Virginia

From Wikipedia, the free reference book

"The Old Dominion" redirects here. For different utilization, see Old Dominion (disambiguation) and Virginia (disambiguation).

Province of Virginia

War fleet blue banner with the roundabout Seal of Virginia fixated on it. a round seal with the words "Virginia" on the top and "Sic Semper Tyrannis" on the base. In the focal point, a lady wearing a blue frock and Athenian protective cap remains on the midsection of dead man wearing a purple breastplate and skirt. The lady holds a lance and sheathed sword. The man holds a broken chain while his crown lies far from the figures. Orange leaves encompass the seal.

Flag seal

Nickname(s): Old Dominion; Mother of Presidents; Mother of States

Motto(s): Sic semper tyrannis

(English: Thus Always to Tyrants)[1]

Virginia is spotted on the Atlantic drift along the line that partitions the Northern and Southern parts of the United States. It runs for the most part east to west. It incorporates a little landmass over an inlet which is irregular with whatever is left of the state.

Official language english

Talked languages english 94.6%, Spanish 5.4%

Demonym virginian

Capital richmond

Biggest city virginia Beach

Biggest metro washington metropolitan range

Area ranked 35th

- Total 42,774.2 sq mi

(110,785.67 km2)

- Width 200 miles (320 km)

- Length 430 miles (690 km)

- % water 7.4

- Latitude 36° 32′ N to 39° 28′ N

- Longitude 75° 15′ W to 83° 41′ W

Population ranked twelfth

- Total 8,260,405 (2013 est)[2]

- Density 206.7/sq mi  (79.8/km2)

Positioned fourteenth

- Median family income $61,044 (eighth)

Height

- Highest point mount Rogers[3][4]

5,729 ft (1746 m)

- Mean 950 ft  (290 m)

- Lowest point atlantic Ocean[3]

ocean level

Before statehood colony of Virginia

Admission to Union june 25, 1788 (tenth)

Governor terry Mcauliffe (D)

Lieutenant Governor ralph Northam (D)

Legislature general Assembly

- Upper house senate

- Lower house house of Delegates

U.s. Senators mark Warner (D)

Tim Kaine (D)

U.s. House delegation 8 Republicans,

3 Democrats (rundown)

Time zone eastern: UTC −5/−4

Abbreviations va, US-VA

Website www.virginia.gov

Virginia (Listeni/vərˈdʒɪnjə/), authoritatively the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.s. state placed in the South Atlantic locale of the United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" because of its status as a previous domain of the English Crown,[5] and "Mother of Presidents" because of the most U.s. presidents having been conceived there. The topography and atmosphere of the Commonwealth are molded by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay, which give environment to much of its greenery. The capital of the Commonwealth is Richmond; Virginia Beach is the most crowded city, and Fairfax County is the most crowded political subdivision. The Commonwealth's assessed populace starting 2013 is in excess of 8.2 million.[2]

The territory's history starts with a few indigenous gatherings, including the Powhatan. In 1607 the London Company created the Colony of Virginia as the first lasting New World English settlement. Slave work and the area procured from relocated Native American tribes each one assumed a noteworthy part in the settlement's initial governmental issues and estate economy. Virginia was one of the 13 Colonies in the American Revolution and joined the Confederacy in the American Civil War, amid which Richmond was made the Confederate capital and Virginia's northwestern regions withdrew to structure the state of West Virginia. Despite the fact that the Commonwealth was under single-gathering principle for a century after Reconstruction, both real national gatherings are focused in present day Virginia.[6]

The Virginia General Assembly is the most seasoned constant law-production body in the New World.[7] The state government has been over and over positioned best by the Pew Center on the States.[8] It is extraordinary by they way it treats urban areas and regions similarly, oversees nearby streets, and denies its governors from serving continuous terms. Virginia's economy has numerous parts: agribusiness in the Shenandoah Valley; government organizations in Northern Virginia, including the base camp of the Department of Defense and CIA; and military offices in Hampton Roads, the site of the area's fundamental seaport. Virginia's economy transitioned from basically rural to mechanical amid the 1960s and 1970s, and in 2002 workstation chips turned into the state's heading export.[9]

Substance  [hide]

1 Geography

1.1 Geology and landscape

1.2 Climate

1.3 Flora and fauna

2 History

2.1 Colony

2.2 Statehood

2.3 Civil War and outcome

2.4 Modern time

3 Cities and towns

4 Demographics

4.1 Ethnicity

4.2 Languages

4.3 Religion

5 Economy

5.1 Government

5.2 Business

5.3 Agriculture

5.4 Taxes

6 Culture

6.1 Fine and performing expressions

6.2 Festivals

7 Media

8 Education

9 Health

10 Transportation

11 Law and government

12 Politics

13 Sports

14 State images

15 See additionally

16 References

17 Bibliography

18

Culture

Principle article: Culture of Virginia

Five ladies wearing long pioneer style garments sit on the stairs of tan and beige structures talking. Before them is a wooden wheelbarrow brimming with wicker bushel.

Pilgrim Virginian society, dialect, and style are reenacted in Williamsburg.

Virginia's society was advanced and spread crosswise over America and the South by figures, for example, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Robert E. Lee. Their homes in Virginia speak to the origin of America and the South.[188] Modern Virginia society has numerous sources, and is some piece of the society of the Southern United States.[189] The Smithsonian Institution separates Virginia into nine social regions.[190]

Other than the general cooking of the Southern United States, Virginia keeps up its own particular specific customs. Virginia wine is made in numerous parts of the state.[185] Smithfield ham, at times called "Virginia ham", is a kind of nation ham which is ensured by state law, and must be created in the town of Smithfield.[191] Virginia furniture and building design are average of American pioneer construction modeling. Thomas Jefferson and large portions of the state's initial pioneers supported the Neoclassical building design style, prompting its utilization for vital state structures. The Pennsylvania Dutch and their style can likewise be found in parts of the state.[127]

Writing in Virginia regularly manages the state's far reaching and off and on again disturbed past. The works of Pulitzer Prize victor Ellen Glasgow frequently managed social imbalances and the part of ladies in her culture.[192] Glasgow's companion and close companion James Branch Cabell composed widely about the changing position of nobility in the Reconstruction period, and tested its ethical code with Jurgen, A Comedy of Justice.[193] William Styron approached history in works, for example, The Confessions of Nat Turner and Sophie's Choice.[194] Tom Wolfe has once in a while managed his southern legacy in successes like I Am Charlotte Simmons.[195] Mount Vernon local Matt Bondurant got discriminating praise for his notable novel The Wettest County in the World about moonshiners in Franklin County amid prohibition.[196] Virginia likewise names a state Poet Laureate, at present Ron Smith of Richmond, who will serve until mid-2016.[197]

Fine and performing arts[edit]

See additionally: Music of Virginia

A little, boxy, wooden stage with a trapezoidal shade remains in the core of knoll. In the forefront is a running stream with a stone bank.

The Meadow Pavilion is one of the theaters at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts.

Rich in social legacy, Virginia positions close to the lowest part of U.s. states as far as open using on expressions of the human experience, at about a large portion of the national average.[198] The state government does finance a few organizations, including the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the Science Museum of Virginia. Different storehouses incorporate the famous Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the National Air and Space Museum and the Chrysler Museum of Art.[199] Besides these locales, numerous outside storehouses are placed in the Commonwealth, for example, Colonial Williamsburg, the Frontier Culture Museum, and different notable battlefields.[200] The Virginia Foundation for the Humanities attempts to enhance the Commonwealth's city, social, and erudite life.[201]

Theaters and venues in the Commonwealth are discovered both in the urban communities and suburbs. The Harrison Opera House, in Norfolk, is home of the Virginia Opera. The Virginia Symphony Orchestra works in and around Hampton Roads.[202] Resident and visiting theater troupes work from the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton.[203] The Barter Theater, assigned the State Theater of Virginia, in Abingdon won the first ever Regional Theater Tony Award in 1948, while the Signature Theater in Arlington won it in 2009. There's additionally a Children's Theater of Virginia, Theater IV, which is the second biggest visiting troupe nationwide.[204]

Virginia has dispatched numerous grant winning conventional musical specialists and globally effective well known music acts, and in addition Hollywood actors.[1] Virginia is known for its convention in the music sorts of outdated string and twang, with gatherings, for example, the Carter Family and Stanley Brothers, and gospel, soul, and yell bands.[205] Contemporary Virginia is additionally known for people rock craftsmen like Dave Matthews and Jason Mraz, hip bounce stars like Pharrell Williams and Missy Elliott, and whip metal gatherings like GWAR and Lamb of God.[206] Notable execution venues incorporate The Birchmere, the Landmark Theater, and Jiffy Lube Live.[207] Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts is spotted in Vienna and is the main national park expected for utilization as a performing expressions center.[208]

Festivals[edit]

Many tan and white horses surge out of the shallow water onto a green shore gathered with spectators.

The yearly Chincoteague Pony Swim emphasizes in excess of 200 wild horses swimming over the Assateague Channel into Chincoteague.

Numerous areas and regions host area fairs and celebrations. The Virginia State Fair is held at the Meadow Event Park each September. Additionally in September is the Neptune Festival in Virginia Beach, which praises the city, the waterfront, and provincial craftsmen. Norfolk's Harborfest, in June, gimmicks watercraft dashing and air shows.[209] Fairfax County additionally backers Celebrate Fairfax! with mainstream and customary music performances.[210] The Virginia Lake Festival is held amid the third weekend in July in Clarksville.[211] Wolf Trap has the Wolf Trap Opera Company, which creates a musical show celebration each summer.[208] Each September, Bay Days commends the Chesapeake Bay and Hampton's 400 year history since 1610, and Isle of Wight County holds a County Fair on the second week of September also. Both peculiarity unrecorded music exhibitions, and other exceptional occasions.

On the Eastern Shore island of Chincoteague the yearly Pony Swim & Auction of wild Chincoteague p

Media

Main articles: List of radio stations in Virginia & List of television stations in Virginia
 geometric all glass towers connected by a central atrium stand in front of a grassy walkway & under a dark & cloudy sky

USA Today, the nation's most circulated newspaper, has its headquarters in McLean.
The Hampton Roads area is the 45th-largest media market in the United States as ranked by Nielsen Media Research, while the Richmond-Petersburg area is 57th & Roanoke-Lynchburg is 66th as of 2013.[213] Northern Virginia is part of the much larger Washington, D.C. media market.

There's 36 television stations in Virginia, representing each major U.S. network, part of 42 stations which serve Virginia viewers.[214] Over 720 FCC-licensed FM radio stations broadcast in Virginia, with about 300 such AM stations.[215][216] The nationally obtainable Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is headquartered in Arlington. Independent PBS associates exist throughout Virginia, & the Arlington PBS member station WETA-TV produces programs such as the PBS NewsHour & Washington Week.

The most circulated native newspapers in the Commonwealth are Norfolk's The Virginian-Pilot (142,476 every day subscribers), the Richmond Times-Dispatch (108,559), & The Roanoke Times (78,663), as of 2014.[217] Several Washington, D.C. papers are based in Northern Virginia, such as The Washington Examiner & Politico. The paper with the nation's widest circulation, USA Today, with one.83 million every day subscriptions, is headquartered in McLean.[218] Besides traditional forms of media, Virginia is the home base for telecommunication companies such as Voxant & XO Communications. In Northern Virginia, The Washington Post is the dominant newspaper, since Northern VA is located in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.

Education

The University of Virginia, a World Heritage Site, was founded by President Thomas Jefferson.[219]
Virginia's educational method consistently ranks in the top0 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.[220] The 2011 Quality Counts document ranked Virginia's K�12 schooling fourth best in the country.[221] All school divisions must adhere to educational standards set forth by the Virginia Department of Schooling, which maintains an assessment and accreditation regime known as the Standards of Learning to be definite accountability.[222] In 2010, 85% of high school students graduated on-time after years.[223] Between 2000 and 2008, school enrollment increased 5%, the number of teachers 21%.[224]

Main article: Schooling in Virginia
A red brick, Neoclassical dome with a giant portico on the front and covered walkway on the sides lit up at dusk. Dark trees border the building on both sides.

As of 2011, there's 176 colleges and universities in Virginia.[231] In the U.S. News & World Document rating of public colleges, the University of Virginia is second, The College of William & Mary is sixth, and Virginia Tech is 25th. [232][233] Virginia Commonwealth University is ranked the top public graduate school in fine arts, while James Madison University has been recognized as the top regional public master's program in The South since 1993.[234][235] The Virginia Military Institute is the oldest state military college as well as a top ranked public liberal arts college.[236][237] George Mason University is the largest university in Virginia with over 32,000 students.[238] Virginia Tech and Virginia State University are the state's land-grant universities. Virginia also operates 23 community colleges on 40 campuses serving over 260,000 students.[239] There's 129 private institutions, including Washington and Lee University, Randolph College, Hampden�Sydney College, Emory & Henry College, Roanoke College, and the University of Richmond, Randolph-Macon College.[231]

Public K�12 schools in Virginia are usually operated by the counties and cities, and not by the state. As of April 2011, a total of one,267,063 students were enrolled in one,873 local and regional schools in the Commonwealth, including charter schools, and an additional 109 alternative and special schooling centers across 132 school divisions.[225][226] Besides the general public schools in Virginia, there's Governor's Schools and selective magnet schools. The Governor's Schools are a collection of over 40 regional high schools and summer programs intended for gifted students.[227] The Virginia Council for Private Schooling oversees the regulation of 320 state accredited and 130 non-accredited private schools.[228][229] An additional 24,682 students get homeschooling.[230]

Health

Virginia has a mixed health record, & is ranked as the 20th overall healthiest state according to the 2011 United Health Foundation's Health Rankings.[240] Virginia also ranks 21st among the states in the rate of premature deaths, 7,100 per 100,000. In 2008, Virginia reached its lowest ever rate of kid mortality, at 6.7 deaths per one,000.[241] There's however racial & social health disparities, in 2010 African Americans experienced 28% more premature deaths than whites, while 13% of Virginians lack any medical insurance. According to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention's 2009 survey, 26% of Virginians are overweight & another 35% are overweight. 78% of residents claim to have exercised at least one time historicallyin the past months.[242][243] About 30% of Virginia's 10- to 17-year-olds are overweight or overweight.[244] Virginia banned smoking in bars & restaurants in January 2010.[245] 19% of Virginians smoke tobacco.[240] Residents of Virginia's 8th congressional district share the longest average life expectancy rate in the nation, over 83 years.[246]

There's 89 hospitals in Virginia listed with the United States Department of Health & Human Services.[247] Notable examples include Inova Fairfax Hospital, the largest hospital in the Washington Metropolitan Area, & the VCU Medical Middle, located on the medical campus of Virginia Commonwealth University. The University of Virginia Medical Middle, part of the University of Virginia Health Technique, is highly ranked in endocrinology according to U.S.News & World Document.[248] Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, part of the Hampton Roads based Sentara Health Technique as well as a teaching institution of Eastern Virginia Medical School, was the site of the first successful in-vitro fertilization birth.[249][250] Virginia has a ratio of 127 primary care physicians per ten,000 residents, which is the 16th highest nationally.[240] Virginia was of states to receive an ideal score in catastrophe preparedness according to a 2008 document by the Trust for America's Health, based on criteria such as detecting pathogens & distributing vaccines & medical supplies.[251]

Transportation

The Virginia Railway Express runs commuter lines in Northern Virginia.
Because of the 1932 Byrd Road Act, the state government controls most of Virginia's roads, in lieu of a local county authority as is usual in other states.[252] As of 2011, the Virginia Department of Transportation 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 technique in the United States.[253] Although the Washington Metropolitan Area, which includes Northern Virginia, has the second worst traffic in the nation, Virginia as a whole has the 21st-lowest congestion and the average commute time is 26.9 minutes.[254][255]

Main news story: Transportation in Virginia
Blue and silver train engine with red and white accent lines moves closer leading a series of similarly colored passenger cars with shrubs as well as a sound wall in the background.

Virginia has Amtrak passenger rail service along several corridors, and Virginia Railway Express (VRE) maintains commuter lines in to Washington, D.C. from Fredericksburg and Manassas. VRE is of the nation's quickest growing commuter rail services, handling  twenty,000 passengers a day.[256] The Washington Metro speedy transit technique serves Northern Virginia as far west as communities along I-66 in Fairfax County, with expansion designs to reach Loudoun County by 2017.[257] Major freight railroads in Virginia include Norfolk Southern and CSX Transportation. Commuter buses include the Fairfax Connector and the Shenandoah Valley Commuter Bus. The Virginia Department of Transportation operates several free ferries throughout Virginia, the most notable being the Jamestown-Scotland ferry which crosses the James River in Surry County.[258]

Virginia has major airports: Washington Dulles International handling over 23 million passengers a year, and Reagan Washington National which both serve the Washington metropolitan area and most of Northern Virginia, Norfolk International serving the Hampton Roads area, Richmond International, and Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport. Several other airports offer limited commercial passenger service, and sixty-six public airports serve the state's aviation needs.[259] The Virginia Port Authority's main seaports are those in Hampton Roads, which carried 17,726,251 short tons (16,080,984 t) of bulk cargo in 2007, the sixth most of United States ports.[260] The Eastern Shore of Virginia is the site of Wallops Flight Facility, a rocket testing middle owned by NASA, and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, a commercial spaceport.[261][262] Space tourism is also offered through Vienna-based Space Adventures.[263]

Law and government

Principle article: Government of Virginia

All white Neoclassical building with pediment and six segments climbs on a verdant slope with an extensive American elm tree in the left frontal area. Two boxier, yet also styled wings are joined at the building's back.

The Virginia State Capitol, planned by Thomas Jefferson and started by Governor Patrick Henry in 1785, is home to the Virginia General Assembly.

In pioneer Virginia, free men chose the lower place of the lawmaking body, called the House of Burgesses, which together with the Governor's Council, made the "General Assembly". Established in 1619, the Virginia General Assembly is still in presence as the most seasoned governing body in the Western Hemisphere.[264] The advanced government is positioned by the Pew Center on the States with an A− as far as its proficiency, adequacy, and foundation. This is the second time Virginia got the most elevated review in the country, which it imparts to two others.[8]

Since 1971, the administration has worked under the seventh Constitution of Virginia, which accommodates a solid lawmaking body and a bound together legal framework. Like the elected structure, the legislature is isolated in three extensions: administrative, official, and legal. The lawmaking body is the General Assembly, a bicameral body whose 100-part House of Delegates and 40-part Senate compose the laws for the Commonwealth. The Assembly is stronger than the official, as it chooses judges and judges. The Governor and Lieutenant Governor are chosen like clockwork in particular races. Officeholder governors can't run for re-decision, however the Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General can, and governors may serve non-back to back terms.[265] The legal framework, the most established in America, comprises of a progressive system from the Supreme Court of Virginia and the Court of Appeals of Virginia to the Circuit Courts, the trial courts of general ward, and the lower General District Courts and Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Courts.[266]

The Code of Virginia is the statutory law, and comprises of the arranged enactment of the General Assembly. The Virginia State Police is the biggest law implementation organization in Virginia. The Virginia Capitol Police is the most established police division in the United States.[267] The Virginia National Guard comprises of 7,500 troopers in the Virginia Army National Guard and 1,200 aviators in the Virginia Air National Guard.[268] Since the resumption of the death penalty in Virginia in 1982, 107 individuals have been executed, the second most astounding number in the nation.[269] The "aggregate wrongdoing danger" is 28% lower than the national average.[270] Since Virginia finished detainee parole in 1995, the rate of recidivism has tumbled to 28.3%, among the least nationwide.[271] Virginia is an open-convey stat

Politics

Principle article: Politics of Virginia

See additionally: Democratic Party of Virginia, Green Party of Virginia, Independent Greens of Virginia, Libertarian Party of Virginia, Political gathering quality in Virginia and Republican Party of Virginia

Presidential races results[272]

Year republicans democrats

2012 47.28% 1,822,522 51.16% 1,971,820

2008 46.33% 1,725,005 52.63% 1,959,532

2004 53.68% 1,716,959 45.48% 1,454,742

2000 52.47% 1,437,490 44.44% 1,217,290

1996 47.10% 1,138,350 45.15% 1,091,060

1992 44.97% 1,150,517 40.59% 1,038,650

1988 59.74% 1,309,162 39.23% 859,799

1984 62.29% 1,337,078 37.09% 796,250

1980 53.03% 989,609 40.31% 752,174

Over the twentieth century, Virginia moved from a to a great extent rustic, politically Southern and preservationist state to a more urbanized, pluralistic, and politically nature. Up until the 1970s, Virginia was a racially partitioned single-gathering state commanded by the Byrd Organization.[273] The legacy of servitude in the state adequately disfranchised African Americans until after entry of social equality enactment in the mid-1960s.[274] Enfranchisement and migration of different gatherings, particularly Hispanics, have put developing significance on minority voting,[275] while voters that recognize as "white working population" declined by three percent somewhere around 2008 and 2012.[276] Regional contrasts have extensive influence in Virginia politics.[277] Rural southern and western zones moved to backing the Republican Party in light of its "southern procedure", while urban and developing suburban territories, including much of Northern Virginia, structure the Democratic Party base.[278][279] Democratic help likewise holds on in union-affected parts of Southwest Virginia, school towns, for example, Charlottesville and Blacksburg, and the southeastern Black Belt Region.[280]

Political gathering quality in Virginia has moreover been in flux. In the 2007 state races, Democrats recovered control of the State Senate, and limited the Republican larger part in the House of Delegates to eight seats.[281] Yet decisions in 2009 brought about the race of Republican Bob Mcdonnell as Governor by a seventeen point edge, the decision of a Republican Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General, and additionally Republican increases of six seats in the House of Delegates.[282] In 2011, the Republican gathering assumed control in excess of two-thirds (68–32) of the seats in the House of Delegates, and a lion's share of the Senate focused around the Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling as the tie-breaker.[283] Following the 2013 decisions, Democrat Terry Mcauliffe was chosen Governor by two and half rate points,[284][285] while Democrat Ralph Northam was chosen Lieutenant Governor by very nearly twofold digits.[286][287] Republicans, on the other hand, kept up their super-larger part (68–32) in the House of Delegates.[286][288] State decision seasons customarily begin with the yearly Shad Planking occasion in Wakefield.[289]

In government decisions since 2006, both gatherings have seen victories. Republican Senator George Allen lost close races in 2006, to Democratic newcomer Jim Webb, and again in 2012, to Webb's substitution, previous Governor Tim Kaine.[290] In 2008, Democrats won both United States Senate seats; previous Governor Mark Warner was chosen to supplant resigning Republican John Warner.[291] Voting for Republican hopefuls in the past ten presidential decisions, Democrat Barack Obama conveyed Virginia's thirteen discretionary votes in both the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections.[276] In the 2010 decisions, Republicans won three United States House of Representatives seats from the Democrats. Of the state's eleven seats in the House of Representatives, Republicans hold eight and Democrats hold three. Virginia is viewed as a "swing state" in future presidential elections

Sports

See also: List of professional sports teams in Virginia
A quarterback hands off the footy to his jogging back. The team is wearing Chicago maroon & burnt orange jerseys with white pants.

The Virginia Tech Hokies footy team has the second longest bowl game streak in the nation.[292]
Virginia is the most populous U.S. state without a major professional sports league franchise.[293] The reasons for this include the dearth of any dominant city or market within the state, the propinquity of teams in Washington, D.C. & North Carolina, & a reluctance to publicly finance stadiums.[294][295] Norfolk is host to the highest-level minor league teams in the state: The AAA Norfolk Tides & the AHL's Norfolk Admirals, winners of the 2012 Calder Cup.[296] The San Francisco Giants' AA team, the Richmond Flying Squirrels, began play at The Diamond in 2010, replacing the AAA Richmond Braves, who relocated after 2008.[297] Additionally, the Washington Nationals, Boston Red Sox, Seattle Mariners, Chicago White Sox, & Atlanta Braves also have Single-A & Rookie-level farm teams in Virginia.[298]

Virginia does not permit state appropriated money to be used for either operational or capital expenses for intercollegiate athletics.[301] Despite this, both the Virginia Cavaliers & Virginia Tech Hokies have been able to field competitive teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference & maintain modern facilities. Their rivalry is followed statewide. Several other universities compete in NCAA Division I, in the Atlantic ten Conference & Colonial Athletic Association. historicallyin the past black schools compete in the Division II Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association, & others compete in the Division I Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. Several smaller schools compete in the Elderly Dominion Athletic Conference & the USA South Athletic Conference of NCAA Division III. The NCAA currently holds its Division III championships in footy, men's basketball, volleyball & softball in Salem.[302]

The Washington Redskins have Redskins Park, their headquarters, in Ashburn & their training facility is in Richmond,[299] & the Washington Capitals train at Kettler Capitals Iceplex in Ballston. Virginia has lots of professional caliber golf courses including the Greg Norman work at Lansdowne Resort & Kingsmill Resort, home of the Kingsmill Championship. NASCAR currently schedules Dash Cup races on tracks in Virginia: Martinsville Speedway & Richmond International Raceway. Current Virginia drivers in the series include Jeff Burton, Denny Hamlin, & Elliott Sadler.[300]

State symbols

Main editorial: List of Virginia state symbols
A immense square metal sign, mostly white, with the words Virginia Welcomes You in blue & red. In the middle a red cardinal bird sits on a branch with white flowers around it.

The Virginia welcome sign at the Virginia welcome middle on I-95 employs the state bird, the cardinal, & the state tree & flower, the dogwood.
The state nickname is its oldest symbol, though it's never been made official by law. Virginia was given the title "Dominion" by King Charles II of England at the time of The Restoration, because it had remained loyal to the crown in the coursework of the English Civil War, & the present moniker, "Old Dominion" is a reference to that title. Charles' supporters were called Cavaliers, & "The Cavalier State" nickname was popularized after the American Civil War to romanticize the antebellum period. Sports teams from the University of Virginia are called the Cavaliers.[303] The other nickname, "Mother of Presidents", is also historic, as eight Virginians have served as President of the United States, including of the first.[1]

Mammal: Virginia Big-Eared Bat
Beverage: Milk
Boat: Chesapeake Bay deadrise
Bird: Cardinal
Dance: Square dancing
Dog: American Foxhound
Fish: Brook trout, Striped bass
Flower/Tree: Dogwood
Fossil: Chesapecten jeffersonius
Insect: Tiger swallowtail
Motto: Sic Semper Tyrannis
Nickname: The Elderly Dominion
Shell: Eastern oyster
Slogan: Virginia is for Lovers
Tartan: Virginia Quadricentennial

The state's motto, Sic Semper Tyrannis, translates from Latin as "Thus Always to Tyrants", & is used on the state seal, which is then used on the flag. While the seal was designed in 1776, & the flag was first used in the 1830s, both were made official in 1930.[1] all of the other symbols were made official in the late 20th century.[304] The Virginia reel is among the square dances classified as the state dance.[17] Virginia currently has no state song. In 1940, Virginia made "Carry Me Back to Elderly Virginny" the state song, but it was retired in 1997 & reclassified as the state song emeritus.[305] Various options, including a version of "Oh Shenandoah", have met with resistance in the Virginia House of Delegates.[306]