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Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The state's capital is Richmond and its most populous city is Virginia Beach. Its most populous subdivision is Fairfax County, part of Northern Virginia, where slightly over a third of Virginia's population of 8.8 million live.

Eastern Virginia is part of the Atlantic Plain, and the Middle Peninsula forms the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Central Virginia lies predominantly in the Piedmont, the foothill region of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which cross the western and southwestern parts of the state. The fertile Shenandoah Valley fosters the state's most productive agricultural counties, while the economy in Northern Virginia is driven by technology companies and U.S. federal government agencies. Hampton Roads is also the site of the region's main seaport and Naval Station Norfolk, the world's largest naval base. (Full article...)

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Hurricane Isabel was the costliest and deadliest hurricane in the 2003 Atlantic hurricane season. The ninth named storm and fifth hurricane of the season, Isabel formed near the Cape Verde Islands from a tropical wave on September 6 in the tropical Atlantic Ocean. It moved northwestward and steadily strengthened to reach peak winds of 165 mph (265 km/h) on September 11. Isabel gradually weakened and made landfall on the Outer Banks of North Carolina with winds of 105 mph (165 km/h) on September 18, quickly weakening over land and became extratropical over western Pennsylvania the next day.

The worst effects of Isabel occurred in Virginia, especially in the Hampton Roads area and along the shores of rivers as far west and north as Richmond and Washington, DC. Electric service was disrupted in areas of Virginia for several days, some more rural areas were without electricity for weeks, and local flooding caused thousands of dollars in damage. Overall, roughly six million people overall were left without electric service in the eastern United States and damage totalled about $5.7 billion (2003 USD, $9.74 billion 2025 USD). 16 deaths in seven U.S. states were directly related to the hurricane, with 35 deaths in six states and one Canadian province indirectly related to the hurricane.

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Daniel Boone (1734 – 1820) was an American pioneer, explorer, and frontiersman whose frontier exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. Boone is most famous for his exploration and settlement of what is now Kentucky, which at the time was part of Virginia yet across the mountains from the settled areas. Despite some resistance from American Indian tribes such as the Shawnee, in 1775 Boone blazed his Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap in the Appalachian Mountains from North Carolina and Tennessee into Kentucky. Before the end of the 18th century, more than 200,000 European people migrated westward by following the route marked by Boone.

Boone was a militia officer during the Revolutionary War (1775–83), during which he was elected to the first of his three terms in the Virginia General Assembly. Following the war, Boone worked as a surveyor and merchant, but fell deeply into debt through failed Kentucky land speculation. In 1799 Boone emigrated to eastern Missouri, where he spent most of the last two decades of his life. Boone remains an iconic figure in American history; his adventures — real and legendary — were influential in creating the archetypal Western hero of American folklore.

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This month in Virginia history

March 8–9, 1862: The Battle of Hampton Roads pits the USS Monitor against the CSS Virginia (formerly the USS Merrimack) in the world's first battle between ironclad warships (pictured).
March 12, 1719: The 14 surviving members of Blackbeard's crew are tried for piracy in Williamsburg. 12 are convicted and later executed there.
March 22, 1622: The entire Colony of Virginia is attacked by forces led by Chief Opchanacanough in what became known as the Indian massacre of 1622. Forewarned, Jamestown is one of the only settlements to survive.

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Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

An Antares rocket carrying Orb-D1 launches from Pad 0A at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, Wallops Island, Virginia on September 18, 2013

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... that a blizzard across the United States caused a major water crisis in Richmond, Virginia?
... that James Dillon Armstrong was a Virginia state senator, a delegate to West Virginia's constitutional convention, and a circuit court judge while serving for more than 43 years as a Presbyterian church elder?
... that PBS Appalachia Virginia is the first all-non-terrestrial public TV station in the United States?
... that the Vulcan Bridge, a bridge in Vulcan, West Virginia, was constructed after the mayor requested financial aid from the Soviet Union?
... that Babydog is "a fixture in West Virginia politics"?
... that there is a Loch Ness Monster in Williamsburg, Virginia?