VIRGINIA - Our Most Historically Significant State
Don't know much about Virginia? Fellow Realtor and neighbor Michael Bergen does a great job enlightening us about this great state in the following post. Which state was the birth place of the most presidents? Virginia. Including a few you might have read about.
Virginia was the birthplace of eight of our 42 presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor, and Woodrow Wilson.
Ohio comes in second, as the Buckeye State was the birthplace of seven of our 42 presidents, every one of them Republican: Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, William Howard Taft, and Warren G. Harding. Ohio also likes to claim William Henry Harrison as one of her own; although born in Virginia, he later settled in Ohio. This fact justifies why the Buckeye State vies with Old Dominion for the coveted title, "Mother of Presidents."
New York is 3rd, as the Empire State can boast of six native sons going on to the White House: Martin Van Buren, Millard Fillmore, Chester Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Theodore Roosevelt, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Ted Landphair is a long time Voice of America reporter and essayist. He also has a blog called Ted Landphair's America and he writes about the thousands of places he has visited in this wonderful country of ours.
Today I was lucky enough to stumble across a recent piece in which he notes that VIRGINIA is perhaps our most historically significant state, "not only an incubator of American independence and the cradle of American presidents — eight of them — but also the scene of ferocious, climactic battles of our great civil war."
I'll give you just a few tidbits from Ted's broadcast - Virginia Byways and Pieways - and then I'll let you read it for yourself:
- Virginia ranks 35th among the 50 states in size.
- They (Virginian's) are a rather refined lot . . . some Virginia men — mostly lawyers, of which there is an abundance — still wear white or seersucker suits and bow ties (as does this Realtor)
- (Virginia has) 40 or so fine colleges and universities.
- High-tech firms cluster around Dulles International Airport.
- Lacking any major-league sports teams, Virginia obsesses over a sport of its own — politics.
- (Virginia has) the oldest legislative body in the United States.
- In the early 1980s, Virginia briefly replaced its widely-imitated “Virginia is for Lovers” slogan — its neighbor trotted out “Maryland is for Crabs” — with a drippy “These Are Exciting Times in Virginia” campaign. That landed with such a thud that the Commonwealth rushed back to its “lovers” theme, no doubt with flowers and a box of chocolates in hand.
There is also a second post - the Old Dominion - which takes a look at Alexandria and Centreville among other cities.
It's fun to read and there are some great photographs but if you have the time I'd opt for listening to the podcasts.
MichaelMichael Bergin
Your Realtor in Alexandria and Northern Virginia - ABR - SRES - Military Relocation
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