Almost Everything You Might Want to Know about Virginia

Location:
Located midway between New York and Florida, Virginia is the gateway to the South. It is also sometimes classified in the Mid-Atlantic region. The Commonwealth is bordered by Washington, D.C., the nation's capital, and Maryland to the north; the Atlantic Ocean to the east; North Carolina and Tennessee to the south; and West Virginia and Kentucky to the west.

Geography:
Western Virginia is mountainous, covered by the Allegheny and Blue Ridge mountains with the great Shenandoah Valley falling between the ranges. The central piedmont region, with its rolling hills, flattens out into the sandy coastal plain toward the Atlantic Ocean.

Climate:
Mild with four distinct seasons

Area:
42,767 square miles

Population:
6,872,900 in 1999

Major Industries:
Manufacturing, exports, tourism, which accounted for $13.1 billion in 2000 - up from $12.4 billion in 1999 - and employed more than 200,000 workers, high technology and agriculture

Capital:
Richmond (since 1780)

Popular Tourist Attractions:

Western: Abingdon, Blue Ridge Mountains, Blue Ridge Parkway, Bristol, Cumberland Gap National Historic Park, Lexington, Luray Caverns, Natural Bridge, Roanoke, Shenandoah National Park, Shenandoah Valley, Skyline Drive, Staunton, Winchester

Central: Charlottesville and Monticello, Danville, Paramount's Kings Dominion, Petersburg, Richmond

Northern: Alexandria, Arlington and Arlington National Cemetery, Fredericksburg and Fredericksburg National Battlefield Parks, Mount Vernon, Potomac Mills

Tidewater: Williamsburg area, including Busch Gardens, Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, Williamsburg Pottery and Yorktown; Norfolk; Virginia Beach; and Chincoteague/Assateague on the Eastern Shore