Virginia’s diverse landscape is bordered by a tidewater coastline and the radiant Blue Ridge and Allegheny Mountains; nestled midway is the pastoral tranquility of the Shenandoah Valley. Known as “The Old Dominion State” and “Mother of Presidents,” Virginia was the bir thplace of seven presidents including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Woodrow Wilson. The state was also involved in the story of Native American princess Pocahontas and Captain John Smith.

Virginia’s heritage goes back to the first permanent settlement at Jamestown in 1607, where 105 colonists from England came to make their for tunes in the New World. Originally home to the Powhatan and Algonquian Native Americans, Virginia was declared the first of 13 colonies in America in 1776. After drafting the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson became Virginia’s second governor and was instrumental in relocating its capital from Williamsburg to Richmond in 1779.

The state flourished despite the growing dissension over slavery in the state’s west, and Virginia seceded from the Union to join the Confederacy. The break divided its citizens, creating the state of West Virginia in 1863. During the Civil War Virginia’s soil saw many bloody battles, with the commander of the Confederate army, General Robert E. Lee, surrendering the Confederacy on Virginia soil in April, 1865.

Virginia’s proximity to Washington DC as well as to the Atlantic seaboard kick-started its economy, with US naval bases and viable coal, lumber, rail, and shipping industries. Virginia remained defiant in its stand on segregation, but despite a slow transformation, in 1989 it became the first state in the nation to elect an African-American governor.