STATE: Virginia (VA)

THE COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA

"The Old Dominion" / "Mother of Presidents"

I'm a Virginian! I wasn't born in Virginia, but I grew up there. I lived in Hopewell, Portsmouth (where I went to Westhaven Elementary, Harry Hunt Jr. High, and Woodrow Wilson High School), Chesapeake, Hampton, Norfolk (where I went to Old Dominion College and played in the Norfolk Symphony), and Williamsburg. It's too hot for me, I'm afraid, but I love the ocean!

Virginia's Specialties in this Blog:

• Chocolate bonbons (Portsmouth) memory
• Fresh Limeade / Orangeade (Portsmouth) memory
• Fairy Stone Crosses (Fairy Stone State Park)

Virginia Grown is the key to farmers markets, produce, etcetera. Click on the tiny map or search in any one of several ways.
Virginia's Finest is a government service that has been around for about 20 years, and tells you where good stuff is located. I clicked on the first entry - "Baked Goods" - and the first thing that came up was a Mexican food company. Look around -- you're sure to find something you like, and I'm sure Virginia corn makes great tortillas, but this is not quite the same as the intention of this blog.

Virginia Fun Facts

Virginia was named in honor of Queen Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen, and the original land grant included. As one of the original colonies, Virginia entered the Union on June 25, 1788, the 10th state to do so. Residents call themselves Virginians.

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Motto: Sic semper tyrannus ("Thus always to Tyrants")

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Slogan: Virginia is for Lovers (the first state to use this slogan, btw)

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Flower: American Dogwood
Bird: Cardinal

Tree: Dogwood

Shell: Oyster shell

Song: "Carry Me Back to Ol' Virginny" (words and music by James A. Bland - and please don't change it!)

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Webcams . Map . Richmond (capitol) . General Info . Gov
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Counties (scroll down below the map to the List, or table, which is quite good)

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Cities and Towns:

A
Abingdon . Alexandria . Altavista . Amelia Court House . Amherst . Annandale . Appomattox . Arlington . Ashburn . Ashland
B
Bassett . Bedford . Berryville . Big Stone Gap . Blacksburg . Blackstone . Bluefield . Bristol . Burke
C
Centreville . Chantilly . Charlottesville . Chatham . Chesapeake . Chester . Chesterfield . Christiansburg . Clifton Forge . Clintwood . Coeburn . Collinsville . Colonial Heights . Covington . Culpeper
D
Danville . Dublin . Dulles . Dumfries
E
Emporia
F
Fairfax . Fairfax Station . Falls Church . Farmville . Floyd . Forest . Franklin . Fredericksburg . Front Royal
G
Gainesville . Galax . Gate City . Glen Allen . Gloucester . Great Falls . Grundy
H
Hampton . Harrisonburg . Hayes . Haymarket . Herndon . Hillsville . Hopewell
K
Kilmarnock . King George
L
Lawrenceville . Lebanon . Leesburg . Lexington . Lorton . Louisa . Luray . Lynchburg
M
Madison . Madison Heights . Manassas . Marion . Martinsville . McLean . Mechanicsville . Middleburg . Midlothian . Moneta
N
Newport News . Norfolk . Norton
O
Oakton . Occoquan . Onancock . Orange
P
Pearisburg . Pennington Gap . Petersburg . Poquoson . Portsmouth . Powhatan . Pulaski . Purcellville
R
Radford . Reston . Richlands . Richmond . Roanoke . Rocky Mount . Rustburg
S
Salem . Sandston . Smithfield . South Boston . South Hill . Spotsylvania . Springfield . Stafford . Staunton . Stephens City . Sterling . Stuart . Suffolk
T
Tappahannock . Tazewell . Triangle . Troutville
V
Vienna . Vinton . Virginia Beach
W
Warrenton . Warsaw . Waynesboro . Williamsburg . Winchester . Wise . Woodbridge . Woodstock . Wytheville
Y
Yorktown

Dedication

This blog needs a dedication. There are quite a few people I could dedicate it to, including my sweetheart, my son and my brother, among others. My teacher, Miyoko Watanabe is another. I happened to unexpectedly see the picture of someone I hadn't seen for a long, long time and realized this is the person I want to dedicate this blog -- to dedicate it to this definitely unsung hero of mine -- my grandfather, William Perthy Bradshaw.

1898-1967

He was a waterman from Poquoson, VA, and a fisherman in Portsmouth, but that didn't keep him from being impeccably dressed, even elegant. His work clothes were all khaki -- pants, shirt and hat -- always clean and freshly pressed. I believe he might have even changed when he came home for lunch. He often wore a suit with a vest, tie and a fedora hat. Even in the summer, he kept his jacket on because a gentleman should never go around in his shirt sleeves. He always wore nice shoes. Something like this:

or this

Granpa had a fine collection of pens, one of which I have. It's the only thing I have. My brother saw some letters he had written, and said that he was a wonderful and eloquent writer. I never saw him writing, but maybe by the time I lived with my grandparents, he might have been past that.

One thing that was always present was his cigar (or "see-gar" as we said).

There's a picture of him visiting Alaska, holding a salmon that he caught with his bare hands (one hand) -- and the see-gar in the other!

(I'm going to upload it later.) I wasn't there, but I can believe it! I was there when he caught a spikey puffer fish. He tickled its belly so I could see it blow up -- and then threw it back, because it was the fish Japanese call fugu, very poisonous.

Portsmouth, VA - Chocolate Bonbons memory

Since this is my first post that has to do with food, I'll make it a memory of my childhood. I went to a grade school in Portsmouth, VA called Westhaven Elementary School. I went there from 1954 until maybe 1961. Mr. Hardin was the principal.
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Portsmouth is on the coast of Virginia, and it gets HOT . . . hot and humid . . . VERY hot and humid. It starts getting hot early in the springtime, and stays hot through September. Schools weren't air conditioned then, but being kids, somehow we didn't notice as much.
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I remember walking home from school every day, and when I could, stopping by the Suburban Pharmacy and getting a chocolate bonbon. When you hear the word "bonbon," you might picture a small piece of chocolate candy. This was a small soda cup layered with crushed ice, one scoop of vanilla ice cream, and more crushed ice on top. Then a whoosh of soda fountain chocolate syrup was pumped into the cup, and the result was a cup of cold heaven!
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It was not too gooey because of the melting ice, but it stayed cold a long time. The syrup was that good dark chocolate syrup, so it was more chocolaty and less sweet, and it was good to the last drop! I don't remember it being more than a dime, but I'm not sure about that. We were well beyond nickel ice cream scoops.
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The ice had that particular size and crunch that comes from those old manual ice crushers. We had one at home, too, a Dazey rocket-shaped model as I found out they were called. It was just like this one, except with a transparent yellow plastic base. The chrome parts might have been white -- I can't quite remember.

If there's anyone out there who remembers these chocolate bonbons, please comment!

I did hear from someone that the Suburban Pharmacy still exists, it hasn't moved, but it no longer has a fountain, so no more chocolate bonbons, unless you make one yourself!

0. Roll call of the states

Do you realize, if you alphabetize the state abbreviations and the state names, they don't come out in exactly the same order! Who knew (and maybe who cares)?

Eventually, each state will have its own blog entry. Instead of making 50 entries right now, I'll make each state page as I come to a bit of information from that state. Right now, the abbreviations are linked to the state government website, and the name of the state is linked to its tourism website.

AL / ALABAMA
AK / ALASKA
AZ / ARIZONA
AR / ARKANSAS

CA / CALIFORNIA
CO / COLORADO
CT / CONNECTICUT

DE / DELAWARE
DC / DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

FL / FLORIDA

GA / GEORGIA

HI / HAWAII

ID / IDAHO
IL / ILLINOIS
IN / INDIANA
IA / IOWA

KS / KANSAS
KY / KENTUCKY

LA / LOUISIANA

ME / MAINE
MD / MARYLAND
MA / MASSACHUSETTS
MI / MICHIGAN
MN / MINNESOTA
MS / MISSISSIPPI
MO / MISSOURI
MT / MONTANA

NE / NEBRASKA
NV / NEVADA
NH / NEW HAMPSHIRE
NJ / NEW JERSEY
NM / NEW MEXICO
NY / NEW YORK
NC / NORTH CAROLINA
ND / NORTH DAKOTA

OH / OHIO
OK / OKLAHOMA
OR / OREGON

PA / PENNSYLVANIA / Pennsylvania blog entry

RI / RHODE ISLAND

SC / SOUTH CAROLINA
SD / SOUTH DAKOTA

TN / TENNESSEE
TX / TEXAS

UT / UTAH

VT / VERMONT
VA / VIRGINIA / Virginia blog entry

WA / WASHINGTON
WV / WEST VIRGINIA
WI / WISCONSIN
WY / WYOMING



Below are territories. We'll leave them alone for now, but it's good to see what they are:
AS AMERICAN SAMOA;
FM FEDERATED STATES OF MICRONESIA;
GU GUAM;
MH MARSHALL ISLANDS;
MP NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS;
PW PALAU;
PR PUERTO RICO;
VI VIRGIN ISLANDS

Regions of the US

What are the regions of the US?
Every country has this problem: we can't quite make up our minds, and it depends on what you're looking at, too – weather, bbq, geography, historical circumstance – the list could go on and on.. According to Thinkquest, there are 5 -- Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Southwest and West -- we're going to tip over westward!

This how the US government defines our regions for the census: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_regions_of_the_United_States

(my colors)

• NORTHEAST (blue because it's cold, and for the sea)
• SOUTH (red, because it's hot)
• MIDWEST (green, because it's the breadbasket)
• WEST (yellow for sunshine -- well, it doesn't fit everywhere -- maybe we'll call it adobe)
  

Within each region are Divisions. Here's where we start to part company. The government says:

NORTHEAST
New England: ME, NH, VT, MA, RI, CT
Mid-Atlantic: NY, PA, NJ
(Let's put Connecticut down there with NY, PA, and NJ.)
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SOUTH
South Atlantic: DE, MD, DC, VA, WV, NC, SC, GA, FL
(Delaware? Maryland is even debatable. -- at least they are on the Atlantic coast. I don't agree with West Virginia at all.)
East South Central: KY, TN, MS, AL
West South Central: OK, TX, AR, LA
(Texas?? Well, it was part of the Confederacy, but let's put it down in the old West.)
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MIDWEST
East North Central: WI, MI, IL, IN, OH
West North Central: ND, SD, NE, KS, MN, IA, MO
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WEST
Mountain: ID, MT, WY, NV, UT, CO, AZ, NM
Pacific: AK, WA, OR, CA, HI
(Wait . . . no Southwest?? We HAVE to have one! I really would like to get the Southwest in there, because it's such a well known region. )

Here are two interesting websites that show you just how subjective Regions are:
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gmdhtml/rrhtml/regdef.html
http://usa.usembassy.de/travel-regions.htm

How about this configuration? I'd love to hear your comments!

ATLANTIC COAST
New England: ME, NH, VT, MA, RI,
Mid-Atlantic: CT, NY, PA, NJ, DE,
South Atlantic: MD, DC, VA, NC, SC, GA, FL

INTERIOR
South: AR, LA, KY, TN, MS, AL
Great Lakes: WI, MI, MN
Midwest: WV, IL, IN, OH
Great Plains: ND, SD, NE, KS, IA, MO

WEST
Rocky Mountains: ID, MT, WY, NV, UT, CO
Southwest: OK, TX, AZ, NM
Pacific Coast: AK, WA, OR, CA, HI

First Post! A New Beginning . . .

For years (and years, and years . . . ) I've been stashing away bits of information about American Regional Specialties, nicked from everywhere -- from traveling, friends, radio, TV, newspapers, and the Internet, among others.

I'm very familiar with the tradition called meisan in Japan. Meisan means famous or notable products of the region, and when people in Japan travel, they try to sample and also bring back one of those products from the area they visited, no matter how small, to give friends and family a tiny taste of what they enjoyed. This has been going on for hundreds of years.

Often, I thought how nice it would be if we could do that in the US, too. We have so many wonderful things to offer in this huge country, that no matter what part of the country you visit, you can bring home a little piece of your travels to friends and family. Likewise, some of my friends in Japan might also like to know where to find American meisan, and also know when certain food products are in season.

First, we'll define the regions of the country, and then go through a roll call of the states before delving randomly into years of accumulated information.

Thanks!

photo by Dawn Allyn