Portal:Virginia/Did you know/Candidates

Place DYK hooks featured on the main page here for collection. The categories exist so as to help provide a variety of topics for each assemblage to be displayed. The idea is that each DYK selection set will have an image, that more "ordinary" should be mixed with more "bizarre" ones, and that there should be a geographic and subject-matter variety (i.e. not all from one region, time period, or topic).

DYK[edit]

Curious and bizarre[edit]

...that Church Hill Tunnel in Richmond, Virginia contains a steam locomotive and ten flat cars trapped in a collapse in October 1925 which were never recovered?
...that the gravestone of executed murderer, Floyd Allen supposedly read in part, "judicially murdered by the State of Virginia over the protests of more than 100,000 of its citizens"?
...that Aluminaut, the world's first aluminum submarine, helped recover a lost atomic bomb?
...that the Pungoteague River Light was the shortest-lived screwpile lighthouse on the Chesapeake Bay, and may have been the shortest-lived lighthouse in the United States?
... that the weeping willow planted by John Parke Custis on his Abingdon plantation is known as the progenitor of all weeping willows in the United States?

... that the Reynolds Metals Company International Headquarters was a showcase for the company's aluminum products, using aluminum thread in carpets and drapes?

Geography[edit]

... that during the construction of the Brookville Tunnel in Virginia, repairs to two major cave-ins were prevented by a landslide that blocked the tunnel's western entrance?
... that McGaheysville was originally named "Ursulaburg" after the wife of the ousted Reverend Charles Lang, who was ordered to leave the Colony of Virginia in 1771 and left Ursula behind?
... that Botetourt, one of the best known mineral springs in Virginia and one of the chief sulphuric thermals in America, was visited by General Lafayette in 1824?
...Virginia Capital Trail is a new 54 mile long bicycle and pedestrian trail between 3 historic capitals Williamsburg, Jamestown and Richmond in the Commonwealth of Virginia?
... that Troy, an unincorporated area in the U.S. state of Virginia, is named after the president of the defunct Virginia Air Line Railway?
... that the colors of the Charlottesville and Albemarle Railway's streetcars made them "more attractive to the students" of the University of Virginia?

Historic sites[edit]

... that in 1799, the distillery adjacent to George Washington's Gristmill produced 11,000 gallons of whiskey along with apple, peach, and persimmon brandy?|views=1430

... that Bayne-Fowle House, a National Register of Historic Places registered property located at 811 Prince Street in Alexandra, Virginia, United States, served as a military hospital in 1864?
...that Thomas Jefferson offered James Monroe many design suggestions for the Oak Hill plantation?
... that the acreage associated with National Register of Historic Places Woodhouse House in Virginia Beach, Virginia, has decreased to less than a fifth of what it was in the 1880s?
... that the ancestral home of U.S. Presidents William Henry Harrison and Benjamin Harrison, believed to be the oldest three-story brick mansion in Virginia, was built by Benjamin Harrison IV in 1726?
... that Mosby Tavern, a private residence, has served as the courthouse and jail for both Cumberland County and Powhatan County, Virginia?
.. that the debtors' prisons in Accomac (pictured), Worsham, and Tappahannock, Virginia, have all survived to the present day?
...that Military Road in Arlington, was built by Union Army troops in just three days?
...that the Smith Point Light at the mouth of the Potomac River was preceded by four other lighthouses and three lightships at the same site?
... that when architect John Russell Pope designed Branch House (pictured) in 1916, the 28,000 sq ft (2,600 m²) private residence included designated storage rooms for carpets, china, paintings – and suits of armor?
... that after being destroyed by the Confederate Army, the Potomac Creek Bridge was rebuilt in just nine days?
...that Sailor's Creek Battlefield State Park's Hillsman House still has bloodstains on its floor dating to its use as a hospital after the Battle of Sayler's Creek in April 1865?
... that in 1799, the distillery adjacent to George Washington's Gristmill produced 11,000 gallons of whiskey along with apple, peach, and persimmon brandy?
... that the plantation-era museum Francis Land House (pictured) has a Georgian style exterior but a Federal style interior?
... that exposed oak beams in the plantation house at Walnut Grove reveal Roman numerals marking where joists are to be attached?

Religious congregations and structures[edit]

... that Temple House of Israel in Staunton, Virginia, was founded in 1876 by Alexander Hart, a former major in the Confederate States Army?
... that General Ulysses S. Grant held an outdoor council of war with his top generals on pews taken from the Massaponax Baptist Church?
... that the First African Baptist Church of Richmond allowed its enslaved members to remarry if their spouses were sold out of state?
... that First Baptist Church in Petersburg, Virginia, the first African-American Baptist congregation in the United States, had only black pastors until 1832?
... that Grace Church is one of few remaining structures from the once-thriving town of Ca Ira, Virginia?
... that Bremo Slave Chapel is the only place of worship known to have been built for slaves in the Commonwealth of Virginia?

Institutions[edit]

... that WOLD-FM in Marion, Virginia, signed on almost exactly six years before "W*O*L*D", Harry Chapin's song about a fictional FM station in Boise, Idaho, peaked on the Billboard Hot 100?
... that Roanoke, Virginia, television station WROV-TV was the first UHF station in the United States to shut down?
... that the Virginia Tech Hokies, winners of the 1995 Sugar Bowl, were selected for the game only after sanctions were levied against the Miami Hurricanes
...that the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, contains more than 3,000 objects of folk art?
... that members of the Arlington Ladies (pictured) attend the funeral of every servicemember buried at Arlington National Cemetery?
... that Kettler Capitals Iceplex, the practice arena of the Washington Capitals, is the highest ice rink off street-level in the United States?
... that the Griffin, the new athletics mascot for the College of William and Mary, beat out a king and queen, a phoenix, a pug, and a wren for the position?
... that Walker-Grant School was the first public high school for black students in Fredericksburg, Virginia?

General history by era[edit]

Precolonial through 17th century[edit]

...that Werowocomoco was the chief village of the Powhatan Confederacy in Virginia where Captain John Smith of Jamestown was rescued from execution by Pocahontas, daughter of Chief Powhatan?
...that Fort Story at Cape Henry in Virginia Beach, Virginia was the site of the first landing of the Jamestown settlers in 1607, and the Cape Henry Lighthouse, first in the U.S., in 1792?
...that fewer than 100 of 500 colonists in the Virginia Colony survived the Starving Time during the winter of 1609-1610?
... that the Tutelo language, once spoken by Virginia Indians, was recorded by scholars in the late 19th century, who found speakers on a reserve in Ontario?
... that some historians consider a 1619 strike by Polish craftsmen in the Jamestown Settlement to be the first strike in North American history?

18th century and Federal Era[edit]

... that though Captain Edward Mallory was wounded by shot, saber, and bayonet, he and his men forced the enemy to retreat at the Skirmish at Waters Creek?

Civil War and 19th century[edit]

...that the Emancipation Oak located on the campus of Hampton University is where the Virginia Peninsula's black community gathered in 1863 to hear the first Southern reading of President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation?
... that the second USRC Virginia, assisted by Richmond and Eagle, captured the armed French schooner Louis and her cargo on 26 April 1799?
... that in United States v. Lee (1882), the Supreme Court held that a jury had properly ordered that the U.S. government return Arlington National Cemetery to the heir of Confederate General Robert E. Lee?

Modern[edit]

... that the Pullman Company boycotted Transpo '72 after the US government provided millions in funding so military contractors could show their attempts to enter the mass transit field?
...that identical Norwegian Lady Statues commemorating a shipwreck are located in the sister cities of Moss, Norway and Virginia Beach, Virginia facing each other across the Atlantic Ocean?
... that the Virginia Board of Censors found the 1927 race film The House Behind the Cedars "so objectionable, in fact, as to necessitate its total rejection"?
...that the Eve of Destruction, named after a protest song and on display at the U.S. Army Transportation Museum, is the only surviving example of a Vietnam era gun truck?

Biography[edit]

Early colonial (17th century)[edit]

...that Nathaniel Butler introduced the first potato found by Europeans in North America to Jamestown, Virginia?
... that the weroance of the Appomattoc tribe, Perecute, personally led Thomas Batts and Robert Fallam on an expedition in 1671 to become the first Europeans to set foot within what is now West Virginia?
...that John Casor was the first known slave in the Thirteen Colonies?

Colonial and Federal[edit]

... that British Royalist Andrew Sprowle founded the United States Navy's longest continuously operating naval shipyard in 1767?
... that former North Carolina Loyalist militia commander John Hamilton was appointed as the British Consul to Norfolk, Virginia, after the American Revolutionary War?
... that Francis Howard was an unpopular Crown Governor of Virginia in the 17th century despite brokering a peace treaty with Iroquois tribes?
...that bishop William McKendree (1757–1835) earned the nickname "Father of Western Methodism" for his travels through his vast see of Virginia, Tennessee, Missouri, and Illinois?
...that Jack Jouett, known as the "Paul Revere of the South", saved Thomas Jefferson and other Revolutionary leaders in Virginia by warning them of a British cavalry raid meant to capture them?
... that William Lee was U.S. President George Washington's personal servant, and the only one of his slaves freed by Washington in his will?
... that after serving in the Culpeper County Militia under Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette, Mordecai Barbour embarked upon successful ventures in manufactories and toll bridges?
... that it has been suggested that John Thornton Augustine Washington would have succeeded his great uncle George Washington as "king" if the United States had been a monarchy?
... that American Louis Littlepage had to receive a special permission from the US Congress to serve as a secretary to the last king of Poland, Stanisław August Poniatowski?
... that George Washington gave Martha Parke Custis a miniature of himself as a wedding gift, and later left her 1/32 of his estate in his will?

Civil War & 19th Century[edit]

... that during the American Civil War, court clerk John Baker White salvaged records from destruction by Union Army forces who later turned the Hampshire County Courthouse into a stable?
... that John S. Preston was sent by South Carolina to convince Virginia to secede from the United States?
...that Wyndham Robertson, a Virginia politician who was a member of the Committee of Nine that helped Virginia be re-admitted to the Union after the American Civil War, was a descendant of Pocahontas?
...that after Robert William Hughes shot and wounded future Virginia Governor William E. Cameron, he was appointed a federal judge by Ulysses S. Grant?
...that John Pegram was the first former U.S. Army officer to be captured while in Confederate service?
... that John Collins Covell served as principal of both the Virginia and West Virginia schools for the deaf and blind?

Modern[edit]

... that Samuel Wilbert Tucker organized an African-American civil rights sit-in at the Alexandria, public library as early as 1939?
... that artist and suffragist Adele Goodman Clark and her partner Nora Houston set up their easels on a downtown streetcorner in Richmond, Virginia, and canvassed passers-by about women's suffrage?
...that Oliver W. Hill, a civil rights attorney, worked against racial discrimination and helped end the doctrine of separate but equal during a period of massive resistance to integration in Virginia's public schools?
... that Nemo Gaines is the only graduate of the United States Naval Academy to play in Major League Baseball?
... that Charles M. Robinson was the College Architect for the College of William and Mary and designed more than 15 buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places?

Reserve[edit]

BLP[edit]

... that NASCAR powerhouse team Richard Childress Racing sold one of its race teams to Virginia car dealer Joe Falk?
... that R&B singer Margie Day, who had a hit record with "Little Red Rooster" in 1951 and also recorded "Take Out Your False Teeth Daddy", established a children's art project in Norfolk, Virginia?

Lower-grade hook or article[edit]

... that William Grigsby McCormick's son Chauncey and nephew Robert bought the Hickory Hill estate more than 100 years after their great-grandfather built it?
...that Historic Jamestowne is a National Historic Site on Jamestown Island on the James River at Jamestown, Virginia operated by the Colonial National Historical Park of the U.S. National Park Service?
...that the Virginian Railway Passenger Station in Roanoke was named to the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places after it was extensively damaged in a fire?
... that Bloomsbury Farm (pictured), built between 1785 and 1790, is one of the oldest surviving privately owned residences in Spotsylvania County, Virginia?}}
... that the historic Cuckoo house was damaged in the 2011 Virginia earthquake?
... that Jarman Gap in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia is the site of the first European settlement in the mountain area near Albemarle County?
... that Upper Wolfsnare, a colonial home built in 1759 in Princess Anne County, Virginia, and home of an American Revolution Patriot and U.S. Constitution state convention delegate, is still lived in?
... that Confederate Colonel William Henry Harman was killed at the Battle of Waynesboro, Virginia, the town where he was born?
... that Peter Stephens died in November 1757, 10 months before the town he founded was chartered in September 1758?
... that the radio station WGRQ began broadcasting in May 1986 but did not receive its broadcast license until November 1987?
... that the 18th century American soldier Isaac Bowman, his father George Bowman, and his grandfather Jost Hite were all prominent pioneers in the Colony of Virginia?
... that Huntersville is unique amongst Norfolk's 19th-century neighborhoods, in that it was unplanned and developed over time?

Outdated or possibly outdated[edit]

...that the Mill Mountain Zoo is host to three endangered species: the Red Panda, Snow Leopard and White-naped Crane?
... that a group of seven singing postal workers from Richmond, Virginia, called The Spiritual Harmonizers, made it past the first round of the fourth season of America's Got Talent?

Possibly overly-promotional[edit]

... that the Ferry Plantation House in Virginia Beach is reportedly haunted by 11 spirits and offers special tours, including one on Halloween called "The Stroll of Lost Souls"?

Tangential or marginally related to Virginia[edit]

... that minister Edward Woolsey Bacon served in the American Civil War and in 1865 led the black 29th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry into Richmond, Virginia?