US States

Did You Know…? Helen Keller was born in Tuscumbia; Tallulah Bankhead in Huntsville. Mardi Gras (Shrove Tuesday) is a state holiday in Alabama. America’s first 911 call was made in Haleyville in 1968. Enterprise ...

Did You Know…? Alaska has more active glaciers (100,000) than the rest of the inhabited world. The state sport is dog mushing. The largest U.S. city by area is Juneau, with 3,108 square ...

Did You Know…? Mail is delivered by mule to Havasupai at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. London Bridge, in Lake Havasu City, was declared an antique (the world’s largest) to avoid ...

Did You Know…? The world’s finest quartz is found in two places: Arkansas and Brazil. The waters at Hot Springs remain at a constant temperature of 143F. Texarkana and its post office sit ...

Did You Know…? The U.S. federal government owns more than a third of the land in Colorado. America’s largest silver nugget (1,840 pounds/93% pure) was found in Aspen in 1894. Leadville is the ...

Did You Know…? There are up to 150,000 boats on the waters off Connecticut’s coast. The Hartford Courant is the oldest continuously published U.S. newspaper (1764). Connecticut has 92 state parks and 30 ...

Did You Know…? Delaware was the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. Horseshoe crabs, which flock to Delaware’s coast in May, can live a year without eating. Approximately 200,000 companies are incorporated ...

Did You Know…? There are more than 800 Florida Keys; the skinny 30-mile Key Largo is the largest. Lakeland’s name is a natural: There are 19 lakes within the city limits. St. Augustine ...

Did You Know…? The Girl Scouts of the USA originated in Savannah in 1912. Georgia produces more peanuts than any other state. Coca-Cola, created in Atlanta in 1886, sold for 5 cents a ...

Did You Know…? Hawaii is a chain of 132 islands extending 1,523 miles — like New York to Denver. Capt. James Cook called these the Sandwich Islands. Hawaii is the only U.S. state ...

Did You Know…? Hells Canyon is deeper than the Grand Canyon; Shoshone Falls is taller than Niagara. About two-thirds of Idaho’s land is owned by the federal government. The world’s richest silver region, ...

Did You Know…? Illinois is an Algonquin word and means tribe of superior men. Metropolis, the home of Superman, is a real place in southern Illinois. Des Plaines was home to the first ...

Did You Know…? Santa Claus, the Indiana town, receives more than half a million letters at Christmas. The winner of the first 500-mile auto race in Indianapolis (1911) averaged 74.59 mph. There are ...

Did You Know…? Iowa is the nation’s top producer of corn and pork. The red Delicious apple was created in Iowa (1880s); the original tree still produces. Britt has hosted the National Hobo ...

Did You Know…? Veterans Day, the successor to Armistice Day, originated in Emporia in 1953. Kansas typically produces 400 million bushels of wheat annually, or four loaves of bread per person worldwide. The ...

Did You Know…? Ninety-five percent of the world’s bourbon is produced in Kentucky. Mammoth Cave is the longest cave system in the world, more than 365 miles. America’s first commercial vineyard was established ...

Did You Know…? Louisiana is the world’s largest source of crayfish; it produces 87% of the U.S. supply. Tabasco sauce originated on Avery Island in the 19th century. New Orleans’ St. Louis Cathedral ...

Did You Know…? Forests cover nearly 90% of Maine; the state has 5,000-plus rivers and streams. Maine was part of Massachusetts until 1820. Maine has North America’s largest fleet of windjammers (12). English colonists ...

Did You Know…? The state’s 400 lakes are all manmade. In 1791, Maryland contributed the land for the District of Columbia. Maryland’s official sport is jousting. “The Star-Spangled Banner” was born in Baltimore, but ...

Did You Know…? Harvard houses the world’s largest university library — more than 13 million books. Massachusetts was the first state to adopt a constitution (1780), and it is the world’s oldest ...

Did You Know…? Michigan has the nation’s oldest state fair (1849). The first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel (1901) was a Michigan woman. More breakfast cereal is produced in ...

Did You Know…? The ice palace at St. Paul’s 1992 Winter Carnival was 15 stories high, a world record. The state that claimed 10,000 lakes has 11,842 measuring at least 10 acres. The ...

Did You Know…? Playwright Tennessee Williams was born Thomas Lanier — in Mississippi. Natchez is the oldest permanent settlement on the Mississippi River (1716). The blues, a truly American music form, was born ...

Did You Know…? The Lake of the Ozarks was artificially created. Missouri sits on more than 6,200 caves. The Missouri River is longer than the Mississippi River. The lake inside the Bonne Terre Mine ...

Did You Know…? Montana claims more than three dozen ghost towns — more than any other state. Each day, about 390 million gallons of water gush out of Giant Springs in Great ...

Did You Know…? Nebraska has more lakes than any state except Minnesota. The largest mammoth fossil ever found was unearthed near Wellfleet (1922). Red Cloud claims it is the subject of more books ...

Did You Know…? Nearly half the nation’s wild horses and burros live in Nevada. Nevada has a state fossil, the Ichthyosaur, an extinct marine reptile. It is a myth that casinos never have ...

Did You Know…? New Hampshire’s beloved Old Man in the Mountain rock profile collapsed in 2003. Winds of 231 mph were recorded atop Mount Washington, a world record in 1934. The state has ...

Did You Know…? Motion pictures were born in West Orange, N.J., thanks to Thomas Edison (1893). Also, Fort Lee was the movie capital of the world in the early 1900s. Cowtown Rodeo is ...

Did You Know…? The first atomic bomb was built and detonated in New Mexico in 1945. Truth or Consequences, named for a game show, was previously named Hot Springs. The capital, Santa Fe, ...

Did You Know…? Thousand Islands salad dressing comes from New York’s Thousand Islands region. Sam Wilson of Troy was the original “Uncle Sam.” The “I (heart) NY” logo was created in 1977 for ...

Did You Know…? The Wright brothers made the first manned flight at Kitty Hawk on Dec. 17, 1903. Blackbeard the pirate was killed in North Carolina in 1718. The state had its own ...

Did You Know…? The geographic center of North America is near Rugby, N.D. Periodically, North Dakota’s legislature considers renaming the state Dakota. The State Capitol in Bismarck is the state’s tallest building (241 ...

Did You Know…? A redwood called Hyperion, measuring 379.1 feet high, is the world’s tallest tree. The U.S. tried to buy California from Mexico before winning it in war. The state counts more ...

Did You Know…? The Cincinnati Red Stockings were the world’s first all-pro baseball team (1869). Astronauts John Glenn (first to orbit Earth) and Neil Armstrong (first on the moon) were Ohio born. Eight ...

Did You Know…? Oklahoma has the world’s only capitol building with an oil well drilled beneath it. Thirty-nine federally recognized Indian tribes are based in the state. Will Rogers and Mickey Mantle hailed ...

Did You Know…? Mount Hood, a popular ski destination, is a volcano — and potentially active. Oregon boasts 53 covered bridges. Portland has 30 breweries, more than any municipality in the western world. Crater ...

Did You Know…? The name Pennsylvania means Penn’s woods. The nation’s first commercially successful oil well was drilled near Titusville (1859). The only surviving Benjamin Franklin residence is in London, not Philadelphia. The Hershey ...

Did You Know…? Rhode Island declared its independence from England on May 4, 1776. The state’s official name is State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. The White Horse Tavern in Newport is ...

Did You Know…? South Carolina produces more peaches than Georgia. More than 240 Revolutionary War fights occurred here, more than in any other state. The South Carolina Golf Club was America’s first golf ...

Did You Know…? Crazy Horse Memorial is the world’s largest mountain sculpture. In South Dakota, each man in the Lewis and Clark party ate about nine pounds of meat daily. It took 14 ...

Did You Know…? Death Valley is the hottest, driest and lowest-altitude place in North America. About 10,000 earthquakes shake Southern California each year. An estimated 20,000 gray whales migrate along the California coast ...

Did You Know…? From Chattanooga’s Lookout Mountain, you can see seven states. Tennessee has five official state songs, including “Tennessee Waltz.” The Jack Daniel Distillery in Lynchburg is the oldest registered distillery in ...

Did You Know…? Texas has more surface fresh water (4,959 square miles) than any state except Alaska. Its largest ranch, the King Ranch in Kingsville, is slightly bigger than Rhode Island. Texas has ...

Did You Know…? Seventy percent of Utah’s population is Mormon. Rainbow Bridge is the largest known natural stone bridge in the world. Great Salt Lake is a remnant of a 25,000-year-old freshwater lake. The ...

Did You Know…? Vermont has the lowest percentage of urban residents of any U.S. state. The state is the nation’s largest producer of maple syrup. Montpelier has the lowest population of any state ...

Did You Know…? One-third of all Civil War battles occurred in Virginia, for 122 in the state. All or part of eight other states were carved out of territory once claimed by ...

Did You Know…? There is a town called George (yes, that’s George, Washington). Father’s Day was originated by Spokane’s Sonora Louise Smart Dodd (1910). Washington is the only state named for a U.S. ...

Did You Know…? The town of Mountain was formerly named Mole Hill. Mother’s Day was first celebrated in West Virginia (1908). Berkeley Springs, incorporated as Bath in 1776, was America’s first spa town. The ...

Did You Know…? Wisconsin produces 350-plus varieties of cheese, more than any other state. The Kickapoo River is called the world’s crookedest river. The state’s 1.3 million dairy cows supply milk for 42M ...

Did You Know…? Yellowstone is the world’s oldest national park (1872) and America’s second largest. Cheyenne Frontier Days is the world’s largest outdoor rodeo. Wyoming was first to give women the right to ...