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Show Cowiy TtU Back , 1 t JMftT Jo 0d . lM lJU Oict jOo?niucm-" r- lit NICKNAME: The Old Dominion -., ) 6TATE FLOWER: American I y ft Dogwood rgCT "'o fN MOTTO: Sio Semper Tyrannls 1 (p"-TSrfL. lui . CAPITAL: Richmond V wasmin;tm if ft? I wm- S r.-- !f, t sFL S .ilri - TftMB J5SH B NOITH CAtlOLINA , : I i By EDWARD EMERINE WNU Features The roses nuwlier Bloom so white. As in Virginia; The sunshine nowhere Seems so bright. As in Virginia. WITH traditional leisure, charm and graciousness, Virginia proudly upholds its titles of "Old Dominion," "Cradle of a Nation," and "Birthplace of Presidents." nich In historical associations, the romance of Virginia is interwoven in warp and woof of a nation, its traditions tra-ditions and lore deep in tlie fibre of its people. A part of old England was transplanted trans-planted across the wide Atlantic, its laws and stnndards set up In a rich, new land. Through hardships, wars and trials, those principles took on new growth, the virgin soil added new strength and new meaning. They blossomed in George Washington's Wash-ington's wisdom and talent, in the magic of Thomas Jefferson's pen, in the rousing voice of Patrick Henry, Hen-ry, and in the genius and understanding under-standing of Robert E. Lee. Tidewater, the Piedmont or the valley. val-ley. Theirs was a government founded upon a constitution that guaranteed Individual liberty. They defended their beliefs; they fought for their rights. The Tobacco rebellion rebel-lion of 1676 antedated the Boston Tea party by a century! "Give me liberty or give me death," spoken by Patrick Henry, was the clarion call to independence, and Thomas Jefferson Jef-ferson set down on paper our American Amer-ican bill of rights. After the close of the Revolutionary Revolution-ary war, the great westward movement move-ment came as men sought even newer new-er lands. There were hundreds of Virginians among them, in wide-tented wide-tented wagons, dragged by horses and oxen. Three great gateways opened from Virginia to the frontier. fron-tier. To the northeast was the channel chan-nel of the Potomac river, the gateway gate-way known to Washington. In the center was the gateway of Buffalo Gap and Goshen Pass. The third was Cumberland Gap, known to Daniel Boone, and opening the towering tow-ering Cumberland mountains to ! Kentucky. While there were Virginians on every frontier, ready to pioneer and build America, most of the old stock remained close to their native soil. The Commonwealth of Virginia has never stopped building. Its soil has always been productive. Its mines and factories yield their wealth. Agriculture is constantly expanding. expand-ing. Corn and tobacco and garden truck are still grown in eastern Virginia. Vir-ginia. Cotton is raised along the southern border, and peanuts are a valuable crop. Smithfield hams, from hogs fattened on peanuts, are WILLIAM M. TUCK Governor of Virginia Former marine, school teacher, teach-er, lawyer, legislator and lieutenant lieu-tenant - governor, Gov. William Blunform Tuck is Virginia's 61st chief executive. j as the Tidewater, was the first set- j tied. The colonists planted tobac- ! co there and watched its green leaves turn to gold. Cornfields were resplendent in the sun, and gar- : dens gave generously of food for the i table. The Tidewater consists of j low-lying lands intersected by nu- i merous tidal estuaries and rivers. The central part of the state is ' known as the Piedmont, which rises to the Blue Ridge mountains. The Piedmont is noted for thoroughbred ! horses, and is the fox-hunting and At Jamestown, the first permanent perma-nent English settlement in America was made in 1607. At Yorktown in 1781 the American Revolution ended end-ed with the surrender of Cornwallis and the British army. Williamsburg, Williams-burg, settled in 1632, is said to be the oldest incorporated town in America, and was the capital of Virginia from 1699 to 1760. The Commonwealth was the scene of many campaigns in the Civil war which closed with the surrender of Lee's army, April, 1865, at Appomattox Appomat-tox court house near Lynchburg. The Commonwealth of Virginia was named for Elizabeth, England's virgin queen. "Heaven and earth never agreed better to frame a place for a man's habitation," Capt. John Smith declared. It was he who claimed this new land for his queen. Virginia's territory once included Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and West Virginia. Vir-ginia. When Charles II was crowned he wore a robe of Virginia silk, and had engraved on coins that the English kingdom should consist of "England, Scotland, Ireland and Virginia." BLL'E RIDGE MOUNTAINS . . . Overlooking the Shenandoah -valley. This scene is from a bridle path in the Shenandoah National park. A section of the 107-mile-long Skyline drive is at the right. Virginia has been the birthplace of eight Presidents, including Harrison, Har-rison, Taylor and Wilson, who were elected from other states. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe and John Tyler were residents of Virginia Vir-ginia when they took office. The names of other Virginians, however, howev-er, sprinkle the pages of history, literature, art and science. Included Includ-ed among them are Princess Pocahontas, Poca-hontas, George Rogers Clark, Meriwether Meri-wether Lewis, John Randolph, John Marshall, Stonewall Jackson, Henry Hen-ry Clay. But the list of Virginia's great is too long to name here! The topography of Virginia is a varied one. The coastal plain, known horse-racing country which perpetuates perpet-uates the sporting tradition of Old Virginia. It was Lord Fairfax who introduced fox-hunting to Virginia. Between the Blue Ridge and the Alleghenies lies the Shenandoah valley, val-ley, once known as the "granary of the Confederacy." Its climate is varied, and so are its crops. It presents a picture of wooded mountain moun-tain slopes, well-kept farms and cattle, cat-tle, fields of corn and wheat, and fruit-laden trees. Shenandoah valley, unlike the Tidewater and Piedmont, was not settled by English colonists, but by sturdy Germans from Pennsylvania famous the world over. The livestock live-stock industry exists on a large scale in the Southwest. Virginia produces bituminous coal and limestone as well as cement, clay, feldspar, gypsum, lead, manganese, man-ganese, mica, pyrite, salt, sand, slate, soapstone, zinc and even gold! Richmond is the largest cigarette-making cigarette-making center in the world. At Hopewell and elsewhere are chemical chem-ical plants. Furniture-making, lumbering lum-bering and cotton textile manufacturing manufac-turing are also extensive. At Newport New-port News is one of the largest shipbuilding ship-building plants in the United States. But leisure and good living, more than creating great fortunes, are the traditions of Virginia. Its people know the ocean front, Chesapeake bay and the rivers. There are hundreds hun-dreds of miles of beaches for bathing. bath-ing. Fishing in the bay and rivers is good. Channel bass fishing is fine! Virginians know the trout, spot, croaker, bass, rock, blue fish and many others. The days are never Quite so long. As in Virginia ; Nor near so full Of happy song, As in Virginia. vyxt? -totsv.' ..-.w -wewasyTXTrwv--.rY'-vf y Hyy.. " ""--..--' '"s vXXv.; .'. ' "'y 1 yyyyyyytyyyyyy and pioneering Scotch-Irish. They knew the long rifle, the coonskin cap, the log cabin and all the adventures ad-ventures of the frontier. It was the northern part of Shenandoah Shen-andoah valley that felt the ravages of war, not only in colonial days but later when there was war between be-tween the states. Few scars remain, for the luxuriant grass and honeysuckle hon-eysuckle vines have erased the physical wounds. Hundreds of markers along the highways alone remain to remind the traveler of the terrors and hardships of another day. Virginia molded its men into a pattern, whether they lived in the N.VILKAL IS K1DGE . . . One of Virginia's scenic wonders, it is 215 feet hiph and 90 feet across the top. |