STATES AND TERRITORIES. — VIRGINIA.    153

of its geology has been completed ; but the progress of its railroads, so vigorously prosecuted,
and promising such advantages in bringing the riches of the west to the sea-coast, will doubt-
less make apparent also, at an early period, the worth of such a measure.

In 1842 began the celebration of Forefathers' Day; ¹ and that whatever was commendable
in their character and spirit may, under the blessing of their and our God, flourish in this
now thriving state, is our hearty wish and prayer.

VIRGINIA is the northernmost, save one, of that division of the United States usually
denominated the Southern States. It lies between lat. 36° 33' and 40° 43' north, and extends
from 75° 25' to 83° 40' of west longitude. Its length, from east to west, is 370 miles; its
greatest breadth 200; and its exact area is officially stated at 61,352 square miles, f It is
bounded on the north by Pennsylvania ; on the north-east by the River Potomac, w'hich sepa-
rates it from Maryland ; on the east by the waters of Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean;
on the south by North Carolina and a part of Tennessee ; on the west by Kentucky ; and on
the north-west by Ohio.

Having been the seat of the earliest English settlement permanently established in North
America, Virginia ranks as the eldest of the thirteen colonies originally compacted into the
republic of the United States; and is therefore worthy of the frequently-bestowed appellation
of “the Old Dominion." The present name of the state was conferred by Sir Walter
Raleigh, in compliment to the maiden queen, by whom, in 1584, he had been empowered “ to
search for remote heathen lands, not inhabited by Christian people," and to hav® and hold, in
fee simple, all the soil within 200 leagues of any places which should become, within six
years, the fixed residences of his companions, the crown reserving to itself one fifth part of
all the precious metals that might be obtained. Under this authority, between the years 1584
and 1588, Sir Walter fitted out several vessels, the first two of which touched at an island on
the coast of what is now North Carolina; but of the number or fate of the adventurers there

* Boston Recorder of January 12, 1849.

f Some geographers give 220 miles as its extent from north to south, and estimate the area at

70,000 square miles. At the close of the American revolution, according to Mr. JefFerson, the bounda-
ries of Virginia, commencing at the Atlantic Ocean, and reaching 758 miles to the River Mississippi,
with an average breadth of about 223 miles, included an area of no less than 121,525 square miles,
being “ one third larger than the Islands of Great Britain and Ireland."

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A Gazetteer of the United. States of America by John Hayward.

Hartford, CT: Case, Tiffany and Company. 1853. Public domain image

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