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In 1924, the federal government began looking for land in the southern Appalachian Mountains to create a large national park which would be easily accessible to cars and hikers. The park opened in 1936 and was officially completed in 1939. The…

Harry Flood Byrd (1887–1966) served as state senator from 1915 to 1926, governor from 1926 to 1930, and as a United States Senator from 1933 to 1965. Byrd hailed from Winchester, Virginia, and came from a prominent and politically connected family.…

During World War II booklets were published to assist homemakers provide for their families and meet the requirements of the wartime ration system created after the U.S. entered the war in December 1941. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive…

At the turn of the twentieth century, the call for Prohibition had become a national issue, espoused by many politicians and pushed by several strong organizations. The American Temperance Society, started in 1826, acted as a support group for…

In October 1859, white abolitionist John Brown led an armed raid on the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), in an attempt to overthrow the system of slavery. Sixteen people died in the raid. Brown and six of his…

After the Civil War, the temperance movement swept the nation. Starting with Maine in 1851, states and localities around the country held referendums to let its citizens vote on whether or not to ban alcohol. In 1886, Virginia adopted the “Local…

Despite the ratification of both the Fifteenth and Nineteenth Amendments that granted all adult citizens in the United States the right to vote, many eligible Black voters in southern states were systematically blocked from participating in the…

The Atlantic hurricane season officially begins on June 1 and ends November 30, with the season’s peak occurring between August and October. During the very active hurricane season of 1933, the Chesapeake-Potomac Hurricane hit coastal Virginia on…

The United States produced many posters exhorting people to join the armed forces during World War II, as the need for soldiers, sailors, and pilots was critical. Often, the Office of War Information designed and circulated these posters, which were…

Petitions to the General Assembly were the primary catalyst for legislation in the Commonwealth from 1776 until 1865. Public improvements, military claims, divorce, freeing of enslaved people, incorporation of towns, and religious freedom were just…