About Us

Dogwood
Our state tree & flower. The word comes from dagwood, the slender stems of very hard wood for making 'dags' (daggers, skewers).

Big Meadows
Located in the Shenandoah National Park in Rapidan Camp, the restored historic (circa 1931) presidential fishing retreat of Herbert Hoover on the Rapidan River is nearby.

Tidewater
Southeastern portion of the Commonwealth.

Rappahannock River
The name comes from an Algonquian language word lappihanne (also noted as toppehannock), meaning "river of quick, rising water" or "where the tide ebbs and flows." It was the site of early settlements in the Virginia Colony

Shenandoah Valley
The word Shenandoah was derived from a Native American expression for "Beautiful Daughter of the Stars." The Valley Turnpike began as a migratory trail for tribes such as the Delaware and Catawba and became the major thoroughfare of wagons and eventually became U.S. Highway 11.

Blue Ridge Mountains
Trees put the "blue" in Blue Ridge, from the hydrocarbons released into the atmosphere.
The native Powhatan name for the Blue Ridge was Quirank.

Old Dominion
Virginia was given the title, "Dominion", by King Charles II of England because it remained loyal to the crown during the English Civil War, and the present moniker, "Old Dominion" is a reference to that title.

Hampton Roads
The name is believed to originate from the combination of the term “Roads” as applied to a water channel and "Hampton" honors one of the founders of the Virginia Company of London and a supporter of the colonization of Virginia, Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton.