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51 Virginia Trivia Questions and Fun Facts

Reviewed by Stefanie Zaldarriaga, Author·Updated Oct 2026·6 min read

51 Virginia trivia questions with answers and a handful of checked fun facts, from Jamestown and the first General Assembly to Yorktown, Appomattox and the official state boat.

Featured Image of Virginia Trivia Questions. Credit: Ron Cogswell, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Virginia was there at the start of English America and at the end of two wars. Jamestown, the first legislative assembly, Yorktown and Appomattox are all inside its borders, eight presidents were born here, and the state code names an official state bat. Before the questions below, here are the facts worth knowing.

On May 14, 1607, the Virginia Company's settlers landed on Jamestown Island. Jamestown stayed the capital until its statehouse burned in 1698; the government moved to Williamsburg in 1699 and on to Richmond during the Revolution.

On July 30, 1619, 22 burgesses met with the governor and council in the church at Jamestown, the assembly the National Park Service calls the first legislative assembly on the American continent.

Two wars effectively ended in Virginia. Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown on October 19, 1781, and Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia in the McLean House at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.

Three weeks before the Declaration of Independence, Virginia adopted George Mason's Declaration of Rights on June 12, 1776. It was widely copied by the other colonies and became a basis for the Bill of Rights.

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel runs 17.6 miles from shore to shore, dipping into two tunnels so ships can pass overhead. It opened on April 15, 1964.

The Code of Virginia's list of official emblems runs from the obvious to the oddly specific:

  • State bat: the Virginia big-eared bat.
  • State beverage: milk.
  • State boat: the Chesapeake Bay deadrise.
  • State fossil: Chesapecten jeffersonius, a scallop named after Thomas Jefferson.
  • State tree and state flower: both the American dogwood.

The motto on the state seal, "Sic Semper Tyrannis," means "Thus always to tyrants," and the seal shows Virtus, the genius of the Commonwealth, standing over a defeated tyrant.

The questions start easy and get harder as you go, and every one has multiple-choice options. Read each question aloud, give the table a moment, then reveal the answer.

  1. 1What is the capital of Virginia?

  2. 2Which nickname does Virginia go by?

  3. 3What was the first permanent English settlement in North America, founded in Virginia in 1607?

  4. 4What is Virginia's state bird?

  5. 5Which tree is both Virginia's state tree and its state flower?

  6. 6Which four-word tourism slogan is Virginia famous for?

  7. 7Mount Vernon, on the Potomac River, was the home of which president?

  8. 8What is the name of Thomas Jefferson's mountaintop home near Charlottesville?

  9. 9In which Virginia county is the Pentagon?

  10. 10Which large estuary forms much of Virginia's eastern edge?

  11. 11Which scenic road runs 105 miles through Shenandoah National Park?

  12. 12What is Virginia's official state dog?

  13. 13What is Virginia's official state beverage?

  14. 14Wild ponies swim the Assateague Channel each July to which Virginia island town?

  15. 15Which is Virginia's most populous city?

  16. 16Virginia shares which official title with Kentucky, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania?

  17. 17How many US presidents were born in Virginia, more than in any other state?

  18. 18Which of these presidents was NOT born in Virginia?

  19. 19In 1699 Virginia moved its capital from Jamestown to which town?

  20. 20In what year did Virginia's first legislative assembly meet in the church at Jamestown?

  21. 21At which Virginia town did Cornwallis surrender on October 19, 1781?

  22. 22Which British general surrendered his army at Yorktown?

  23. 23Where did Robert E. Lee surrender the Army of Northern Virginia on April 9, 1865?

  24. 24What does Virginia's state motto, "Sic Semper Tyrannis," mean?

  25. 25Who wrote the Virginia Declaration of Rights, adopted on June 12, 1776?

  26. 26Which university did Thomas Jefferson found, chartered by the General Assembly in 1819?

  27. 27Which state was formed from Virginia's western counties during the Civil War?

  28. 28Which state was created in 1792 from land that had belonged to Virginia?

  29. 29About how long is the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel from shore to shore?

  30. 30Which 469-mile scenic road begins at the southern end of Shenandoah National Park?

  31. 31What is the highest point in Virginia?

  32. 32What is Virginia's official state insect?

  33. 33What is Virginia's official saltwater fish?

  34. 34What is Virginia's official freshwater fish?

  35. 35Which animal is Virginia's official state bat?

  36. 36What is Virginia's official state shell?

  37. 37Which Powhatan woman married the colonist John Rolfe in 1614?

  38. 38Which crop made the Jamestown colony profitable?

  39. 39Which country singer from Winchester, Virginia, recorded "Crazy" in 1961?

  40. 40Which tennis champion, born in Richmond, won Wimbledon in 1975?

  41. 41Which jazz singer, the "First Lady of Song," was born in Newport News?

  42. 42Which reptile is Virginia's official state snake?

  43. 43What is Virginia's official state boat?

  44. 44Virginia's state fossil, Chesapecten jeffersonius, is what kind of animal?

  45. 45Virginia's traditional state song, "Our Great Virginia," sets new words to which folk tune?

  46. 46Who became the first elected Black governor in US history when Virginia chose him in 1989?

  47. 47Which natural stone arch in the Shenandoah Valley did Thomas Jefferson buy in 1774?

  48. 48In which year did the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel open to traffic?

  49. 49In which year did Virginia move its capital from Williamsburg to Richmond?

  50. 50When Virginia ratified the US Constitution on June 25, 1788, it became which state?

  51. 51In whose house at Appomattox Court House did Lee and Grant meet to agree the surrender?

Answer Key

  1. 1. Richmond
  2. 2. The Old Dominion
  3. 3. Jamestown
  4. 4. Northern cardinal
  5. 5. American dogwood
  6. 6. Virginia is for Lovers
  7. 7. George Washington
  8. 8. Monticello
  9. 9. Arlington County
  10. 10. Chesapeake Bay
  11. 11. Skyline Drive
  12. 12. American foxhound
  13. 13. Milk
  14. 14. Chincoteague
  15. 15. Virginia Beach
  16. 16. Commonwealth
  17. 17. Eight
  18. 18. John Adams
  19. 19. Williamsburg
  20. 20. 1619
  21. 21. Yorktown
  22. 22. Charles Cornwallis
  23. 23. Appomattox Court House
  24. 24. Thus always to tyrants
  25. 25. George Mason
  26. 26. University of Virginia
  27. 27. West Virginia
  28. 28. Kentucky
  29. 29. 17.6 miles
  30. 30. Blue Ridge Parkway
  31. 31. Mount Rogers
  32. 32. Tiger swallowtail butterfly
  33. 33. Striped bass
  34. 34. Brook trout
  35. 35. Virginia big-eared bat
  36. 36. Oyster shell
  37. 37. Pocahontas
  38. 38. Tobacco
  39. 39. Patsy Cline
  40. 40. Arthur Ashe
  41. 41. Ella Fitzgerald
  42. 42. Eastern garter snake
  43. 43. Chesapeake Bay deadrise
  44. 44. A scallop
  45. 45. Oh Shenandoah
  46. 46. L. Douglas Wilder
  47. 47. Natural Bridge
  48. 48. 1964
  49. 49. 1780
  50. 50. The 10th
  51. 51. Wilmer McLean's

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