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Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The state's capital is Richmond and its most populous city is Virginia Beach, though its most populous subdivision is Fairfax County, part of Northern Virginia, where slightly over a third of Virginia's population of 8.72 million live .

The Blue Ridge Mountains cross the western and southwestern parts of the state. The state's central region lies predominantly in the Piedmont. Eastern Virginia is part of the Atlantic Plain, and the Middle Peninsula forms the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. The fertile Shenandoah Valley fosters the state's most productive agricultural counties, while the economy in Northern Virginia is driven by technology companies and U.S. federal government agencies, including the U.S. Department of Defense and Central Intelligence Agency. Hampton Roads is also the site of the region's main seaport and Naval Station Norfolk, the world's largest naval base. (Full article...)

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Skyline Drive is a 105-mile (169 km) road that runs the entire length of the National Park Service's Shenandoah National Park in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, generally along the ridge of the mountains. The drive's northern terminus is at an intersection with U.S. Route 340 (US 340) near Front Royal, and the southern terminus is at an interchange with US 250 in Rockfish Gap, where the road continues south as the Blue Ridge Parkway.

A park entrance fee is charged at the four access points to the drive. Skyline Drive is a two-lane road that has 75 overlooks providing views of the Shenandoah Valley to the west and the Piedmont to the east. The drive provides access to numerous trails, including the Appalachian Trail, and it is also used for biking and horseback riding. Skyline Drive is the main road through Shenandoah National Park and has access to campgrounds, visitor centers, and resorts such as Skyland Resort and Big Meadows. The scenic drive is particularly popular in the fall for leaf peeping when the leaves are changing colors. Skyline Drive is designated a National Scenic Byway and a National Historic Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Plans for the road date back to 1924 when a national park was planned in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia and the main feature was to be a "sky-line drive" providing views of the surrounding land. Groundbreaking for Skyline Drive took place in 1931. The first section, which originally was to run from Rapidan Camp to Skyland, was extended between Swift Run Gap and Thornton Gap and opened in 1934. The Civilian Conservation Corps played a large part in constructing Skyline Drive. Improvements have been made to the roadway since it was built. Skyline Drive was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1997, became a National Scenic Byway in 2005, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2008.

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Francis Nicholson (12 November 1655 – March 16, 1728 [O.S. March 5, 1727]) was a British military officer and colonial administrator. His military service included time in Africa and Europe, after which he was sent as leader of the troops supporting Sir Edmund Andros in the Dominion of New England. There he distinguished himself, and was appointed lieutenant governor of the dominion in 1688. After news of the Glorious Revolution reached the colonies in 1689, Andros was overthrown in the Boston Revolt. Nicholson himself was soon caught up in unrest in New York, and fled to England.

He next served as lieutenant governor or governor of Virginia and Maryland. He supported the founding of the College of William and Mary, and quarreled with Andros after Andros was selected over him as governor of Virginia. In 1709 he became involved in colonial military actions during Queen Anne's War, leading an aborted expedition against Canada. He then led the expedition that successfully captured Port Royal, Acadia on 2 October 1710. Afterward he served as governor of Nova Scotia and Placentia, and was the first royal governor of South Carolina following a rebellion against its proprietors. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant-General, and died a bachelor in London in 1728.

He supported public education in the colonies, and was a member of both the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts and the Royal Society. He also influenced American architecture, being responsible for the layout and design of Annapolis, Maryland and Williamsburg, Virginia. He was one of the earliest advocates of colonial union, principally for reasons of defense against common enemies.

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This month in Virginia history

May 2, 1863: During the Battle of Chancellorsville, General Stonewall Jackson is shot behind his own lines, and dies several days later.
May 5–7, 1864: The Battle of the Wilderness is the first engagement between Generals Grant and Lee.
May 14, 1607: Jamestown is founded on an island in the James River, upstream of the Chesapeake Bay. (Historic Jamestowne, pictured)
May 15, 1776: Virginia declares itself independent of the British Empire, prior to the general Declaration of Independence made later that year
May 23, 1610: The Third Supply arrives in Jamestown with desperately-needed provisions and new colonists, enabling continued survival of the colony

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Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

An Antares rocket carrying Orb-D1 launches from Pad 0A at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, Wallops Island, Virginia on September 18, 2013

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... that slave owner John Custis petitioned the Governor of Virginia to manumit a slave child whom he had fathered?
... that in 1897, Francis Pharcellus Church wrote "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus"?
... that American lawyer and politician Armistead Abraham Lilly was also a principal owner of Ruffner Hotel in Charleston, West Virginia, and resided in its penthouse?
... that the China Folk House Retreat dismantled a Chinese folk house and rebuilt it in West Virginia?
... that the Jefferson Scholarship gives scholars more than $293,000 to attend the University of Virginia?
... that five peregrine falcon chicks were released from the roof of an office building in Virginia in an unsuccessful attempt to combat an overpopulation of pigeons?