brent (2016). A Saga of the New South: Race, Law, and Public Debt in Virginia. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press. pp. 14, 71. ISBN 978-0-8139-3876-9.
66. ^ Dailey, Jane (1997). "Deference and Violence in the Postbellum Urban South: Manners and Massacres in Danville, Virginia". The Journal of Southern History. 63 (3): 553–590. doi:10.2307/2211650. JSTOR 2211650. Retrieved May 13, 2021.
67. ^ Dailey, Gilmore & Simon 2000, pp. 99–103.
68. ^ Wallenstein 2007, pp. 253–254.
69. ^ Styron 2011, pp. 42–43.
70. ^ Feuer 1999, pp. 50–52.
71. ^ "Editorial: Remembering the Red Summer of 1919". The Roanoke Times. July 21, 2019. Retrieved June 23, 2021.
72. ^ Johnson, Charles (July 1992). "V for Virginia: The Commonwealth Goes to War". Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. Vol. 100, no. 3\. pp. 365–398. JSTOR 4249293.
73. ^ Jones, Mark (February 2, 2013). "It Happened Here First: Arlington Students Integrate Virginia Schools". WETA. Retrieved December 2, 2021.
74. ^ Smith-Richardson, Susan; Burke, Lauren (November 27, 2021). "In the 1950s, rather than integrate its public schools, Virginia closed them". The Guardian. Retrieved December 2, 2021.
75. ^ Wallenstein 2007, pp. 340–341, 350–357.
76. ^ Williams, Michael Paul (June 28, 2014). "Civil rights progress in Va., but barriers remain". The Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved October 1, 2021.
77. ^ a b Adams, Mason (June 30, 2021). "Virginia's latest constitution turns 50". Virginia Business. Retrieved October 1, 2021.
78. ^ Heinemann et al. 2007, pp. 359–366.
79. ^ "Voting Rights". Virginia Museum of History & Culture. 2021. Retrieved May 13, 2021.
80. ^ Accordino 2000, pp. 76–78.
81. ^ "Three Things About the CIA's Langley Headquarters". Ghosts of D.C. October 2, 2013. Retrieved December 2, 2021.
82. ^ Caplan, David (March 31, 2017). "FBI re-releases 9/11 Pentagon photos". ABC News. Retrieved June 5, 2020.
83. ^ Friedenberger, Amy (April 10, 2020). "Northam signs history-making batch of gun control bills". The Roanoke Times. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
84. ^ Schneider, Gregory S.; Vozzella, Laura (July 7, 2020). "Gen. Robert E. Lee is the only Confederate icon still standing on a Richmond avenue forever changed". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
85. ^ "Mid-Atlantic Home : Mid–Atlantic Information Office : U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics". www.bls.gov. Archived from the original on April 8, 2019. Retrieved July 27, 2017.
86. ^ "United States Regions". National Geographic Society. January 3, 2012. Archived from the original on March 27, 2019. Retrieved April 29, 2017.
87. ^ "2000 Census of Population and Housing" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. April 2004. p. 71\. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 3, 2017. Retrieved November 3, 2009.
88. ^ "Supreme Court Rules for Virginia in Potomac Conflict". The Sea Grant Law Center. University of Mississippi. 2003. Archived from the original on June 10, 2010. Retrieved November 24, 2007.
89. ^ Hubbard 2009, p. 140.
90. ^ Van Zandt 1976, pp. 92–95.
91. ^ Smith 2015, pp. 71–72.
92. ^ Mathews, Dalena; Sorrell, Robert (October 6, 2018). "Pieces of the Past: Supreme Court looked at controversy over Bristol border location". Bristol Herald Courier. Archived from the original on October 6, 2018. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
93. ^ "Geological Formation". National Park Service. August 8, 2018. Retrieved July 13, 2021.
94. ^ Burnham & Burnham 2018, pp. 1.
95. ^ Kormann, Carolyn (June 8, 2018). "Tangier, the Sinking Island in the Chesapeake". The New Yorker. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
96. ^ White, Amy Brecount (April 16, 2020). "Shifting sands: Virginia's barrier islands are constantly on the move". Roadtrippers. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
97. ^ Noll, David (October 29, 2007). "Great Falls National Park on the Potomac River". Earth Science Picture of the Day. Retrieved May 28, 2021.
98. ^ Pazzaglia 2006, pp. 135–138.
99. ^ "Virginia's Agricultural Resources". Natural Resource Education Guide. Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. January 21, 2008. Archived from the original on October 20, 2008. Retrieved February 8, 2008.
100. ^ "Physiographic Regions of Virginia". The Geology of Virginia. College of William and Mary. July 2015. Retrieved June 5, 2020.
101. ^ Palmer 1998, pp. 49–51.
102. ^ Frost, Peter (August 23, 2011). "Virginia earthquake largest recorded in commonwealth". The Daily Press. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
103. ^ Choi, Charles Q. (August 23, 2012). "2011 Virginia earthquake felt by third of U.S." CBS News. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
104. ^ Mayell, Hillary (November 13, 2001). "Chesapeake Bay Crater Offers Clues to Ancient Cataclysm". National Geographic Society. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
105. ^ Harper, Scott (April 8, 2009). "Lake Drummond's Name and Origin Still a Mystery to Some". The Virginian-Pilot Daily Press. Retrieved May 27, 2021.
106. ^ Leatherman, Dale (October 12, 2017). "6 Spectacular Caves You'll Want to Explore in the Shenandoah". Washingtonian Magazine. Retrieved June 5, 2020.
107. ^ Kelly, James C.; Rasmussen, William Meade Stith (2000). The Virginia Landscape: A Cultural History. Charlottesville: Howell Press. p. 12\. ISBN 978-1-57427-110-2. Retrieved May 12, 2021.
108. ^ "Coal" (PDF). Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals, and Energy. July 31, 2008. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 3, 2015. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
109. ^ "Comparison of Annually Reported Tonnage Data". Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy. April 7, 2021. Archived from the original (XLS) on July 5, 2014. Retrieved May 12, 2021.
110. ^ Vogelsong, Sarah (September 30, 2021). "Uranium mining ban upheld as Supreme Court of Va. declines to reopen lower court ruling". The Virginia Mercury. Retrieved January 14, 2022.
111. ^ Hamilton 2016, pp. 12–13.
112. ^ a b U.S. Climate Divisional Dataset (May 2021). "Climate at a Glance". NOAA National Centers for Environmental information. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
113. ^ a b c d e f g Burnham & Burnham 2018, pp. xvii–xxi, 64
114. ^ Dresbach, Jim (April 11, 2019). "Severe weather awareness for spring, summer". Pentagram. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
115. ^ "Annual tornado drill in Virginia will be held March 17". WSET-TV. Associated Press. February 12, 2020. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
116. ^ "Annual Severe Weather Report Summary". NOAA / National Weather Service. January 7, 2021. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
117. ^ Halverson, Jeff (August 19, 2019). "Virginia's deadliest natural disaster unfolded 50 years ago from Hurricane Camille". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
118. ^ Halverson, Jeff (February 7, 2018). "Your primer to understanding Mid-Atlantic cold air damming and 'the wedge'". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
119. ^ Leayman, Emily (January 22, 2020). "Snowiest Day On Record: The Day Fairfax Co. Saw 25.5 Inches Fall". Patch. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
120. ^ Boyer, John (March 23, 2019). "We made it to the end of Richmond's snow season. Here's how our numbers stacked up". The Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
121. ^ Watts, Brent (July 6, 2016). "Virginia summers getting more hot and humid". WDBJ-TV. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
122. ^ Vogelsong, Sarah (January 15, 2020). "In Virginia and U.S., urban heat islands and past redlining practices may be linked, study finds". The Virginia Mercury. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
123. ^ Plumer, Brad; Popovich, Nadja (August 24, 2020). "How Decades of Racist Housing Policy Left Neighborhoods Sweltering". The New York Times. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
124. ^ "Report Card: Virginia". State of the Air: 2022. American Lung Association. April 21, 2022. Retrieved August 20, 2022.
125. ^ a b c d e f g "Virginia". America's Health Rankings. United Health Foundation. December 3, 2021. Retrieved January 26, 2022.
126. ^ Myatt, Kevin (August 27, 2019). "Weather Journal: You really can see more clearly on hot summer days than you used to". The Roanoke Star. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
127. ^ McGowan, Elizabeth (December 16, 2020). "Report: Dominion Energy must start planning now for coal plant transition". Energy News Network. Retrieved April 2, 2021.
128. ^ O'Keefe, Jimmy (October 4, 2019). "Virginia to develop 4 new solar energy projects". Associated Press. Archived from the original on November 22, 2019. Retrieved November 22, 2019.
129. ^ a b "State of the Forest Annual Report on Virginia's Forests 2019" (PDF). Virginia Department of Forestry. December 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 18, 2020. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
130. ^ Ward, Justin (August 17, 2016). "Gyspy Moths on wide, destructive path in Southwest Virginia". WDBJ-TV. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
131. ^ "Common Native Trees of Virginia" (PDF). Virginia Department of Forestry. April 30, 2020. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
132. ^ "Wildflowers of Northern Virginia". Prince William Conservation Alliance. May 5, 2016. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
133. ^ Quine, Katie (November 2, 2015). "Why Are the Blue Ridge Mountains Blue?". Our State. Retrieved May 30, 2021.
134. ^ a b "Virginia's Protected Lands". Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation. 2021. Retrieved May 29, 2021.
135. ^ "Virginia". National Park Service. Retrieved July 4, 2020.
136. ^ Carroll & Miller 2002, p. 158.
137. ^ "The George Washington and Jefferson National Forests". United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service. 2021. Retrieved May 29, 2021.
138. ^ Smith 2008, pp. 152–153, 356.
139. ^ "Fun Facts". Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation. May 17, 2021. Retrieved May 27, 2021.
140. ^ "Virginia Natural Area Preserves". Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation. November 20, 2020. Retrieved May 27, 2021.
141. ^ Randall Brown (January 12, 2018). "That's the Breaks: Documentary chronicles significant natural area on Virginia-Kentucky border". Knoxville News Sentinel.
142. ^ "About the Virginia Department of Forestry". 2021. Retrieved May 29, 2021.
143. ^ Perrotte, Ken (May 23, 2019). "Virginia's Newest Wildlife Management Areas are Shining Examples of How/Where to Buy". Outdoors Rambler. Retrieved May 27, 2021.
144. ^ "Enactment of Historic Legislation is Major Victory for Chesapeake Bay". Chesapeake Bay Foundation (Press release). October 30, 2020. Retrieved May 29, 2021.
145. ^ Gildart, Robert C.; Gildart, Jane (2016). Hiking Shenandoah National Park (5 ed.). Guilford, Connecticut: Falcon Guides. p. 3\. ISBN 978-1-4930-1685-3.
146. ^ Clarkson, Tee (March 3, 2018). "Clarkson: Deer populations abound, but number of hunters continues to decline". The Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
147. ^ a b c Pagels, John F. (2013). "Virginia Master Naturalist Basic Training Course" (PDF). Virginia Tech. Retrieved May 28, 2021.
148. ^ "American Black Bear". Shenandoah National Park. August 21, 2020. Retrieved May 31, 2021.
149. ^ "Wildlife Information". Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources. June 2, 2016. Retrieved July 4, 2020.
150. ^ University of Florida (December 17, 2009). "Ancient origins of modern opossum revealed". Science Daily. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
151. ^ Barry, R. & Lazell, J. (2008). "Sylvilagus obscurus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2008: e.T41301A10434606. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2008.RLTS.T41301A10434606.en.
152. ^ a b Karen Terwilliger, A Guide to Endangered and Threatened Species in Virginia (Virginia Department of Game & Inland Fisheries/McDonald & Woodward: 1995), p. 158.
153. ^ White, Mel (April 28, 2016). "Birding in Virginia". National Audubon Society. Retrieved May 28, 2021.
154. ^ "Important Bird Areas: Virginia". National Audubon Society. 2020. Retrieved July 4, 2020.
155. ^ Funk, William H. (October 8, 2017). "Peregrine falcons slow to return to Appalachia". The Chesapeake Bay Journal. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
156. ^ Paul E. Bugas, Jr.; Corbin D. Hilling; Val Kells; Michael J. Pinder; Derek A. Wheaton; Donald J. Orth (2019). Field Guide to Freshwater Fishes of Virginia. Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 13–16. ISBN 9781421433073.
157. ^ Tkacik, Christina; Dance, Scott (June 10, 2019). "As blue catfish multiply in Chesapeake Bay, watermen pursue new catch". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 2, 2020.
158. ^ Williams, John Page (March 26, 2019). "Spring Feeding". Chesapeake Bay Magazine. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
159. ^ "Blue Crabs". Chesapeake Bay Program. 2020. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
160. ^ Bzdyk, Emily (July 1, 2016). "Crayfish". Loudoun Wildlife. Retrieved May 27, 2021.
161. ^ Jeffrey C. Beane, Alvin L. Braswell, William M. Palmer, Joseph C. Mitchell & Julian R. Harrison III, Amphibians and Reptiles of the Carolinas and Virginia (2d ed.: University of North Carolina Press, 2010), pp. 51, 102.
162. ^ Springston, Rex (May 3, 2019). "Snakes in Virginia: Meet 6 you'll most likely see this season". Virginia Mercury. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
163. ^ "Virginia Basic Information". United States Census Bureau. June 25, 2018. Retrieved June 5, 2020.
164. ^ Niemeier, Bernie (September 28, 2009). "Unique structural issues make progress in Virginia difficult". Virginia Business. Archived from the original on May 11, 2011. Retrieved October 3, 2009.
165. ^ a b Austermuhle, Martin (July 14, 2017). "No Longer A County Boy: Arlington Official Says County Should Become A City". WAMU 88.5. Retrieved April 21, 2021.
166. ^ Sullivan, Patricia (December 10, 2019). "Virginia Democrats poised to relax Dillon Rule". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 7, 2020.
167. ^ "Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas Population Totals and Components of Change: 2010–2019". U.S. Census Bureau. June 18, 2020. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
168. ^ a b Olivo, Antonio (January 25, 2018). "Virginia's population growth is most robust in Washington suburbs". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
169. ^ Clabaugh, Jeff (August 9, 2017). "Booming Tysons, looming problems: Office vacancies, traffic headaches and more". WTOP. Retrieved June 7, 2020.
170. ^ Cooper, Kyle (December 31, 2019). "Loudoun County one of the fastest growing in the country". WTOP. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
171. ^ Battiata, Mary (November 27, 2005). "Silent Streams". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 12, 2008. Retrieved April 12, 2008.
172. ^ a b Davis, Marc (January 31, 2008). "Chesapeake, Suffolk on track to pass neighbors in terms of population". The Virginian-Pilot. Archived from the original on January 8, 2009. Retrieved October 20, 2008.
173. ^ "City and Town Population Totals: 2010–2019". U.S. Census Bureau. May 7, 2020. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
174. ^ "NNSY History". United States Navy. August 27, 2007. Archived from the original on September 18, 2012. Retrieved April 6, 2010.
175. ^ "All About Suffolk". Suffolk. February 12, 2007. Retrieved February 19, 2008.
176. ^ Ranaivo, Yann (January 31, 2020). "New population estimates: Montgomery County passes Roanoke". The Roanoke Star. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
177. ^ "Resident Population and Apportionment of the U.S. House of Representatives" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. December 27, 2000. Retrieved May 3, 2021.
178. ^ "Historical Population Change Data (1910–2020)". Census.gov. United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on April 29, 2021. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
179. ^ Martin, Joyce A.; Hamilton, Brady E.; Osterman, Michelle J.K.; Driscoll, Anne K. (March 23, 2021). "National Vital Statistics Reports" (PDF). National Vital Statistics System. Retrieved May 5, 2021.
180. ^ "Population Estimates Show Aging Across Race Groups Differs". U.S. Census Bureau. June 20, 2019. Retrieved June 30, 2020.
181. ^ "65 and Older Population Grows Rapidly as Baby Boomers Age". U.S. Census Bureau. June 25, 2020. Retrieved May 5, 2021.
182. ^ "Virginia". U.S. Census Bureau. June 25, 2018. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
183. ^ "State Resident Population—Components of Change: 2010 to 2018" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. December 27, 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 11, 2011. Retrieved April 6, 2010.
184. ^ Aisch, Gregor; Gebeloff, Robert; Quealy, Kevin (August 14, 2014). "Where We Came From and Where We Went, State by State". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 1, 2019. Retrieved February 23, 2017.
185. ^ a b "A Profile of Our Immigrant Neighbors in Northern Virginia". The Commonwealth Institute. July 29, 2020. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
186. ^ Montanaro, Domenico (November 4, 2013). "Demographics are destiny in Virginia". U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
187. ^ a b c "Race and Ethnicity in the United States: 2010 Census and 2020 Census". U.S. Census Bureau. August 17, 2021. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
188. ^ Miller et al. 2003, pp. 6, 147.
189. ^ Masur, Louis P. (2020). The Sum of Our Dreams: A Concise History of America. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 4–5. ISBN 978-0-19-069257-5.
190. ^ Lieberson, Stanley & Waters, Mary C. (1986). "Ethnic Groups in Flux: The Changing Ethnic Responses of American Whites". Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 487 (79): 82–86. doi:10.1177/0002716286487001004. S2CID 60711423.
191. ^ Fischer, David Hackett (1989). Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 633–639. ISBN 978-0-19-503794-4.
192. ^ "Scots-Irish Heritage". Virginia Is For Lovers. January 21, 2020. Archived from the original on November 17, 2011. Retrieved May 3, 2021.
193. ^ a b Keller, Christian B. (2001). "Pennsylvania and Virginia Germans during the Civil War". Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. 109: 37–86. Archived from the original on May 22, 2008. Retrieved April 12, 2008.
194. ^ "Selected Social Characteristics". American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. U.S. Census Bureau. 2019. Retrieved May 3, 2021.
195. ^ Pinn 2009, p. 175; Chambers 2005, pp. 10–14
196. ^ White, Michael (December 20, 2017). "How Slavery Changed the DNA of African Americans". Pacific Standard. Retrieved March 25, 2021.
197. ^ Bryc, Katarzyna; Durand, Eric Y.; Macpherson, J. Michael; Reich, David; Mountain, Joanna L. (January 8, 2015). "The Genetic Ancestry of African Americans, Latinos, and European Americans across the United States". American Journal of Human Genetics. 96 (1): 37–53. doi:10.1016/j.ajhg.2014.11.010. PMC 4289685. PMID 25529636.
198. ^ Frey, William H. (May 2004). "The New Great Migration: Black Americans' Return to the South, 1965–2000" (PDF). The Living Cities Census Series: 1–3. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 3, 2007. Retrieved September 10, 2008.
199. ^ "Virginia ranks highest in U.S. for black-white marriages". The Virginian-Pilot. Archived from the original on April 21, 2014. Retrieved April 20, 2014.
200. ^ a b c d e "U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Virginia". U.S. Census Bureau. 2019. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
201. ^ Raby, John (February 3, 2011). "Virginians in the census: 8 million total, 1M in Fairfax County". The Virginian-Pilot. Associated Press. Archived from the original on February 4, 2011. Retrieved February 4, 2011.
202. ^ Wood, Joseph (January 1997). "Vietnamese American Place Making in Northern Virginia". Geographical Review. 87 (1): 58–72. doi:10.2307/215658. JSTOR 215658.
203. ^ Wilder, Layla (March 28, 2008). "Centreville: The New Koreatown?". Fairfax County Times. Archived from the original on June 11, 2011. Retrieved November 30, 2009.
204. ^ Firestone, Nora (June 12, 2008). "Locals celebrate Philippine Independence Day". The Virginian-Pilot. Archived from the original on June 17, 2008. Retrieved September 30, 2008.
205. ^ Coleman, Arica L. (February 9, 2018). "From the 'Pocahontas Exception' to a 'Historical Wrong': The Hidden Cost of Formal Recognition for American Indian Tribes". Time Magazine. Retrieved April 29, 2021.
206. ^ Walburn Viviano, Meg (October 8, 2018). "Seven Virginia Tribes Celebrate Federal Recognition on York River". Chesapeake Bay Magazine. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
207. ^ Hilleary, Cecily (January 31, 2018). "US Recognizes 6 Virginia Native American Tribes". Voice of America. Retrieved April 29, 2020.
208. ^ Manske, Madison; Zernik, Alexandra (May 7, 2019). "After centuries in Virginia, tribe still waiting for U.S. recognition". WHSV-TV. Capital News Service. Retrieved April 29, 2020.
209. ^ "State Immigration Data Profiles: Virginia". Migration Policy Institute. 2019. Retrieved July 25, 2022.
210. ^ Joseph 2006, p. 63.
211. ^ a b "This accent is one of the most pleasant in the world". Augusta Free Press. December 10, 2019. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
212. ^ Brown, Laurence (September 2014). "8 American Dialects Most Brits Don't Know About". BBC America. Archived from the original on March 8, 2021. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
213. ^ Clay III, Edwin S.; Bangs, Patricia (May 9, 2005). "Virginia's Many Voices". Fairfax County, Virginia. Archived from the original on December 21, 2007. Retrieved November 28, 2007.
214. ^ Rao, Veena; Stein, Eliot (February 7, 2018). "The tiny US island with a British accent". BBC. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
215. ^ Miller, John J. (August 2, 2005). "Exotic Tangier". National Review. Retrieved October 9, 2008.
216. ^ a b c "Religion in America: U.S. Religious Data, Demographics and Statistics". Pew Research Center. 2014. Archived from the original on March 12, 2019. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
217. ^ Vegh, Steven G. (November 10, 2006). "2nd Georgia church joins moderate Va. Baptist association". The Virginian-Pilot. Archived from the original on January 26, 2009. Retrieved December 18, 2007.
218. ^ "SBCV passes 500 mark". Baptist Press. November 20, 2007. Archived from the original on February 19, 2011. Retrieved December 18, 2007.
219. ^ Mondale, Arthur (March 24, 2016). "JBM-HH chaplains: Easter Sunrise Service offers chance to celebrate, grow". Pentagram. Retrieved June 20, 2021.
220. ^ Boorstein, Michelle (March 10, 2014). "Supreme Court won't hear appeal of dispute over Episcopal Church's property in Va". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on March 13, 2014. Retrieved May 1, 2014.
221. ^ Walker, Lance. "USA-Virginia". Mormon Newsroom. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
222. ^ Henry, John (April 24, 2020). "DMV mosques adjust Ramadan observance during coronavirus pandemic". WUSA9. Retrieved June 20, 2021.
223. ^ Olitzky 1996, p. 359.
224. ^ "Megachurch Search Results". Hartford Institute for Religion Research. 2008. Archived from the original on January 24, 2009. Retrieved November 7, 2008.
225. ^ Burge, Ryan (July 3, 2019). "Rise of the 'nothing in particulars' may be sign of a disjointed, disaffected and lonely future". Religion News. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
226. ^ Stebbins, Samuel; Sauter, Michael B. (February 18, 2020). "Most of the best business-friendly states are found west of the Mississippi". USA Today. Retrieved March 5, 2020.
227. ^ Stebbins, Samuel (August 1, 2019). "The fastest growing and shrinking state economies by GDP". USA Today. Retrieved March 5, 2020.
228. ^ Blackwell, John Reid (April 19, 2019). "Virginia's jobless rate unchanged from February to March at 2.9 percent, but down from 3.2 percent a year ago". The Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
229. ^ Pierceall, Kimberly (May 22, 2020). "Virginia's unemployment rate grows past 10 percent in April". The Virginian-Pilot. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
230. ^ "Economy at a Glance". U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. March 19, 2021. Retrieved March 25, 2021.
231. ^ "Unemployment Rates for States, Seasonally Adjusted". U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. October 21, 2022. Retrieved November 1, 2022.
232. ^ Hamza, Adam (October 4, 2019). "Data show poverty and income trends in Virginia". NBC12. Retrieved March 5, 2020.
233. ^ Carol Morello (December 12, 2013). "The D.C. suburbs dominate the list of wealthiest U.S. counties". The Washington Post.
234. ^ Hagan, Shelly; Lu, Wei (February 13, 2019). "These Are the Wealthiest Towns in the U.S." Bloomberg. Retrieved March 5, 2020.
235. ^ Belt, Deb (October 3, 2019). "Virginia Poverty Rate Stable, Loudoun County Has Top Income". Patch Leesburg. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
236. ^ Sauter, Michael B. (February 17, 2020). "Income It Takes to Be Considered Middle Class in Every State". 24/7 Wall Street. Retrieved March 25, 2020.
237. ^ Cohn, Scott (July 13, 2021). "Virginia is back as America's Top State for Business in 2021". CNBC. Retrieved July 13, 2021.
238. ^ Sharf, Samantha (December 19, 2019). "How We Ranked The Best States For Business 2019". Forbes. Retrieved March 4, 2020.
239. ^ "Best and Worst States for Business Owners". Fundivo. August 27, 2014. Archived from the original on September 3, 2014. Retrieved August 27, 2014.
240. ^ a b "Best States to Work 2021". Oxfam America. August 23, 2021. Retrieved August 9, 2022.
241. ^ Michael, Karen (July 4, 2016). "Labor Law: No notice required to terminate an "at will" employee". The Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved March 4, 2020.
242. ^ Levitz, Eric (February 11, 2020). "VA Democrats Kill Pro-Union Bill After Learning CEOs Oppose It". New York Magazine. Retrieved March 4, 2020.
243. ^ Elwood, Karina (February 1, 2022). "Virginia Republicans advance bill to freeze minimum-wage increases". The Virginia Mercury. Retrieved April 9, 2022.
244. ^ Vogel, Steve (May 27, 2007). "How the Pentagon Got Its Shape". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on May 16, 2008. Retrieved April 21, 2009.
245. ^ "Virginia Economy at a Glance". www.bls.gov. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
246. ^ Sauter, Michael B.; Uible, Lisa; Nelson, Lisa; Hess, Alexander E. M. (August 3, 2012). "States That Get The Most Federal Money". Fox Business Network. Archived from the original on February 1, 2014. Retrieved May 1, 2014.
247. ^ Ellis, Nicole Anderson (September 1, 2008). "Virginia weighs its dependence on defense spending". Virginia Business. Archived from the original on February 6, 2010. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
248. ^ "Virginia State Profile" (PDF). Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration Program. March 22, 2021. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
249. ^ Chmura, Christine (July 7, 2019). "Economic Impact: The number of defense contracts in Virginia continues to increase, which is good news for the state's economy". The Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
250. ^ "Bob McDonnell says Virginia is No. 1 state in veterans per capita". Politifact. Archived from the original on October 7, 2013. Retrieved October 23, 2013.
251. ^ "Virginia Transportation Modeling Program". Virginia Department of Transportation. Archived from the original on August 24, 2013. Retrieved October 23, 2013.
252. ^ "2018-19 salaries of Virginia state employees". The Richmond Times-Dispatch. November 1, 2018. Archived from the original on November 11, 2020. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
253. ^ "Commonwealth Data Point Budget". Virginia Auditor of Public Accounts. 2021. Retrieved November 24, 2021.
254. ^ Gilligan, Gregory J. (May 17, 2019). "Seven companies in the Richmond region make the Fortune 500 list". The Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved March 5, 2020.
255. ^ Kolmar, Chris (February 2020). "The 100 Largest Companies In Virginia For 2020". Zippa.com. Retrieved March 5, 2020.
256. ^ a b "Cyberstates 2021" (PDF) (Press release). CompTIA. March 2021. Retrieved May 27, 2021.
257. ^ Overman, Stephenie (March 1, 2020). "You Can Google It". Virginia Business. Retrieved May 27, 2021.
258. ^ Vogelsong, Sarah (May 5, 2021). "Data centers and electric vehicles will drive up Virginia electricity demand, UVA forecaster predicts". The Virginia Mercury. Retrieved May 27, 2021.
259. ^ Cooper, Tyler; Tanberk, Julia (April 7, 2021). "Best and Worst States for Internet Coverage, Prices and Speeds, 2020". BroadbandNow. Retrieved May 27, 2021.
260. ^ Richards, Gregory (February 24, 2007). "Computer chips now lead Virginia exports". The Virginian-Pilot. Archived from the original on March 10, 2007. Retrieved September 29, 2008.
261. ^ "State Exports from Virginia". United States Census. Retrieved May 18, 2021.
262. ^ Taylor, Laura (June 10, 2019). "Governor Northam says tourism revenues reach $26 billion in Virginia in 2018". WSET-TV. Retrieved March 4, 2020.+billion+in+Virginia+in+2018&rft.date=2019-06-10&rft.aulast=Taylor&rft.aufirst=Laura&rft_id=https://wset.com/news/local/governor-northam-says-tourism-revenues-reach-26-billion-in-virginia-in-2018&rfr_id=info:sid/justapedia.org:Virginia" class="Z3988">
263. ^ Gambrell, Holly (September 30, 2019). "Northern Virginia leads state's tourism with 3 local counties topping the list". Northern Virginia Magazine. Retrieved March 4, 2020.
264. ^ Patterson, Erin (October 23, 2019). "International tourism to Virginia reaches record level". 13NewsNow. Retrieved March 4, 2020.
265. ^ Wetzler, Jessica (July 6, 2019). "Agriculture 'Lifeblood' Of The Region, Economy". The Daily News-Record. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
266. ^ a b "Virginia Agriculture—Facts and Figures". Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. 2017. Retrieved March 8, 2020.
267. ^ "Virginia's Top 20 Farm Commodities". Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. 2017. Retrieved March 8, 2020.
268. ^ Vogelsong, Sarah (January 17, 2020). "2019 was good for cotton, bad for soybeans and tobacco in Virginia". Virginia Mercury. Retrieved March 8, 2020.
269. ^ Mozo, Jessica (July 15, 2018). "Virginia Produces More Hard Shell Clams Than Any Other State". Farm Flavor. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
270. ^ McBryde, John (January 21, 2015). "Virginia's Bountiful Seafood Harvest". Archived from the original on November 19, 2015. Retrieved November 18, 2015.
271. ^ Sparks, Lisa Vernon (April 21, 2020). "Virginia's fishing industry has lost millions because of coronavirus pandemic, internal memo says". The Daily Press. Retrieved July 4, 2020.
272. ^ "Governor McAuliffe Launches New Virginia Oyster Trail" (PDF) (Press release). Governor of Virginia. August 19, 2014. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 10, 2015. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
273. ^ Cox, Jeremy; Wheeler, Timothy B. (November 11, 2019). "Low salinity wallops oysters in The Chesapeake Bay". Delaware Business Now. Retrieved March 8, 2020.
274. ^ Ambrose, Kevin (January 23, 2020). "'The best vintage I have experienced in Virginia': Weather in 2019 made for wonderful wine". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 8, 2020.
275. ^ a b Bhattarai, Abha (September 23, 2016). "As wine sales hit record highs, Virginia wineries are in a race for grapes". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on April 19, 2019. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
276. ^ "Statistics". Wines Vines Analytics. January 2020. Retrieved March 8, 2020.
277. ^ Luck, Jessica (October 27, 2017). "Crushing it: Why this year's harvest could put Virginia wine on the national map". C-Ville. Retrieved March 8, 2020.
278. ^ "Individual Income Tax". Virginia Department of Taxation. Retrieved July 4, 2020.
279. ^ Morgan Scarboro (March 2018). Fiscal Fact No. 576: State Individual Income Tax Rates and Brackets for 2018 (PDF) (Report). Tax Foundation.
280. ^ a b "Retail Sales and Use Tax". Virginia Department of Taxation. Retrieved July 4, 2020.
281. ^ Eric Figueroa; Juliette Legendre (April 1, 2020). "States That Still Impose Sales Taxes on Groceries Should Consider Reducing or Eliminating Them". Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
282. ^ Stephen C. Kulp (January 2018). Virginia Local Tax Rates, 2017 (PDF) (Report) (36th annual ed.). Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service, University of Virginia/LexisNexis. p. 7.
283. ^ Stephen C. Kulp (January 2018). Virginia Local Tax Rates, 2017 (PDF) (Report) (36th annual ed.). Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service, University of Virginia/LexisNexis. p. 8.
284. ^ Stephen C. Kulp (January 2018). Virginia Local Tax Rates, 2017 (PDF) (Report) (36th annual ed.). Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service, University of Virginia/LexisNexis. p. viii.
285. ^ Fischer & Kelly 2000, pp. 102–103.
286. ^ "Roots of Virginia Culture" (PDF). Smithsonian Folklife Festival 2007. Smithsonian Institution. July 5, 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 1, 2008. Retrieved September 29, 2008.
287. ^ McGraw 2005, p. 14.
288. ^ Williamson 2008, p. 41.
289. ^ Gray & Robinson 2004, pp. 81, 103.
290. ^ Kirkpatrick, Mary Alice. "Summary of Jurgen: A Comedy of Justice". Library of Southern Literature. University of North Carolina. Archived from the original on June 1, 2009. Retrieved August 18, 2009.
291. ^ Lehmann-Haupt, Christopher (November 2, 2006). "William Styron, Novelist, Dies at 81". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 6, 2019. Retrieved August 18, 2009.
292. ^ Dirda, Michael (November 7, 2004). "A Coed in Full". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on July 26, 2008. Retrieved October 3, 2009.
293. ^ Jackman, Tom (May 27, 2012). "Fairfax native Matt Bondurant's book is now the movie 'Lawless'". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on May 28, 2012. Retrieved May 28, 2012.
294. ^ Fain, Travis (June 27, 2014). "Gov. taps new OIG, elections chief, hires House member". Daily Press. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
295. ^ "State Arts Agency Revenues" (PDF) (Press release). National Assembly of State Arts Agencies. February 2021. Retrieved April 29, 2021.
296. ^ Smith 2008, pp. 22–25.
297. ^ Howard, Burnham & Burnham 2006, pp. 88, 206, 292.
298. ^ "Mission & History". Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. 2007. Archived from the original on August 27, 2007. Retrieved December 9, 2007.
299. ^ Howard, Burnham & Burnham 2006, pp. 165–166.
300. ^ Goodwin 2012, p. 154.
301. ^ Prestidge, Holly (January 18, 2013). "Theater legacies: Theatre IV founders embark on a new adventure". The Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved July 13, 2021.
302. ^ Howard, Burnham & Burnham 2006, pp. 29, 121, 363, 432.
303. ^ a b Scott & Scott 2004, pp. 307–308
304. ^ "The Roots and Branches of Virginia Music". Folkways. Smithsonian Institution. 2007. Archived from the original on January 7, 2014. Retrieved January 29, 2014.
305. ^ Belcher, Craig (September 25, 2018). "Virginia's Greatest Show Never". Richmond Magazine. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
306. ^ Pace, Reggie (August 14, 2013). "12 Virginia Bands You Should Listen to Now". Paste. Archived from the original on February 2, 2014. Retrieved January 29, 2014.
307. ^ Dickens, Tad (June 3, 2014). "Old Dominion country band has Roanoke Valley roots". The Roanoke Times. Archived from the original on April 8, 2019. Retrieved April 8, 2019.
308. ^ Goodwin 2012, pp. 25, 287.
309. ^ Meyer, Marianne (June 7, 2007). "Live!". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 7, 2012. Retrieved November 7, 2008.
310. ^ "Virginia Lake Festival". Virginia Tourism Corporation. 2008. Archived from the original on January 16, 2009. Retrieved September 8, 2008.
311. ^ Hedgpeth, Dana (April 26, 2021). "Chincoteague pony swim canceled for second year due to pandemic". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 22, 2021.
312. ^ Crane, John R. (January 21, 2022). "After legal action, payments flow to companies owed by Blue Ridge Rock Festival". Danville Register & Bee. Retrieved January 23, 2022.
313. ^ Goodwin 2012, pp. 25–26.
314. ^ "Local Television Market Universe Estimates" (PDF). The Nielsen Company. September 28, 2019. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
315. ^ "Virginia TV Stations". MondoTimes. 2020. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
316. ^ "FM Query". Federal Communications Commission. June 1, 2020. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
317. ^ "AM Query". Federal Communications Commission. June 1, 2020. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
318. ^ Channick, Robert (May 29, 2018). "Tronc buys Virginian-Pilot newspaper in Norfolk". The Chicago Tribune. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
319. ^ "Dying Richmond Times-Dispatch Announces It Will Stop Making Endorsements". Blue Virginia. October 21, 2018. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
320. ^ "Top 10 Virginia Daily Newspapers by Circulation". Agility PR. January 2020. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
321. ^ Turvill, William (August 21, 2021). "Top 25 US newspapers by circulation: America's largest titles have lost 20% of print sales since Covid-19 hit". Press Gazette. Retrieved August 14, 2022.
322. ^ Bogage, Jacob (March 30, 2020). "Gannett will furlough workers at more than 100 newspapers over next three months". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
323. ^ J. L. Jeffries (2000). Virginia's Native Son: The Election and Administration of Governor L. Douglas Wilder. Purdue University Press. p. 115\. ISBN 978-1-55753-411-8.
324. ^ Dan Kennedy (2018). The Return of the Moguls: How Jeff Bezos and John Henry Are Remaking Newspapers for the Twenty-First Century. ForeEdge/University Press of New England. p. 26.
325. ^ Mattingly, Justin (April 10, 2018). "Virginia students fare above average on 'The Nation's Report Card'". The Culpepper Star-Exponent. Retrieved July 12, 2020.
326. ^ "Quality Counts 2021: Educational Opportunities and Performance in Virginia". Education Week. January 19, 2021. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
327. ^ "Virginia School Report Card". Virginia Department of Education. 2007. Archived from the original on February 11, 2008. Retrieved February 2, 2008.
328. ^ "State Report Cards". Virginia Department of Education. 2018. Archived from the original on November 29, 2016. Retrieved May 1, 2011.
329. ^ "Public School report" (CSV). Virginia Department of Education. 2018. Archived from the original on November 12, 2017. Retrieved March 16, 2019.
330. ^ Lombard, Hamilton (December 17, 2018). "Virginia's school enrollment declined in 2018 for the first time in decades". Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service. Archived from the original on April 3, 2019. Retrieved March 16, 2019.
331. ^ "Governor's School Program". Virginia Department of Education. 2019. Archived from the original on March 6, 2019. Retrieved March 16, 2019.
332. ^ "School Locater". Virginia Council for Private Education. 2018. Retrieved March 16, 2019.
333. ^ "Home-Schooled Students and Religious Exemptions" (XLS). Virginia Department of Education. 2018. Retrieved March 16, 2019.
334. ^ a b "Virginia Department of Education: 91.5% of Class of 2019 to graduate on time". 13NewsNow. October 9, 2019. Retrieved July 11, 2020.
335. ^ Connors, Mike; Gregory, Sara (October 1, 2018). "Graduation rates inch up around Virginia; some Hampton Roads divisions see improvement". The Virginian-Pilot. Archived from the original on March 5, 2019. Retrieved March 16, 2019.
336. ^ "The Racial Gap in Four-Year High School Graduation Rates". Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. March 16, 2020. Retrieved July 11, 2020.
337. ^ Hankerson, Mechelle (August 26, 2019). "Decades after Brown decision, Virginia is still grappling with school segregation". The Virginia Mercury. Retrieved July 11, 2020.
338. ^ Meckler, Laura (February 26, 2019). "Report finds $23 billion racial funding gap for schools". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 12, 2020.
339. ^ Hunter, Kenya (November 14, 2020). "VCU study: School segregation worsening in Virginia". The Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
340. ^ Pauly, Megan (October 2, 2019). "UVA Promises Free Tuition To Middle Income Students, Similar Trend At Other Universities Nationwide". Virginia Public Media/NPR. Retrieved July 12, 2020.
341. ^ a b "College Navigator—Search Results". National Center for Education Statistics. United States Department of Education. 2022. Retrieved August 9, 2022.
342. ^ "Top Public National Universities 2019". U.S. News & World Report. March 9, 2021. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
343. ^ "Regional Universities South Rankings". U.S. News & World Report. September 9, 2018. Archived from the original on March 15, 2019. Retrieved March 16, 2019.
344. ^ "National Liberal Arts Colleges Ranking". U.S. News & World Report. March 9, 2021. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
345. ^ Willis, Samantha (September 22, 2015). "The Fierce Five: Virginia HBCUs". Richmond Magazine. Retrieved May 26, 2021.
346. ^ Mattingly, Justin (December 20, 2018). "'We were no different': Virginia Military Institute integrated 50 years ago". Richmond Times-Dispatch. Archived from the original on December 24, 2018. Retrieved March 16, 2019.
347. ^ "VCCS Fact Sheet 2020–2021" (DOCX). Virginia's Community Colleges. March 9, 2021. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
348. ^ Hall, Delaney (March 30, 2021). "Virginia governor signs bills creating tuition-free community college program for low, middle-income students". ABC8 WRIC. Retrieved March 31, 2021.
349. ^ "Mason Facts and Figures 2020-2021". George Mason University. July 2021. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
350. ^ Hayes, Heather B. (December 31, 2018). "Teaching outside the box". Virginia Business. Archived from the original on March 27, 2019. Retrieved March 26, 2019.
351. ^ Russell, Lia (October 26, 2008). "Stories march through doors of 1827 Naval Medical Center". The Virginian-Pilot. Retrieved January 15, 2022.
352. ^ Ely, Danielle M.; Driscoll, Anne K. (July 16, 2020). "Infant Mortality in the United States, 2018: Data From the Period Linked Birth/Infant Death File" (PDF). National Vital Statistics Reports. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Retrieved March 29, 2020.
353. ^ Woodfork, Rob (September 22, 2020). "Virginia has 2 of US News' 10 healthiest communities for 2020". WTOP. Retrieved September 23, 2020.
354. ^ Willis, Samantha (December 1, 2017). "Racial disparity in health care". Richmond Free Press. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
355. ^ Eller, Donnelle (May 5, 2020). "Fact check: Black people make up disproportionate share of COVID-19 deaths in Richmond, Virginia". USA Today. Retrieved June 2, 2020.
356. ^ Hafner, Katherine (June 29, 2018). "Black women in Virginia die in childbirth at 3 times the rate of any other race. What's going on?". The Virginian-Pilot. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
357. ^ Rife, Luanne (March 21, 2018). "Report finds death rates rise for white, middle-class Virginians". The Roanoke Times. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
358. ^ "Childhood Obesity New Data". State of Childhood Obesity. 2021. Retrieved January 26, 2022.
359. ^ Janney, Elizabeth (May 10, 2018). "Virginia Is Fatter Than 21 Other States: Report". Patch. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
360. ^ "Va. restaurant owners bracing for smoke ban". The Washington Times. Associated Press. November 30, 2009. Archived from the original on December 1, 2011. Retrieved May 6, 2011.
361. ^ Kumar, Anita (February 27, 2012). "Va. Senate kills bill repealing HPV vaccine requirement for girls". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 2, 2020.
362. ^ "COVID-19 Vaccine Summary". Virginia Department of Health. August 9, 2022. Retrieved August 9, 2022.
363. ^ "Individual Hospital Statistics for Virginia". American Hospital Directory. May 7, 2020. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
364. ^ "University of Virginia Medical Center, Charlottesville". Best Hospitals. U.S. News & World Report. 2007. Archived from the original on June 15, 2008. Retrieved February 6, 2008.
365. ^ Lascara, Virginia (July 31, 2015). "EVMS scientist and father of U.S. in vitro fertilization dies at age 104". The Virginian Pilot. Retrieved April 21, 2021.
366. ^ Martz, Michael (April 20, 2021). "'Dangerously high' census at mental hospitals puts burden on law enforcement". The Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
367. ^ O'Leary, Amy A. (April 1998). "Beyond the Byrd Road Act: VDOT's Relationship with Virginia's Urban Counties" (PDF). Virginia Department of Transportation. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 8, 2011. Retrieved October 3, 2009.
368. ^ "Virginia's Highway System". Virginia Department of Transportation. February 13, 2018. Archived from the original on May 11, 2011. Retrieved March 16, 2019.
369. ^ Murillo, Mike (September 17, 2020). "DC region among worst nationwide for commute times, ranking reveals". WTOP. Retrieved March 31, 2021.
370. ^ a b "Means of Transportation to Work by Selected Characteristics". American Community Survey. U.S. Census Bureau. 2019. Retrieved March 31, 2021.
371. ^ Badger, Emily. "The American decline in driving actually began way earlier than you think". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved September 3, 2017.
372. ^ "Transit Agency Ridership Report Fiscal Year 2019" (PDF). Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation. December 12, 2019. Retrieved March 31, 2021.
373. ^ Foretek, Jared (February 22, 2021). "VRE ridership still down 90%; future projections 'uncertain'". InsideNoVa. Retrieved March 31, 2021.
374. ^ Lazo, Luz (March 30, 2021). "Virginia seals deal for $3.7 billion rail plan, including new Potomac River bridge". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 31, 2021.
375. ^ Smith, Max (July 11, 2019). "Ahead of I-395 tolling start, Virginia looks at more bus service". WTOP. Retrieved March 4, 2020.
376. ^ Gordon, Wyatt (August 12, 2022). "Virginia's answer to Greyhound shows rural areas are worth serving". Virginia Mercury. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
377. ^ "Ferry Information". Virginia Department of Transportation. December 4, 2007. Archived from the original on February 11, 2008. Retrieved February 14, 2008.
378. ^ "Airports". Virginia Department of Aviation. 2006. Archived from the original on April 29, 2008. Retrieved April 12, 2008.
379. ^ "2021 Trade Overview" (PDF). The Port of Virginia. August 7, 2022. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
380. ^ Goodwin 2012, p. 305.
381. ^ Ruane, Michael E. (December 17, 2006). "At Va. Spaceport, Rocket Launches 1,000 Dreams". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on August 21, 2011. Retrieved September 10, 2009.
382. ^ Hart, Kim (April 21, 2007). "Travel agency launches tourists on out-of-this-world adventures". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on December 4, 2008. Retrieved May 26, 2008.
383. ^ Jacobs, Jack (July 30, 2019). "General Assembly commemorates origins of democracy in America". The Virginia Gazette. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
384. ^ a b Strum, Albert L.; Howard, A. E. Dick (June 1977). "Commentaries on the Constitution of Virginia by A. E. Dick Howard". The American Political Science Review. 71 (2): 714–715. doi:10.2307/1978427. JSTOR 1978427.
385. ^ a b "Your Guide to the Virginia General Assembly" (PDF). Virginia General Assembly. May 10, 2019. Retrieved July 27, 2020.
386. ^ Tweedy, Michael (October 4, 2018). "Understanding Virginia's Budget Process: Budget 101" (PDF). Virginia Senate Finance Committee. Retrieved July 28, 2020.
387. ^ "Revenue in 9 States Falls Short of Expenses Over the Long Term" (PDF). The Pew Center on the States. March 2020. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
388. ^ Herriott, Arianna (March 14, 2021). "Virginia ranks 7th best state to live in US". WTKR. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
389. ^ "Virginia's Legislative Information System". August 9, 2022. Retrieved August 11, 2022.
390. ^ Woods, Charlotte Rene (January 4, 2021). "What if Virginia's General Assembly operated year-round?". Charlottesville Tomorrow. Retrieved July 7, 2021.
391. ^ "Virginia Courts In Brief" (PDF). Virginia Judicial System. May 5, 2009. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 4, 2009. Retrieved August 17, 2009.
392. ^ Green, Frank (May 12, 2010). "Hassell to step down as the state's chief justice". Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved September 26, 2013.
393. ^ Heymann, Amelia (March 31, 2021). "Gov. Northam signs 14 new bills into law last minute". ABC8 WRIC. Retrieved April 1, 2021.
394. ^ Oliver, Ned (March 8, 2021). "Virginia Court of Appeals set to get six new judges after lawmakers agree to expansion". The Virginia Mercury. Retrieved April 1, 2021.
395. ^ McDonald, Chris (April 1, 2020). "Passed bills are now before the Governor – now what?". The Voice of the Commonwealth's Counties. Retrieved March 25, 2021.
396. ^ "2018 Facts & Figures" (PDF). Virginia State Police. December 31, 2018. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
397. ^ Harper, Scott (September 15, 2007). "State says it's ready to get tough on oyster poachers". The Virginian-Pilot. Retrieved July 20, 2021.
398. ^ Lettner, Kimberly (2008). "Message from the Chief". The Division of Capitol Police. Archived from the original on May 19, 2009. Retrieved September 10, 2009.
399. ^ "About the Virginia National Guard". Virginia Army National Guard. July 1, 2020. Retrieved December 11, 2021.
400. ^ Fuchs, Hailey (March 24, 2021). "Virginia Becomes First Southern State to Abolish the Death Penalty". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 28, 2021. Retrieved March 24, 2021.
401. ^ "Incarceration Trends in Virginia" (PDF). Vera Institute of Justice. November 25, 2019. Retrieved January 28, 2021.
402. ^ "0.42% of Virginia residents are incarcerated, study finds". The Center Square. December 13, 2020. Retrieved January 28, 2021.
403. ^ David Reutter (October 9, 2019). "Parole Remains Elusive for Virginia Prisoners". Prison Legal News.
404. ^ "Virginia's recidivism rate remains lowest in the country". WCAV. February 3, 2020.
405. ^ Jeff Schwaner (April 1, 2019). "Explaining recidivism rates in Virginia, why the conversation around them is limited". The News Leader.
406. ^ Barton, Jaclyn (October 9, 2019). "Virginia ranks among states with lowest crime rates". Associated Press. Retrieved March 4, 2020.
407. ^ "Virginia Index Crime and Drug Arrest Trends 2008–2017" (PDF). Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services. May 2019. Retrieved March 25, 2021.
408. ^ Henry, John (March 23, 2021). "As Northam considers marijuana bill, some Virginians push for legalization now". WUSA9. Retrieved March 25, 2021.
409. ^ Ruiz, Michael (April 22, 2021). "Virginia latest state to legalize marijuana after Gov. Northam signs new law". Fox Business. Retrieved April 23, 2021.
410. ^ Vozzella, Laura (April 23, 2016). "Shad Planking, a venerable Va. political confab, tries to reel in a new crowd". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on February 22, 2019. Retrieved February 21, 2019.
411. ^ Sweeney, James R. (1999). ""Sheep without a Shepherd": The New Deal Faction in the Virginia Democratic Party". Presidential Studies Quarterly. 29 (2): 438. doi:10.1111/1741-5705.00043. Archived from the original on August 12, 2011. Retrieved March 31, 2008.
412. ^ a b Ford, Matt (April 27, 2016). "The Racist Roots of Virginia's Felon Disenfranchisement". The Atlantic. Retrieved May 13, 2021.
413. ^ Donahue, Patricia Farrell (2017). Participation, Community, and Public Policy in a Virginia Suburb: Of Our Own Making. Lexington Books. pp. 154–56. ISBN 978-1-4985-2977-8.
414. ^ Altman, Micah; McDonald, Michael P. (March 1, 2013). "A Half-Century of Virginia Redistricting Battles: Shifting from Rural Malapportionment to Voting Rights to Public Participation" (PDF). University of Richmond Law Review. 47 (3). Retrieved July 11, 2020.
415. ^ Burchett, Michael H. (Summer 1997). "Promise and prejudice: Wise County, Virginia and the Great Migration, 1910–1920". The Journal of Negro History. 82 (3): 312–327. doi:10.2307/2717675. JSTOR 2717675. S2CID 141153760.
416. ^ Schmidt, Markus; Martz, Michael (June 26, 2013). "Voting rights ruling leaves Virginia in 'limbo'". The Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved May 13, 2021.
417. ^ "House Democrats vote to remove Virginia's photo ID requirement for voting". WHSV Newsroom. Capital News Service. February 11, 2020. Retrieved May 13, 2021.
418. ^ Corasaniti, Nick (March 31, 2021). "Virginia's governor announces his support for a sweeping voting rights bill". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 28, 2021. Retrieved March 31, 2021.
419. ^ Mock, Brentin (April 22, 2016). "Restoring Voting Rights to Former Felony Offenders". Bloomberg. Retrieved May 13, 2021.
420. ^ J. Pomante II, Michael; Li, Quan (December 15, 2020). "Cost of Voting in the American States: 2020". Election Law Journal: Rules, Politics, and Policy. 19 (4): 503–509. doi:10.1089/elj.2020.0666. S2CID 225139517. Retrieved January 14, 2022.
421. ^ Miller, Gary; Schofield, Norman (May 2003). "Activists and Partisan Realignment in the United States". The American Political Science Review. 97 (2): 245–260. doi:10.1017/s0003055403000650. JSTOR 3118207. S2CID 12885628.
422. ^ Skelley, Geoffrey (July 13, 2017). "The New Dominion: Virginia's Ever-Changing Electoral Map". Rasmussen Reports. Retrieved July 30, 2020.
423. ^ Clemons, Michael L.; Jones, Charles E. (July 2000). "African American Legislative Politics in Virginia". Journal of Black Studies. 30 (6, Special Issue: African American State Legislative Politics): 744–767. doi:10.1177/002193470003000603. JSTOR 2645922. S2CID 144038985.
424. ^ Lawless, Jennifer; Freedman, Paul (November 6, 2020). "What the Exit Polls Are Telling Us". UVAToday. Retrieved May 19, 2021.
425. ^ Tavernise, Sabrina; Gebeloff, Robert (November 9, 2019). "How Voters Turned Virginia From Deep Red to Solid Blue". The New York Times. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
426. ^ Chinni, Dante (November 12, 2017). "Inside the Data: What the Virginia Election Results Mean for '18". NBC News. Archived from the original on November 19, 2019. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
427. ^ Fisher, Marc (November 6, 2013). "McAuliffe narrowly wins Va. governor's race". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 7, 2019. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
428. ^ Backus, Fred; Dutton, Sarah; Kaplan, Rebecca (November 6, 2013). "McAuliffe wins nailbiter Virginia governor's race". CBS News. Archived from the original on November 6, 2013. Retrieved November 6, 2013.
429. ^ Gabriel, Trip (November 6, 2013). "Virginia G.O.P. Assesses Loss to Rival It Saw as Weak". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 7, 2019. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
430. ^ Vozzella, Laura; Portnoy, Jenna (November 3, 2015). "McAuliffe's hopes for Senate majority dashed". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 7, 2019. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
431. ^ "Summary of Virginia Registration & Turnout Statistics". Virginia Department of Elections. 2021. Retrieved May 14, 2021.
432. ^ Nirappil, Fenit (November 8, 2017). "Democrats make significant gains in Virginia legislature; control of House in play". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on September 12, 2019. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
433. ^ Moomaw, Graham (January 4, 2018). "Del. David E. Yancey wins tiebreaker for key Virginia House of Delegates seat". The Free Lance-Star. Archived from the original on January 4, 2018. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
434. ^ Grose, Christian R.; Peterson, Jordan Carr; Nelson, Matthew; Sadhwani, Sara (September 5, 2019). "The worst U.S. State Legislative Partisan Gerrymanders". USC Schwarzenegger Institute for State and Global Policy. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
435. ^ Weiner, Rachel (June 26, 2018). "Court strikes down Virginia House districts as racial gerrymandering". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 31, 2019. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
436. ^ de Vogue, Ariane; Nobles, Ryan; Cole, Devan (June 17, 2019). "Supreme Court hands Democrats a win in Virginia racial gerrymander case". CNN. Retrieved June 17, 2019.
437. ^ Gabriel, Trip (November 6, 2019). "Virginia Election: Democrats Take Full Control of State Government". The New York Times. Retrieved March 6, 2019.
438. ^ Merelli, Annalisa (November 6, 2019). "Newly redrawn voting districts hand Virginia Democrats a sweeping victory". Quartz. Archived from the original on November 7, 2019. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
439. ^ Weiner, Rachel (November 4, 2020). "Virginians approve turning redistricting over to bipartisan commission". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
440. ^ "Republican Youngkin wins Virginia governor's race in blow to Democrats, NBC News projects". NBC News. Retrieved November 3, 2021.
441. ^ "Republican Winsome Sears projected to win lieutenant governor's race". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved November 3, 2021.
442. ^ Seddiq, Grace Panetta, Oma. "Republican Jason Miyares defeats two-term Democrat Mark Herring for Virginia attorney general". Business Insider. Retrieved November 3, 2021.
443. ^ Balz, Dan (October 12, 2007). "Painting America Purple". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on July 28, 2011. Retrieved November 24, 2007.
444. ^ Metcalf, Ross (November 3, 2020). "Former swing state Virginia has picked its color — blue". The Breeze. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
445. ^ Leonor, Mel (March 3, 2020). "Virginia Democratic primary turnout highest on record, surpassing 2008". The Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved March 4, 2020.
446. ^ Lewis, Bob (November 11, 2012). "In the aftermath of the 2012 election, battleground Virginia's political winners and losers". Washington Post. Associated Press. Archived from the original on December 12, 2018. Retrieved November 24, 2012.
447. ^ Kumar, Anita (November 5, 2008). "Warner Rolls Past His Fellow Former Governor". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on March 5, 2009. Retrieved November 5, 2008.
448. ^ Marcilla, Max (November 5, 2020). "Spanberger declares victory in 7th Congressional District race". NBC 29 WVIR. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
449. ^ "14 spring races all runners should try". USA Today. February 4, 2014. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
450. ^ Madsen, Nancy (December 26, 2012). "Barrett says Virginia is the most populous state without a major league team". Politifact. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
451. ^ "Arena developer wins petition; court will hear appeal in lawsuit against Virginia Beach". 13 News Now. December 20, 2019. Retrieved February 18, 2020.
452. ^ Maier, Butch (March 14, 2017). "NBA franchise in Virginia Beach "wouldn't be impossible," but team would cost $1 billion+". The Virginian-Pilot. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
453. ^ Harrison, Don (April 7, 2014). "A League of Their Own". Virginia Living. Cape Fear Publishing. Retrieved June 27, 2016.
454. ^ O'Connor, John (April 2, 2010). "Squirrels will nest at Diamond for several years". Richmond Times-Dispatch. Archived from the original on September 19, 2012. Retrieved April 27, 2010.
455. ^ "Baseball in Virginia". Virginia is for Lovers. 2011. Archived from the original on November 17, 2011. Retrieved November 26, 2011.
456. ^ "Loudoun United FC Joins the USL for 2019". United Soccer League. Retrieved July 18, 2018.
457. ^ Kruszewski, Jackie (March 14, 2017). "The Most Underrated Sports Team in Richmond". Style Weekly. Retrieved June 7, 2020.
458. ^ Carpenter, Les; Fortier, Sam (June 2, 2020). "Redskins training camp will be held in Ashburn after NFL tells teams to use practice facilities". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 7, 2020.
459. ^ "NASCAR in Virginia". Virginia is for Lovers. 2011. Archived from the original on November 17, 2011. Retrieved November 26, 2011.
460. ^ Macur, Juliet (August 2, 2012). "A Very Long Journey Was Very Swift". The New York Times. Retrieved August 4, 2012.
461. ^ "Olympic track and field local interest roundup: McCorory collects gold despite not running for U.S. women's 4x400 in final; Merritt anchors U.S. men's 4x400 win". The Chicago Tribune. Associated Press. August 20, 2016. Retrieved April 21, 2021.
462. ^ "Virginians Favor Background Checks, Paid Sick Days". Public Policy Polling, July 21, 2015. Accessed April 17, 2021.
463. ^ AP. "James Madison beats Youngstown State for FCS title". USA Today, January 7, 2017. Accessed April 16, 2021.
464. ^ Staff Report. "UVa wins Capital One Cup for men's sports". Richmond Times-Dispatch, January 29, 2015. Accessed April 16, 2021.
465. ^ Ron Counts. "Former Cavalier Long to present Virginia with its second Capital One Cup". Daily Progress, July 10, 2019. Accessed April 16, 2021.
466. ^ Brady, Erik (December 14, 2006). "Virginia town is big game central". USA Today. Archived from the original on February 6, 2009. Retrieved February 6, 2008.
467. ^ Sylwester, MaryJo; Witosky, Tom (February 18, 2004). "Athletic spending grows as academic funds dry up". USA Today. Archived from the original on December 3, 2009. Retrieved August 16, 2010.
468. ^ Divens, Jordan (February 16, 2021). "High school basketball rankings: Millard North jumps in MaxPreps Top 25 after win vs. Oak Hill Academy". CBS Sports. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
469. ^ "Participation". Virginia High School League. December 12, 2019. Retrieved April 24, 2021.
470. ^ "Past USYS National Champions by State". US Youth Soccer. 2021. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
471. ^ "Challenge: Rising costs and commitment" (PDF). Aspen Institute. September 24, 2018. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
472. ^ Kelly, John (July 24, 2021). "Here's the story on 'Virginia is for lovers,' one of history's greatest tourism slogans". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
473. ^ Library of Virginia (1994). The Hornbook of Virginia History: A Ready-reference Guide to the Old Dominion's People, Places, and Past Volumes 62–994. p. 88\. ISBN 978-0-88490-177-8.
474. ^ Welch 2006, pp. 1–3.
475. ^ O'Hare, Erin (Spring 2015). "The Many Faces of Cavman". UVA Magazine. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
476. ^ Walker, Julian (May 1, 2010). "Cuccinelli opts for more modest Virginia state seal". The Virginian-Pilot. Retrieved June 7, 2020.
477. ^ "The state of the state emblems: Checking in on a dozen of Virginia's official symbols". The Richmond Times-Dispatch. February 18, 2017. Retrieved June 7, 2020.
478. ^ The Encyclopedia of Virginia 1999, pp. 2–15
479. ^ "Listen: Virginia Now Has 2 State Songs". Patch. March 27, 2015. Archived from the original on July 11, 2015. Retrieved July 29, 2015.

## Bibliography[edit | edit source]

* Accordino, John J. (2000). Captives of the Cold War Economy. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-275-96561-7.
* Anderson, Fred (2000). Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754–1766. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-375-40642-3.
* Bryson, Bill (2011). Home: A Short History of Private Life. New York: Anchor Books. ISBN 978-0-7679-1939-5.
* Burnham, Bill; Burnham, Mary (2018). Hiking Virginia: A Guide to Virginia's Greatest Hiking Adventures. Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot. ISBN 978-1-4930-3127-6.
* Carroll, Steven; Miller, Mark (2002). Wild Virginia: A Guide to Thirty Roadless Recreation Areas Including Shenandoah National Park. Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot. ISBN 978-0-7627-2315-7.
* Chambers, Douglas B. (2005). Murder at Montpelier: Igbo Africans in Virginia. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-57806-706-0.
* Conlin, Joseph R. (2009). The American Past: A Survey of American History. Belmont, CA: Thomson Learning. ISBN 978-0-495-56609-0.
* Cooper, Jean L. (2007). A Guide to Historic Charlottesville and Albemarle County, Virginia. Charleston, SC: The History Press. ISBN 978-1-59629-173-7.
* Dailey, Jane Elizabeth; Gilmore, Glenda Elizabeth; Simon, Bryant (2000). Jumpin' Jim Crow: Southern Politics from Civil War to Civil Rights. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-00193-7.
* Davis, David Brion (2006). Inhuman Bondage: The Rise and Fall of Slavery in the New World. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-514073-6.
* The Encyclopedia of Virginia. Vol. 1 (4 ed.). St. Clair Shores, MI: Somerset Publishers. 1999. ISBN 978-0-403-09753-1.
* Feuer, A.B. (1999). The U.S. Navy in World War I: combat at sea and in the air. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-275-96212-8.
* Fischer, David Hackett; Kelly, James C. (2000). Bound Away: Virginia and the Westward Movement. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press. ISBN 978-0-8139-1774-0.
* Goodwin, Bill (2012). Frommer's Virginia (11 ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-118-22449-6.
* Gordon, John Steele (2004). An Empire of Wealth: The Epic History of American Economic Power. New York: HarperCollins. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-06-009362-4.
* Gray, Richard J.; Robinson, Owen (2004). A Companion to the Literature and Culture of the American South. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-0-631-22404-4.
* Grizzard, Frank E.; Smith, D. Boyd (2007). Jamestown Colony: a political, social, and cultural history. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-85109-637-4.
* Gutzman, Kevin R. C. (2007). Virginia's American Revolution: From Dominion to Republic, 1776–1840. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. ISBN 978-0-7391-2131-3.
* Hamilton, John (August 15, 2016). Virginia. ABDO. ISBN 978-1-6807-7453-5. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
* Hashaw, Tim (2007). The Birth of Black America. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7867-1718-7.
* Heinemann, Ronald L.; Kolp, John G.; Parent, Anthony S. Jr.; Shade, William G. (2007). Old Dominion, New Commonwealth. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press. ISBN 978-0-8139-2609-4.
* Hoffer, Peter Charles (2006). The Brave New World: A History of Early America. Baltimore: JHU Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-8483-2.
* Howard, Blair; Burnham, Mary; Burnham, Bill (2006). The Virginia Handbook (3 ed.). Edison, NJ: Hunter Publishing. ISBN 978-1-58843-512-5.
* Hubbard, Bill Jr. (2009). American Boundaries: The Nation, the States, the Rectangular Survey. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-35591-7.
* Jaffa, Harry V. (2000). A New Birth of Freedom: Abraham Lincoln and the Coming of the Civil War. Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 978-0-8476-9952-0.
* Joseph, John Earl (2006). Language and Politics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0-7486-2453-9.
* Ketchum, Richard M. (2014). Victory at Yorktown: The Campaign That Won the Revolution. New York: Henry Holt and Co. ISBN 978-1-46687-953-9.
* McGraw, Eliza (June 24, 2005). Two Covenants: Representations of Southern Jewishness. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 978-0-8071-3043-8.
* Miller, Kerby A.; Schrier, Arnold; Boling, Bruce D.; Doyle, David N. (2003). Irish immigrants in the land of Canaan. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-504513-0.
* Moran, Michael G. (2007). Inventing Virginia: Sir Walter Raleigh and the Rhetoric of Colonization, 1584–1590. New York: Peter Lang. ISBN 978-0-8204-8694-9.
* Morgan, Lynda (1992). Emancipation in Virginia's Tobacco Belt, 1850–1870. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press. ISBN 978-0-8203-1415-0.
* Morgan, Philip D. (1998). Slave Counterpoint. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-0-8078-4717-6.
* Palmer, Tim (1998). America by Rivers. Washington, D.C.: Island Press. ISBN 978-1-55963-264-5.
* Pazzaglia, Frank James (2006). Excursions in Geology and History: Field Trips in the Middle Atlantic States. Boulder, CO: Geological Society of America. ISBN 978-0-8137-0008-3.
* Pinn, Anthony B. (2009). African American Religious Cultures. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-57607-470-1.
* Olitzky, Kerry (1996). The American Synagogue: A Historical Dictionary and Sourcebook. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-28856-2.
* Robertson, James I. (1993). Civil War Virginia: Battleground for a Nation. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press. ISBN 978-0-8139-1457-2.
* Scott, David L.; Scott, Kay W. (2004). Guide to the National Park Areas. Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot. ISBN 978-0-7627-2988-3.
* Smith, Gary Alden (2015). State and National Boundaries of the United States. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN 978-1-47660-434-3.
* Smith, Julian (2008). Moon Virginia: Including Washington, D.C (4 ed.). Berkeley, CA: Avalon Travel. ISBN 978-1-59880-011-1.
* Stewart, George (2008). Names on the Land: A Historical Account of Place-Naming in the United States. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-1-59017-273-5.
* Styron, Alexandra (2011). Reading My Father: A Memoir. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9-781-4165-9506-9.
* Van Zandt, Franklin K. (1976). Boundaries of the United States and the several States. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 95.
* Vollmann, William T. (2002). Argall: The True Story of Pocahontas and Captain John Smith. New York: Penguin Group. ISBN 978-0-14-200150-9.
* Wallenstein, Peter (2007). Cradle of America: Four Centuries of Virginia History. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas. ISBN 978-0-7006-1507-0.
* Welch, Deborah (2006). Virginia: An Illustrated History. Hippocrene Books. ISBN 978-0-7818-1115-6.
* Williamson, CiCi (2008). The Best of Virginia Farms Cookbook and Tour Book. Birmingham, AL: Menasha Ridge Press. ISBN 978-0-89732-657-5.

## External links[edit | edit source]

Justapedia supports:

* Definitions from Wiktionary
* Media from Commons
* Quotations from Wikiquote
* Travel information from Wikivoyage

### Government[edit | edit source]

* State Government website
* Virginia General Assembly
* Virginia's Judicial system

### Tourism and recreation[edit | edit source]

* Virginia Tourism Website
* Virginia State Parks
* Virginia Wildlife Management Areas

### Culture and history[edit | edit source]

* Library of Virginia
* Virginia Museum of Culture and History
* Encyclopedia Virginia

### Maps and demographics[edit | edit source]

* USGS geographic resources of Virginia
* Virginia State Climatology Office
* Virginia State Facts from USDA, Economic Research Service
* Geographic data related to Virginia at OpenStreetMap

Preceded by

New Hampshire

|  List of U.S. states by date of admission to the Union
Ratified Constitution on June 25, 1788 (10th)  | Succeeded by

New York

|
|

Places adjacent to Virginia

|  West Virginia |  Maryland |  District of Columbia

|
|

|  |
File:Flag of Kentucky.svg Kentucky |

Virginia: Outline • Index

| Atlantic Ocean
|  |
Tennessee |  North Carolina |  North Carolina

Topics related to Virginia
Old Dominion

* v
* t
* e

Commonwealth of Virginia

Richmond (capital)

Topics|

* Outline
* Administrative divisions
* Climate
* Colony
* Congressional districts
* Delegations
* Senators
* Representatives
* Environment
* Furniture
* Government
* Historic houses
* Historic Landmarks
* History
* First Families
* Slavery
* Law
* Music
* People
* Rights
* Rivers
* Scouting
* Slogan
* Sports teams
* State Fair
* State parks
* Symbols
* Tourist attractions
* Transportation
* Tribes

Culture|

* Crime
* Demographics
* Economy
* Education
* Colleges and universities
* Media
* Newspapers
* Radio
* TV
* Politics

Regions|

* Allegheny Mountains
* Atlantic Coastal Plain
* Blue Ridge
* Chesapeake Bay
* Cumberland Mountains
* Delmarva Peninsula
* Eastern Shore
* Hampton Roads
* Middle Peninsula
* Northern Neck
* Northern Virginia
* Piedmont
* Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians
* Shenandoah Valley
* South Hampton Roads
* Southside
* Southwest Virginia
* Tennessee Valley
* Tidewater
* Tri-Cities
* Virginia Peninsula
* Western Virginia

Metro areas|

* Blacksburg-Christiansburg
* Bluefield
* Bristol
* Charlottesville
* Danville
* Harrisonburg
* Lynchburg
* Martinsville
* Richmond
* Roanoke
* Staunton-Waynesboro
* Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News
* Washington-Arlington-Alexandria
* Winchester

Counties|

* Accomack
* Albemarle
* Alleghany
* Amelia
* Amherst
* Appomattox
* Arlington
* Augusta
* Bath
* Bedford
* Bland
* Botetourt
* Brunswick
* Buchanan
* Buckingham
* Campbell
* Caroline
* Carroll
* Charles City
* Charlotte
* Chesterfield
* Clarke
* Craig
* Culpeper
* Cumberland
* Dickenson
* Dinwiddie
* Essex
* Fairfax
* Fauquier
* Floyd
* Fluvanna
* Franklin
* Frederick
* Giles
* Gloucester
* Goochland
* Grayson
* Greene
* Greensville
* Halifax
* Hanover
* Henrico
* Henry
* Highland
* Isle of Wight
* James City
* King and Queen
* King George
* King William
* Lancaster
* Lee
* Loudoun
* Louisa
* Lunenburg
* Madison
* Mathews
* Mecklenburg
* Middlesex
* Montgomery
* Nelson
* New Kent
* Northampton
* Northumberland
* Nottoway
* Orange
* Page
* Patrick
* Pittsylvania
* Powhatan
* Prince Edward
* Prince George
* Prince William
* Pulaski
* Rappahannock
* Richmond
* Roanoke
* Rockbridge
* Rockingham
* Russell
* Scott
* Shenandoah
* Smyth
* Southampton
* Spotsylvania
* Stafford
* Surry
* Sussex
* Tazewell
* Warren
* Washington
* Westmoreland
* Wise
* Wythe
* York

Independent
cities|

* Alexandria
* Bristol
* Buena Vista
* Charlottesville
* Chesapeake
* Colonial Heights
* Covington
* Danville
* Emporia
* Fairfax
* Falls Church
* Franklin
* Fredericksburg
* Galax
* Hampton
* Harrisonburg
* Hopewell
* Lexington
* Lynchburg
* Manassas
* Manassas Park
* Martinsville
* Newport News
* Norfolk
* Norton
* Petersburg
* Poquoson
* Portsmouth
* Radford
* Richmond
* Roanoke
* Salem
* Staunton
* Suffolk
* Virginia Beach
* Waynesboro
* Williamsburg
* Winchester

* v
* t
* e

Mayors of cities with populations exceeding 100,000 in Virginia

1. Bobby Dyer (R)
(Virginia Beach)
2. Rick West (R)
(Chesapeake)
3. Kenny Alexander (D)
(Norfolk)
4. Levar Stoney (D)
(Richmond)
5. McKinley Price (I)
(Newport News)
6. Justin Wilson (D)
(Alexandria)
7. Donnie Tuck (D)
(Hampton)

* v
* t
* e

Protected areas of Virginia

Federal|

| National Parks|

* Shenandoah

|

National Historical Parks,
Historic Sites & Monuments|

* Appomattox Court House NHP
* Arlington House
* Booker T. Washington NM
* Cedar Creek and Belle Grove NHP
* Claude Moore Colonial Farm
* Colonial NHP
* Cumberland Gap NHP
* Fort Monroe NM
* George Washington Birthplace NM
* Harpers Ferry NHP
* Maggie L. Walker NHS

National Military Parks,
Battlefields & Battlefield Parks|

* Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania NMP
* Manassas NBP
* Petersburg NB
* Richmond NBP

National Cemeteries|

* Alexandria
* Arlington
* Balls Bluff
* City Point
* Cold Harbor
* Culpeper
* Danville
* Fort Harrison
* Fredericksburg
* Glendale
* Hampton
* Hampton VAMC
* Poplar Grove
* Quantico
* Richmond
* Seven Pines
* Staunton
* Winchester
* Yorktown

National Parkways|

* Blue Ridge Parkway
* (Blue Ridge Music Center
* Mabry Mill
* Peaks of Otter
* Rocky Knob Recreation Area)
* George Washington Memorial Parkway

National Trails|

* Appalachian Trail
* Captain John Smith Chesapeake NHT
* Overmountain Victory NHT
* Potomac Heritage Trail
* Star-Spangled Banner NHT

National
Wildlife Refuges|

* Back Bay
* Chincoteague
* Eastern Shore of Virginia
* Mason Neck
* Featherstone
* Fisherman Island
* Glenn Martin
* Great Dismal Swamp
* James River
* Nansemond
* Occoquan Bay
* Plum Tree Island
* Presquile
* Rappahannock River Valley
* Wallops Island

National Forests|

* George Washington and Jefferson

USFS National Recreation Areas|

* Mount Rogers National Recreation Area

Other NPS Areas|

* Assateague Island National Seashore
* Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network
* Prince William Forest Park
* Wolf Trap NP for the Performing Arts

Wilderness Areas|

* Barbours Creek
* James River Face
* Mountain Lake
* Priest
* Ramsey's Draft
* Rich Hole
* Rough Mountain
* Saint Mary's
* Three Ridges

National Estuarine
Research Reserves|

* Chesapeake Bay

State|

| State parks|

* Bear Creek Lake
* Belle Isle
* Breaks Interstate
* Caledon
* Chippokes Plantation
* Claytor Lake
* Clinch River
* Douthat
* Fairy Stone
* False Cape
* First Landing
* Grayson Highlands
* High Bridge Trail
* Holliday Lake
* Hungry Mother
* James River
* Kiptopeke
* Lake Anna
* Leesylvania
* Machicomoco
* Mason Neck
* Mayo River
* Middle Peninsula
* Natural Bridge
* Natural Tunnel
* New River Trail
* Occoneechee
* Pocahontas
* Powhatan
* Sailor's Creek Battlefield
* Seven Bends
* Shot Tower
* Shenandoah River
* Sky Meadows
* Smith Mountain Lake
* Southwest Virginia Museum
* Staunton River
* Staunton River Battlefield
* Tabb Monument
* Twin Lakes
* Westmoreland
* Widewater
* Wilderness Road
* York River

|

State forests|

* Appomattox-Buckingham
* Big Woods
* Bourassa
* Browne
* Channels
* Charlotte
* Chesterfield
* Chilton Woods
* Conway Robinson
* Crawfords
* Cumberland
* Devil's Backbone
* Dragon Run
* First Mountain
* Hawks
* Lesesne
* Matthews
* Moore's Creek
* Niday Place
* Old Flat
* Paul
* Prince Edward-Gallion
* Sandy Point
* South Quay
* Whitney
* Zoar

Natural Area
Preserves|

* Antioch Pines
* Bald Knob
* Bethel Beach
* Big Spring Bog
* Blackwater
* Buffalo Mountain
* Bull Run Mountains
* Bush Mill Stream
* Camp Branch Wetlands
* Cape Charles Coastal Habitat
* Cave Hill
* The Cedars
* The Channels
* Cherry Orchard Bog
* Chestnut Creek Wetlands
* Chestnut Ridge
* Chotank Creek
* Chub Sandhill
* Cleveland Barrens
* Clover Hollow
* Cowbane Prairie
* Crawford's Knob
* Crow's Nest
* Cumberland Marsh
* Dameron Marsh
* Deep Run Ponds
* Dendron Swamp
* Difficult Creek
* Elklick Woodlands
* False Cape
* Folly Mills Creek Fen
* Goshen Pass
* Grafton Ponds
* Grassy Hill
* Grayson Glades
* Hickory Hollow
* Hughlett Point
* Johnsons Creek
* Lyndhurst Ponds
* Magothy Bay
* Mark's and Jack's Island
* Mount Joy Pond
* Mutton Hunk Fen
* Naked Mountain
* New Point Comfort
* North Landing River
* Northwest River
* Ogdens Cave
* Parkers Marsh
* Parramore Island
* Pedlar Hills Glades
* Piney Grove Flatwoods
* Pinnacle
* Poor Mountain
* Redrock Mountain
* Savage Neck Dunes
* Unthanks Cave
* William B. Trower Bayshore
* Wreck Island

Wildlife
Management Areas|

* Amelia
* Big Survey
* Big Woods
* Briery Creek
* Chester F. Phelps
* Cavalier
* Chickahominy
* Clinch Mountain
* Crooked Creek
* Dick Cross
* Doe Creek
* Fairystone Farms
* Featherfin
* G. Richard Thompson
* Game Farm Marsh
* Goshen and Little North Mountain
* Hardware River
* Havens
* Hidden Valley
* Highland
* Hog Island
* Horsepen Lake
* James River
* Land's End
* Mattaponi
* Mattaponi Bluffs
* Merrimac Farm
* Mockhorn Island
* Oakley Forest
* Pettigrew
* Powhatan
* Princess Anne
* Ragged Island
* Rapidan
* Robert W. Duncan
* Saxis
* Short Hills
* Smith Mountain Cooperative
* Stewarts Creek
* T. M. Gathright
* Turkeycock
* Ware Creek
* Weston
* White Oak Mountain

Other|

| Registered Historic
Places in Virginia|

* Virginia Landmarks Register
* National Register of Historic Places listings in Virginia
* Bridges
* National Historic Landmarks

|

* Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation
* Virginia Department of Forestry
* Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries
* Virginia Department of Historic Resources

* v
* t
* e

Southern United States

Topics|

* Culture
* Cuisine
* Geography
* Economy
* Government and politics
* History
* Sports
* Black Southerners
* White Southerners

States|

* Alabama
* Arkansas
* Delaware
* Florida
* Georgia
* Kentucky
* Louisiana
* Maryland
* Mississippi
* North Carolina
* Oklahoma
* South Carolina
* Tennessee
* Texas
* Virginia
* West Virginia

Federal districts|

District of Columbia

Major cities|

* Atlanta
* Austin
* Baltimore
* Birmingham
* Charleston (SC)
* Charleston (WV)
* Charlotte
* Columbia
* Dallas
* Fort Worth
* Greensboro
* Hampton
* Hialeah
* Houston
* Jacksonville
* Little Rock
* Louisville
* Memphis
* Miami
* Nashville
* New Orleans
* Newport News
* Norfolk
* Oklahoma City
* Orlando
* Portsmouth
* Raleigh
* Richmond
* San Antonio
* St. Petersburg
* Tampa
* Tulsa
* Virginia Beach
* Washington, D.C.
* Wilmington
* Winston-Salem

State capitals|

* Annapolis
* Atlanta
* Austin
* Baton Rouge
* Charleston (WV)
* Columbia
* Dover
* Frankfort
* Jackson
* Little Rock
* Montgomery
* Nashville
* Oklahoma City
* Raleigh
* Richmond
* Tallahassee

* v
* t
* e

Thirteen Colonies

* New England Colonies
* Middle Colonies
* Chesapeake Colonies
* Tobacco Colonies
* Southern Colonies
* United Colonies

* Virginia (1607–1776)
* New Hampshire (1629–1641; 1679–1686; 1689–1776)
* Maryland (1632–1776)
* Connecticut (1636–1776)
* Rhode Island (1636–1776)
* Delaware (1664–1776)
* New Jersey (1664–1673; 1702–1776)
* New York (1664–1776)
* Pennsylvania (1681–1776)
* Massachusetts Bay (1691–1776)
* North Carolina (1712–1776)
* South Carolina (1712–1776)
* Georgia (1732–1776)

* Other British colonial entities in the contemporary United States

* Roanoke (1585–1590)
* Popham (1607–1608)
* Jamestown (1607–1699)
* Plymouth (1620–1686; 1689–1691)
* Maine (1622–1658)
* Saint Croix (1625–1650)
* Massachusetts Bay Colony (1629–1686; 1689–1691)
* Carolina (1629–1712)
* Saybrook (1635–1644)
* New Haven (1638–1664)
* New England Confederation (1643–1654; 1675–c. 1680)
* Rupert's Land (1670–1811)
* North-Western Territory (1670–1870)
* East Jersey (1674–1702)
* West Jersey (1674–1702)
* Dominion of New England (1686–1689)
* Indian Reserve (1763–1783)
* Quebec (1763–1783)
* East Florida (1763–1783)
* West Florida (1763–1783)
* New Ireland (1779–1783; 1814–1815)
* Columbia District (1810–1846)
* Red River Colony (1811–1818)
* Stickeen Territories (1862–1863)
* Colony of British Columbia (1863–1866)
* Colony of British Columbia and Vancouver Island (1866–1871)
* Province of British Columbia (1871–1903)

* Non-British colonial entities in the contemporary United States

* Columbian Viceroyalty (1492–1535)
* New Spain
* 1521–1821; Spanish Florida, 1565–1763
* New Navarre, 1565–1821
* Captaincy General of the Philippines, 1565–1898
* Captaincy General of Puerto Rico, 1580–1898
* Santa Fe de Nuevo México, 1598–1821
* Captaincy General of Cuba, 1607–1801
* Spanish Saint Croix, 1650–1651
* Spanish Texas, 1690–1821
* Las Californias, 1767–1804
* Spanish Louisiana, 1769–1801
* Provincias Internas, 1776–1821
* Spanish East Florida, 1783–1821
* Spanish West Florida, 1783–1821
* Alta California, 1804–1821
* New France
* 1534–1763; French Florida, 1562–1565
* Hospitaller Saint Croix, 1651–1665
* French Saint Croix, 1665–1733
* French Louisiana, 1682–1763 and 1801–1803
* New Netherland (1614–1667)
* Dutch Virgin Islands (1625–1672)
* New Sweden (1638–1655)
* Danish West Indies (1672–1917)
* Brandenburger Saint Thomas (1685–1754)
* Krabbeninsel (1689–1693)
* Scottish Darien Company (1698)
* Russian America (1799–1867)
* German New Guinea (1884–1919)

* Category
* Commons

* v
* t
* e

Political divisions of the Confederate States (1861–1865)

States|

* Alabama
* Arkansas
* Florida
* Georgia
* Louisiana
* Mississippi
* North Carolina
* South Carolina
* Tennessee
* Texas
* Virginia
* West Virginia1

Map of the Confederate States

Governments in exile|

* Kentucky
* Missouri

Territory|

* Arizona Territory2

* 1 Admitted to the Union June 20, 1863.
* 2 Organized January 18, 1862.

* v
* t
* e

Political divisions of the United States

List of states and territories

States|

* Alabama
* Alaska
* Arizona
* Arkansas
* California
* Colorado
* Connecticut
* Delaware
* Florida
* Georgia
* Hawaii
* Idaho
* Illinois
* Indiana
* Iowa
* Kansas
* Kentucky
* Louisiana
* Maine
* Maryland
* Massachusetts
* Michigan
* Minnesota
* Mississippi
* Missouri
* Montana
* Nebraska
* Nevada
* New Hampshire
* New Jersey
* New Mexico
* New York
* North Carolina
* North Dakota
* Ohio
* Oklahoma
* Oregon
* Pennsylvania
* Rhode Island
* South Carolina
* South Dakota
* Tennessee
* Texas
* Utah
* Vermont
* Virginia
* Washington
* West Virginia
* Wisconsin
* Wyoming

Federal district|

Washington, D.C.

Insular areas|

* American Samoa
* Guam
* Northern Mariana Islands
* Puerto Rico
* U.S. Virgin Islands

Outlying islands|

* Baker Island
* Howland Island
* Jarvis Island
* Johnston Atoll
* Kingman Reef
* Midway Atoll
* Navassa Island
* Palmyra Atoll
* Wake Island

Indian reservations|

* List of Indian reservations

Others|

* Federal enclave

Coordinates: 37°N 79°W﻿ / ﻿37°N 79°W﻿ / 37; -79﻿ (Commonwealth of Virginia)
*[Pop.]: Population
*[%±]: Percent change
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template