Tell me something wonderful about your home state

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
61

Aside from voting a dead guy into office, here in Missouri:

We have the St Louis Cardinals baseball team, who have won more World Series than any other National League team, and 2nd only to the Yankees in most World Series wins.

Missouri also has been home to Mark Twain, Harry S Truman, Kevin Kline, John Goodman, Chuck Berry, Scott Joplin, the notorious James Brothers (Frank and Jesse) and I’m sure some other people I can’t think of.

There’s also Meramec Caverns, a hideout for the James brothers and legend has it as a station on the Underground Railroad. Here’s a site with some better pics of the Caverns.

Some people seem to like to go to Branson, but I’ve yet to discover the appeal myself.

The Lewis and Clark Expedition began in St. Louis.

With the discovery of gold in California, the Missouri towns of St. Louis, Independence, Westport, and St. Joseph became points of departure for emigrants bound for California, making Missouri the “Gateway to the West.” The Arch was built as a monument commemorating this. I believe it’s the only momument built for people who were “just passing through.” :wink:

The Pony Express’s first run began in St Joseph, MO.

Kansas City is known for its beautiful fountains, great BBQ, and a rich jazz history featuring the likes of Count Basie and Charlie Parker.

And we elected a dead guy for governor. :smiley:

62

“Hell’s canyon is the deepest canyon in the world (ratio of depth to width).”

And is only halfway in Idaho. Other half is in Oregon.

63

Tennessee, admitted into the Union June 1st, 1796.

The word “Tennessee” comes from the Cherokee village named “Tanasi”

Our highest point is Clingman’s Dome at 6,643 feet

Our state bird is the mockingbird, state flower is the Iris, state tree is the Tulip Tree, our state amphibian is the Cave Salamander.

We have more species of Salamanders here than can be found at any other place in the world.

Tennessee ties Missouri as bordering the most number of other states with 8. We border Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Missouri.

Home of the Grand Old Opry, Beale Street, Graceland, The Great Smokey Mountains, Jack Daniels, Davy Crockett, David Farragut, Morgan Freeman, Aretha Franklin, Isaac Hayes, Minnie Pearl, Dolly Parton, Tina Turner, Alvin York and William Walker. :>

We were the last state to join the Confederacy and the first to fall, more battles were fought here than in any other state except Virginia.

64

Fearsome? Aww! I think he’s adorable! I want one!

:slight_smile:

65

I’ve lived almost all my life in Michigan, but my mom was from Hawaii so it’s kind of a second home state to me.

It’s the home of the tallest mountain in the world by one reckoning. Mauna Kea, when measured from it’s base at the bottom of the ocean, to it’s summit, is taller than Mount Everest.

Has the only authentic palace in the United States.

Is the smallest state west of the Mississippi.

66

Connecticut:

As a huge sports fan, I can proudly declare our one and only pro franchise moved to the Carolinas almost 10 years back. :frowning:

uhm…

We have Indian Casinos!

er…

Large government military contracts?

hmmm…

50 minute train ride to NYC!!!

Ok, I’m done.

67

Am I the first to chime in from New Jersey? Well, here goes.

There are no self-serve gas stations in New Jersey. Someone else pumps your gas, or you don’t get any. I believe Oregon is the only other state with that law.

New Jersey has a yellow state flag (although I can’t tell you what’s on it without looking it up), Texas is the only other state with one.

Two-thirds of the world’s eggplants are grown in New Jersey.

THe “New Joisey” accent you hear so much about only occurs in the New York-bordering counties. Hudson, Bergen, and to some extent, Union counties are pretty much the only place you’ll find that accent. The rest of us sound just like everyone else. And I have never heard a single native actually say “Joisey.”

In the last six months, New Jersey has become New York’s smoking section.

The first brewery in North America was located in Hoboken, NJ.

Most people think the “Garden State” is a bad name for NJ. These people have seen nothing of NJ but Newark (now Newark Liberty) Airport (which always smells like waffles, for some reason … check it out. Terminal C.) and possibly the NJ Turnpike, which runs through some of the least appealing petrochemical refinery hubs in the state. Leave the highway, you’ll find the gardens.

New Jersey also has some of the strictest offshore-dumping laws on the east coast.

If you happen to live in Essex county, nine times out of ten, if you’re late for something, it’s because there was a damned Sopranos film crew in your way. (And incidentally, the house the Sopranos are supposed to live in is in the neighborhood I grew up in. I don’t actually watch the show–I had too many friends with pinky-ringed uncles to accept it as fiction–but I damn well know where they film it!)

Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run” was seriously considered for a time to be chosen as the New Jersey state anthem. It was rejected because of the use of the word suicide. Anybody who grew up in New Jersey could tell you that the word would have been eerily accurate. “Born to Run” also contains what I think to be the New Jersey State Motto: “We gotta get out while we’re young.”

And of course, my favorite mock-motto: New Jersey–Where the Weak are Killed and Eaten.

68

Texas is the only other state with what?

and CrunchyFrog–last summer on our way home, we stopped at the Meramac Caverns. CG had been there several times as a boy and though I still favor the Innerspace Cavern near San Antonio as a better cave system, Meramac was pretty cool. I think it’d be downright creepy to have your HS prom there (as our guide told us several local HS’s did).

IDBB

69

Texas and NJ are the only states with yellow state flags. At least, I recall someone telling me that recently. :slight_smile:

70

Nope… Texas flag is red, white and blue. You’re probably thinking of New Mexico.

http://www.law.ou.edu/hist/flags/stflag2.shtml

71

Crap. Another fact about New Jersey is that its residents tend to pass off something they probably made up as fact. :slight_smile:

72

Whoa. Sorry, no. Yes, the Petoskey stone is the state rock, but they’re not from meteorites and they aren’t limited to Petoskey. They can be found anywhere in the northern part of the Lower Peninsula, (you’re right that they’re found mainly around Petoskey.) I’ve found them along the beach as well as inland.
Here’s a link to an info page about Petoskey Stones.
They’re fossilized coral, by the way.
Usually rather difficult to find unless they’re wet, because the pattern “disappears” when the stone is dry. Usually.

(My born-to state is Michigan. Move-to state is Indiana.)

Um. Cool stuff about Indiana.
We have an Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg festival every year over Labor Day weekend. A highlight is the “World’s Largest Car Collector Auction And Show”. A couple of years ago they had one of the Batmobiles at the show. This festival usually gets over 300,000 attendees.

Un-official non-data:
It always rains sideways here.

73

Tasmania is home to some of the world’s cleanest air. It has fantastic, beautiful wilderness areas. It has numerous unique species of flora and fauna.

74

I better stick up for SC.

Boring geography
* Borders - Atlantic Ocean, Georgia, North Carolina
* Time zone - Eastern
* Total area - 31,189 square miles - 41st largest state
- Land area - 30,111 square miles - 96.5%
- Inland water area - 1,006 square miles
- Coastal water area - 72 square miles
* Greatest distances
- North to south - 218 miles
- East to west - 275 miles
* Geographic center - Richland County - 13 miles southeast of Columbia

* Smallest county - McCormick - 360 square miles
* Largest county - Horry - 1,134 square miles

* Highest mountain - Sassafras Mountain - 3,560 feet
* Highest waterfall - Raven Cliff Falls - 420 feet
* Longest river - Savannah River - 238 miles
  (Length of river segment that borders SC)
* Largest river - Santee - drains 40% of the state
* Largest lake - Lake Marion - 172.8 square miles
* Largest barrier island - Hilton Head Island

* Miles of coast - 187
  Miles of coastal shoreline - 2,876 - 11th longest
  Miles of oceanfront beaches - 182

Lowcountry = the area along South Carolina’s coast from Pawleys Island south to the Savannah River. Sometimes spelled Low Country.

**Boring Facts / Timeline **
* First European contact with native Americans - by Spanish - Winyah Bay - June 1521
* First enslavement of native Americans - by Spanish - Winyah Bay - July 1521
* First French settlement - Parris Island - 1562
* Charles I of England granted “Carolana” to Sir Robert Heath - 1629
* Charles II of England granted “Carolina” to eight Lords Proprietors - March 24, 1663
* First English settlement - Charles Town - 1670 - named for Charles II
* Separated from North Carolina - 1710
* Lords Proprietors overthrown - December 21, 1719

* First state constitution signed - March 26, 1776 - John Rutledge elected president
* British fleet defeated at Battle of Sullivan's Island - June 28, 1776 - America's first military victory
* Declaration of Independence signed in Philadelphia - August 2, 1776 - Four SC signers were Thomas Heyward, Jr, Thomas Lynch, Jr, Arthur Middleton, and Edward Rutledge.
* First state governor - John Rutledge - 1779
* Capital moved from Charleston to Columbia - 1786
* Ratified US Constitution - May 23, 1788 - 8th state
* Seceded from Union - December 20, 1860 - 1st state
* Fired on Fort Sumter - April 12, 1861
* First SC governor elected by popular vote - James Lawrence Orr - October 18, 1865
* End of Reconstruction - April 11, 1877

* Last county formed - Allendale - 1919
* First woman elected to SC Senate - Mary G. Ellis, Jasper County - 1929
* Public colleges integrated - 1965
* In-migration begins to exceed out-migration - late 1960s
* Public K-12 schools integrated - 1970
* First black state representatives elected in the 20th Century - 1970
* First Republican governor since Reconstruction - James B. Edwards - 1975
* First black state senator elected in the 20th Century - I. DeQuincy Newman - 1983
* First black US Representative elected since Reconstruction - James E. Clyburn - 1992

From here.

And here are a bunch of “firsts” but these are my favorites:

1526 First European settlement
Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon (c 1475-1526) of Spain established San Miguel de Gualdape, probably near present-day Georgetown, but possibly further south. The settlement failed within a year due to famine, disease, and unrest in the black and American Indian populations … leaving only 150 of the original 600 settlers to return to Santo Domingo.

1563 First American-built ship to cross the Atlantic
A small group of French Huguenot settlers built a makeshift vessel and sailed from Port Royal for France after being left behind in Charlesfort by their leader, Jean Ribaut (c1520-1565).

April 1737 First systematic, scientific recording of weather information
Dr. John Lining (1708-1760) took observations of Charles Town’s weather three times a day from his home on Broad Street. He recorded temperature, rainfall, atmospheric pressure, humidity, wind direction, and wind speed. I’m a weather nerd

Dec 20, 1860 First state to secede
A state convention of 169 members met at St. Andrews Hall in Charleston and voted unanimously to secede from the Union. Convention members met in Institute Hall later that evening to sign the Ordinance of Secession.

Jan 9, 1861 First shot fired in the Civil War
The US Vessel Star of the West was fired upon by Citadel Cadets stationed on Morris Island while trying to bring supplies to Fort Sumter.

Feb 17, 1864 First submarine to sink a ship in battle
Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley sunk the USS Housatonic.

1899 First textile school established in a college
Clemson opened a textile department. In 1904 its first graduating class had 5 students. (where I went to college)

And finally!

Nov 2, 1954 First US senator elected by write-in vote
Strom Thurmond received 139,106 write-in votes to win a seat in the US Senate. He defeated Democratic nominee Edgar Brown, who received only 80,956 votes.

75

Lots of corn where I’m from…

Klondike bars were invented here!

Ashton Kutcher is from here…

And, it boasts the world’s largest truck stop!

Yes, folks, it’s Iowa.

76

1 in 4 trees in the US grows in Oregon. But over half the state is treeless high desert. (Which is the part I like best. Who wants drizzle and moss?) There are hills in the Columbia River gorge that are green forests on one side and sagebrush covered on the other.

For one hour each year it’s the same time in Oregon and Florida (parts of anyway).

And I thought that Washington shared Hell’s Canyon with Oregon and Idaho?

77

I’m from California. Whooee! It’s the richest state in the nation, but they have trouble keeping the electricity on. It’s in the process of turning its political process into a carnival. So that’s pretty exciting, yeah?

Besides being an increasingly strange place, California is home to 35 million people, a quarter of whom were born outside of the United States. California was settled by several Indian tribes first, second by the Spanish, and was part of Mexico when independence from Spain was achieved (the American state of CA was Alta California, to differentiate it from what’s still the Mexican state of Baja California). California was the first of the western states (#32), and sent soldiers to fight on the Union side of the distant Civil War.

San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Clara, San Luis Obispo, Santa Cruz, San Francisco, and San Rafael all get their names from the missions built by the Spanish padres under the direction of the rather frightening Padre Junipero Serra, some of which are still standing. Mission Dolores (aka Mission San Francisco de Asís), built in 1776, is the oldest building in San Francisco.

Almost every fifth grader in California builds a model of one of the missions. Somehow, I escaped this fate. Whew.

Plus, the official state fossil is the smilodon (saber toothed tiger). How cool is that? Our state fossil could totally kick your state fossil’s ass!

A’course, now I live in Illinois. I don’t really think of it like that, though. I live in Chicago.

78

I think it would drown long before it got a chance to kick my fossil’s ass Funny, the state fossil is an animal from an ocean…no ocean for hundreds of miles…