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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 8.7 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, including the U.S. Department of Defense and Central Intelligence Agency. 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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The Gunpowder Incident (or Gunpowder Affair) was a conflict early in the American Revolutionary War between Lord Dunmore, the Royal Governor of the Colony of Virginia, and militia led by Patrick Henry.

On the night of April 20, 1775, well before news of the Battles of Lexington and Concord on the prior day had reached Virginia, Lord Dunmore ordered the removal of the gunpowder from the magazine (pictured) in Williamsburg, Virginia, which stored it for the militia. Royal marines went to loaded fifteen half barrels of powder into the governor's wagon, and began transporting it to the Royal Navy ship Magdalen in the James River.

The act was discovered by townsfolk while underway, and they sounded an alarm. Local militia rallied to the scene, and riders spread word of the incident across the colony. Patrick Henry led a small militia force toward Williamsburg to force return of the gunpowder to the colony's control, arguing that it was owned by the colony and not the Crown. The matter was resolved without conflict when a payment of £330 was made to Henry. Fearing for his personal safety after the incident, Dunmore later retreated to a naval vessel, ending of royal control of the colony.

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Pocahontas (born Matoaka, and later known as Rebecca Rolfe, c. 1595 – 1617) was a Virginia Indian notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. Pocahontas was the daughter of Powhatan, the paramount chief of a network of tributary tribal nations in the Tidewater region of Virginia. In a well-known historical anecdote, she is said to have saved the life of an Indian captive, Englishman John Smith, in 1607 by placing her head upon his own when her father raised his war club to execute him.

Pocahontas was captured by the English during Anglo-Indian hostilities in 1613, and held for ransom. During her captivity, she converted to Christianity and took the name Rebecca. When the opportunity arose for her to return to her people, she chose to remain with the English. In April 1614, she married tobacco planter John Rolfe, the first recorded interracial marriage in American history. In 1616, the Rolfes traveled to London, where she became something of a celebrity. When the Rolfes set sail for home, Pocahontas died at Gravesend of unknown causes, where she was buried. Numerous places, landmarks, and products in the United States have been named after Pocahontas. Her story has been romanticized over the years, and she is a subject of art, literature, and film.

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This month in Virginia history

November 7, 1775: Lord Dunmore's Proclamation (pictured) declares martial law throughout the Colony of Virginia.
November 19, 1718: On the orders of Lt. Gov. Alexander Spotswood, a fleet commanded by Robert Maynard departs Hampton in search of notorious pirate Blackbeard; on the 22nd they engage and kill him in coastal North Carolina.

November 27, 1926: Restoration and reconstruction begins on Colonial Williamsburg
November 27–December 2, 1863: The Battle of Mine Run was the last combat of the year for the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War .

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Credit: Louis Rémy Mignot and Thomas Prichard Rossiter, 1859

Washington and Lafayette at Mount Vernon, 1784

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... that PBS Appalachia Virginia is the first all-non-terrestrial public TV station in the United States?
... that the China Folk House Retreat dismantled a Chinese folk house and rebuilt it in West Virginia?
... that the Virginia Quay Settlers Monument in London has been subject to bombing and theft?
... that after Lew Dickey Sr. broke into the radio business by buying a station in West Virginia, his son would go on to own Cumulus Media?
... that professor Ruth Ann Davis made the largest-ever single contribution to Potomac State College of West Virginia University to support nursing scholarships in memory of her mother?
... that chef Victor Albisu created a bulgogi taco that honors the Koreatown neighborhood of his hometown of Annandale, Virginia?