Alaska is not part of the continental 48 states. The answer is Missouri, admitted 1821, and Arkansas, admitted 1836, a gap of 15 years.
Hmm, how about between 41 years between Arizona (1912) and Ohio (1953) 
Ohio History:
I’ve been having entirely too much fun reading this geography thread.
Regarding nearby states that don’t share a border (aqueous or on land), I bet not many of you thought of Virginia/Delaware on the Delmarva peninsula. I checked though and it looks to be about 25 miles, which would make it a big longer than some of the other distances already mentioned.
Are these answers correct? (Keeping with the spirit of the thread, I haven’t looked at a map yet.) I remember going to Lubec ME when I was younger and going out to some lighthouse that was billed as the Easternmost Point in the US. Also, Key West has that big rock that is “The Southernmost point in the US.” Of course, these may just be referring to the continental US, or I may be making things up again
I don’t recall the Penns being kings or queens of anything…
It turns on the definition of “easternmost.”
If you mean “based on longitude,” then the easternmost point is in Alaska, since its westernmost point crosses over into east longitude.
If you mean, “based on distance from the center of the country,” then the easternmost point is indeed in Maine.
To clarify my question, the state involved had its name coined from no existing source; the name was never anything other than the name of a state, and was not derived from a person or place name or native word.
I’m thinking Maine.
Hawaii is the southernmost being just south of the 19th parallel, Key West in Florida is between the 24th and 25th parallel.
Okay, I looked a little bit. There seems to be no single answer to this question.
No one seems sure where the name “Maine” came from. “Wisconsin” is thought to be a French corruption of some unknown Indian term, so that’s never meant anything other than the state. “California” seems made-up. “Idaho” is made-up. “Oregon” is of unknown origin.
In my posting I said all except one, and the one exception I was thinking of was Pennsylvania. As opthers have pointed out later, there are three exceptions, including Louisiana and Washington. So I should have said, “Nine are named after people, and all except three of those are named after kings and queens of England.” But I did not think that William Penn was a king or queen 
Maine and Massachusetts is divided by 17 miles of New Hampshire on the coastline, but I think that’s secondary to Maryland and New Jersey as others have suggested (12 miles roughly - I looked it up).
New question…
We all know that Alaska is the largest and Rhode Island is the smallest state, but which come in the middle? Which two states, when ranked by land area, come in at 25th and 26th?
Iowa (25th) and Wisconsin (26th).
I did have to look that up – I don’t know everything.
Nope, sorry. Iowa is right (although it is the 26th,not 25th) and Wisconsin is the 23rd.
So we’re looking for the 25th largest state.
Another two…
What is the largest state east of the Mississippi?
What is the smallest state west of the Mississippi? (not including Hawaii)
I am sure you mean “East of the Mississippi River” and that state would be Georgia, I think. Smallest State West of the Mississippi river would be Iowa, again I think.
The distance between Piggott, Arkansas and Cairo, Illinois can’t be much more than 30 miles. Cairo Ill is also very close to the NW corner of TN, probably about 30 miles as well.
One of my favorite trivia questions.
What 4 states and their respective state capital begin with the same letter?
I’d be curious to know what figures are being used for this one because I have a website page about states ranked by size, population, dates of admission, etc.
Michigan 58,527 sq miles 23rd
Illinois 56,345 sq miles 24th
Iowa 56,275 sq miles 25th
Wisconsin 56,153 sq miles 26th
Arkansas 53,187 sq miles 27th
Iowa seems like #25 to me.
Honolulu, HI
Dover, DE
Oklahoma City, OK, and
Indianapolis, IN.
What state contains the higest point east of the Mississippi River?
Dang!
100%!
<takes off hat>