Comments on: 50 Facts About the 50 United States

By: Roger Whiting

Roger Whiting — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 23:00:37 +0000

Utah is starting to get a mural culture

By: Andrius

Andrius — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:28:08 +0000

Nice post. I love USA, I think one day I win gc and will come here.

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:00:52 +0000

Stockton California is also the Asparagus Capitol of the world. Solvang is the Danish Capiol of the US (located in Southern California), and the Ancient Bristlecone forrest has the oldest trees in the U.S. California also has the tallest trees – the coastal redwoods and the trees with the largest circumference – the Sequoia redwoods.

By: John200981

John200981 — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:12:27 +0000

New Mexico trivia…. The correct name is actually Smokey Bear, not Smokey THE Bear, although that is the unofficial name. I’m sure that Wikipedia has a huge blurb on it if you look up Smokey Bear.

By: WB Steancock

WB Steancock — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:38:00 +0000

Virginia Dare was born at Roanoke colony on what is now ROANOKE ISLAND in DARE county NC.

By: enoch needles

enoch needles — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:02:09 +0000

NJ (home of Bell Labs) had the first area code (201)

By: Archibum

Archibum — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:30:22 +0000

Mt. Horeb still has Tyrol Basin! It holds a special place in my heart as thats where i learned to ski.
My dad loved that Mustard Museum. I’ll have to let him know it in Madison. closer drive now

By: spencerctyvb

spencerctyvb — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:25:43 +0000

Did you know that Santa Claus, Indiana is America’s Christmas Hometown and the host of a 5-weekend Santa Claus Christmas Celebration? http://www.LegendaryPlaces.org has all the info on events and more!

By: Moo

Moo — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 07:03:02 +0000

The Mustard Museum in Mt. Horeb, WI relocated to Madison

By: Noelegy

Noelegy — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 06:09:54 +0000

Whoops, I see “intexas” beat me to it. Well, technically it is still standing, but it’s pretty well clobbered. Very sad.

By: cwillgo

cwillgo — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 06:09:18 +0000

Alabama fact is misleading. Mobile did not have the first Mardi Gras celbrations. Mardi Gras is a Catholic/European tradition brought to the Americas by the French. The first Mardi Gras in the US was around the area that would become New Orleans. (On the exploration of the Mississippi River at Point du Mardi Gras). The first CITY in the US to officially celebrate Mardi Gras was Mobile because it was once the capital of the Louisiana Territory, followed by Biloxi (MS), and New Orleans (LA), and, in modern day, Baton Rouge.
Source: I am an area resident, backed up by wikipedia

By: Noelegy

Noelegy — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 06:08:45 +0000

Sadly, the Flagship Hotel in Galveston was destroyed last year by Hurricane Ike. I was in Galveston in October and saw it. There are great gaping holes in it, whole sections of rooms missing, and no apparent rebuilding going on.

By: PancakeMan

PancakeMan — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:26:11 +0000

Virginia Dare was born in the settlement of Roanoke, the first British colony in the New World. The colony was also called Roanoke, it wasn’t Virginia until some time later. The town was abandoned shortly after she was born, meaning that there isn’t a Roanoke, NC anymore.

By: pwscott

pwscott — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:43:24 +0000

Yes we do love our Vidalia onions. I just curious as to what else they’ve tried to grow in that soil. Some sweet celery would be nice.:P

By: Dove

Dove — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 02:33:34 +0000

Virginia Dare was born on Roanoke Island in North Carolina, not Roanoke, the town –which is in Virginia (though at the time, Roanoke Island was in Virginia, as was most of the Mid-Atlantic coast)

By: taylor

taylor — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:44:44 +0000

kane gruber may be right about hawaii, but wrong about florida. look a little closer at your map.

By: Stacy Lee

Stacy Lee — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:41:31 +0000

Cahokia did not have 40,000 people in 1800 – it had that many at its peak in the 1500s. By the time French settlers reached it, a completely different group was living there, and it was pretty much uninhabited by 1800. Philadelphia surpassed 40,000 in 1800, making it the next-biggest, but they definitely didn’t overlap.

By: sigma147

sigma147 — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:49:37 +0000

Don’t forget that California is also home to the garlic capitol of the world (Gilroy CA) and the media capitol of the world (Burbank CA) as well as the Apricot capitol of the world (Patterson CA), carrot capitol of the world (Holtville CA) – and don’t forget Stockton (foreclosure capitol of the world )

By: chezjake

chezjake — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:43:16 +0000

Mavis said,” Also, NJ’s upper west side boarder is not on the Delaware River. The Delaware River only goes up about 1/2 to 3/4 of the western board of the state.”

Please take a look at a map, Mavis. The Delaware River divides NJ and PA all the way up, and then continues up into the southwestern Catskills of NY.

By: George

George — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:37:07 +0000

L. Frank Baum attended the Peekskill Military Acedmy in Peekskill, NY which really was paved in yellow brick. One small stretch is still visible down by the train station.

http://www.peekskillmuseum.org/images/YellowBrick.jpg

By: brianch

brianch — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:33:30 +0000

Weeeeeee, I got another one. The Corn Palace in South Dakota decorates with a bunch of different types of grains, not just corn. I am a fountain of useless knowledge today.

By: Baz

Baz — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:24:25 +0000

Last time I checked Roanoke was in Virginia not North Carolina.

By: brianch

brianch — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:02:43 +0000

Oh boy, I live to wax on about one of the few pieces of trivia I know.

Being from Iowa I know that Iowa is the only state who’s entire eastern and western borders are made up of rivers. Where the eastern border is the Mississippi river the western border is made up of three rivers. Iowa’s border with Nebraska is the Missouri River. Iowa’s border with South Dakota is the Big Sioux River. and Iowa also has a western border with Missouri which uses the Des Moines River. (The little hangey down part in the south east corner of the state.)

You would not believe how seldom I get to spout off about that. :^)

By: Mavis

Mavis — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:58:06 +0000

I don’t believe that Vidalia Onions are the sweetest onions. I went to Maui and brought back Maui Onions for me mom (who loves Vidalias so I was told she’d like the Maui ones as well). She cooked them up and said they were the sweetest onions she has ever had! We live in NJ and I have never seen them in grocery stores here, you may be able to buy them out in the West Coast though. . .

Also, NJ’s upper west side boarder is not on the Delaware River. The Delaware River only goes up about 1/2 to 3/4 of the western board of the state.

By: intexas

intexas — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:41:28 +0000

The Flagship Hotel in Galveston, Texas, was so seriously damaged by Hurricane Ike that it’s uninhabitable. It may re-open in 2011, if renovation plans hold.

Thanks for reminding us.

By: Church

Church — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:27:10 +0000

Louis Ballast may have gotten a *trademark* on the term ‘cheeseburger’ – a copyright would be nonsensical.

By: Dood

Dood — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:12:36 +0000

You could probably say Hawaii’s east and west (and north and south) borders are also totally formed by water?

By: chezjake

chezjake — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:04:46 +0000

For that matter, South Carolina is bordered on the west and south by the Savannah River and on the east by the Atlantic.

By: Kevin R

Kevin R — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:56:03 +0000

They redesigned the $2 bill in 1976, it doesn’t have Monticello on the back anymore. I haven’t been to the Monticello gift shop in many years, but I doubt they give out 1963 or earlier $2′s!

If you don’t have one with you, you can see the current back (the signing of the Declaration of Independence) at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_two_dollar_bill and if you scroll down a bit you can see the old Monticello back towards the end of the article.

By: chezjake

chezjake — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:53:06 +0000

Iowa may be the only state that has both its east and west borders defined by *rivers* — but New Jersey’s east and west borders are also entirely defined by water. The Delaware River and Delaware Bay on the west, the Hudson River, New York Harbor, and the Atlantic Ocean on the east.

By: meg

meg — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:30:10 +0000

[Sorry for so many comments!]

Scratch that about the Mustard Museum move being a ways off; they’re moving tomorrow! Operations should be up and running at their new middleton location within a week or two.

By: meg

meg — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:27:28 +0000

Hawaii just seems like it’s cheating there…it’s an ocean and all…

And florida has part of its western border NOT touching water on it’s panhandle.

By: meg

meg — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:26:04 +0000

The Mustard Museum is moving! As soon as construction is complete (could be a bit, as last I heard an entire wall collapsed), it will be located in Middleton, WI, just outside of Madison.

So pretty much Mt. Horeb is out their only attraction (besides the Trollway, but really, who goes around and looks at troll gnomes).

By: Kane Gruber

Kane Gruber — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:25:49 +0000

Number 15 is wrong: Iowa is NOT the only state whose east and west borders are entirely made of water. Florida and Hawai’i are two others.