VIRGINIA
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What's New in Virginia?

For More Information, Contact:
Sana Keller, Canadian Public Relations & Marketing Manager
Virginia Tourism Corporation
sana@discovertheworld.ca, (804) 545-5572
Or
Julia Scott, International Public Relations Manager
Virginia Tourism Corporation
Jscott@virginia.org, (804) 545-5575

Virginia wows its visitors with the many ways it expresses its 400-year heritage as the first permanent English-speaking settlement in the Americas. From its Blue Ridge and Allegheny mountains with elevations greater than five thousand feet to more than a thousand square miles of Atlantic Ocean and Chesapeake Bay waterways, Virginia excites the senses. From state-of-the-art skyscrapers and world-class shopping malls to meandering scenic byways and trails that encompass the Revolutionary War, Civil War, music and wildlife-watching, the commonwealth is a state of contrasts: Not only has Virginia nurtured more leaders who became President of the United States than any other state, but its leadership has continued into the space age with the training of the first astronauts at NASA here and the election of the nation’s first elected black governor.

With golf courses consistently ranked among the top in the U. S. and resorts with offerings from natural, hot-springs-fed spas to learn-to programs featuring cooking, golfing, skiing (plus more than a hundred farm wineries across the state), it’s as though the founding fathers threw a stone and decided that full-service amenities should be within a stone’s throw of Virginia’s world-class historical sites. Find Relais & Chateaux properties and other top-starred restaurants and lodgings sprinkled across the state.

History

As long as at least 9500 B. C., American Indians began populating Virginia. When Columbus was exploring the Caribbean, Indians of coastal Virginia were speaking an Algonquian language and living in permanent villages in the state’s tidal areas. Today’s visitors can visit Indian lands and special events but also pick up traces of the English Elizabethan accent in the voices of some coastal residents. Roots of the American Revolution were put down here through protests such as that of Patrick Henry’s “liberty or death” speech, and the fateful final Revolutionary War battle was fought at Yorktown. America expanded westward from here through the visionary Thomas Jefferson and his selection of two Virginians to lead the Lewis and Clark expedition west. The Civil War began and ended in the commonwealth, and today’s numerous sites on Virginia’s Civil War Trails reflect the fact that more major battles were fought here than in any other state.

Significant Attractions

• The Historic Triangle of Jamestown
  
• Williamsburg and Yorktown
  
• James River Plantations
  
• three major theme parks of Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Water Country USA, and Paramount’s Kings Dominion
  
• beaches and resorts of Hampton Roads
  
• Chesapeake Bay and Eastern Shore regions
  
• Nauticus and the Chrysler Museum of Art
  
• Skyline Drive
  
• Shenandoah National Park and Blue Ridge Parkway
  
• Explore Park
  
• Monticello
  
• Mount Vernon
  
• Montpelier
  
• Ash Lawn-Highland and Woodrow Wilson Birthplace
  
• homes of presidents Jefferson, Washington, Madison, Monroe and Wilson
  
• Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and Monument Avenue
  
• Old Town Alexandria and Arlington National Cemetery
  

Climate

Virginia’s mild winters on the coast, with snow in the higher elevations, provide wide-ranging winter recreation. Summers are mild-to-very-warm in July and August. Spring and fall bring brilliant color throughout the state, with Virginia’s Historic Garden Week being the oldest and largest such event in the nation.

How to Get Here

• With Washington Dulles International Airport near Herndon, Virginia offers non-stop service from/to more than 30 foreign cities.
  
• Domestic airports include Norfolk International Airport, Richmond International Airport, Newport News-Williamsburg International Airport, Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport, Roanoke Regional Airport, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington and Bristol Airport (serving Virginia from Tennessee).
  
• Greyhound Lines for bus travel and AMTRAK for travel by rail offer stops throughout Virginia.
  

Distances and Times

• Virginia is in the nation’s Eastern Time Zone
  
• The South observes Daylight Savings Time from late April through late October
  
• Richmond, the state capital, is 485 miles (786 kilometers; eight hours by car) from Atlanta, Georgia
  
• 106 miles (172 kilometers, two hours by car) from Washington, D. C.
  
• 105 miles (170 kilometers, two hours by car) from the state’s largest city, Virginia Beach.
  

For additional travel information, call 1-800-VISIT-VA (while in the United States) or 1-804-545-5586, fax 1-804-545-5501. Internet sites: www.Virginia.org and industry information at www.vatc.org.