Virginia Statehood Day

Virginia was supposed to be a silk colony. After a fungus wiped out the trees that the worms feed on, they switched to tobacco. The Virginia Department of Forestry reports that 62 percent of the Commonwealth is forested. Kentucky and West Virginia were carved out of Virginia land.

As the home of the first English settlement in the New World, Virginia has an extensive history with countless contributions to America’s political, cultural, and culinary foundations. America’s first woman-run bank was established in Richmond, Virginia’s capital city.

If you’ve visited Virginia, you’ll know that the range of accents can vary widely from the Virginia Beach coastal region to the remote mountain towns of Southwest Virginia.