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Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The state's capital is Richmond and its most populous city is Virginia Beach. Its most populous subdivision is Fairfax County, part of Northern Virginia, where slightly over a third of Virginia's population of 8.8 million live.

Eastern Virginia is part of the Atlantic Plain, and the Middle Peninsula forms the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Central Virginia lies predominantly in the Piedmont, the foothill region of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which cross the western and southwestern parts of the state. The fertile Shenandoah Valley fosters the state's most productive agricultural counties, while the economy in Northern Virginia is driven by technology companies and U.S. federal government agencies. Hampton Roads is also the site of the region's main seaport and Naval Station Norfolk, the world's largest naval base. (Full article...)

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The Chincoteague Pony, also known as the Assateague horse, is a breed of pony that developed and lives in a feral condition on Assateague Island in the United States states of Virginia and Maryland. The breed was made famous by the Misty of Chincoteague series written by Marguerite Henry starting in 1947. While phenotypically horse-like, they are commonly called "ponies". This is due in part to their smaller stature, created by the poor habitat present on Assateague Island. Island Chincoteagues live on a diet of salt marsh plants and brush. Although popularly known as Chincoteague ponies, the feral ponies actually live on Assateague Island.

Several legends are told regarding their origins, the most likely that they descend from stock released on the island by colonists looking to escape livestock laws and taxes on the mainland. In 1835, the practice of pony penning began, rounding up ponies and removing some of them to the mainland. In 1924 the first official "Pony Penning Day" was held by the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company, where ponies were auctioned as a way to raise money for fire equipment, an annual event that continues to the present day.

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John Tyler (1790 – 1862) was the tenth President of the United States (1841–1845). Born to an aristocratic Virginia family, Tyler served as a Virginia state legislator and governor. He came to national prominence at a time of political upheaval, serving as a U.S. representative, and U.S. senator before being elected Vice President in 1840. Upon the death of President William Henry Harrison only a month after his inauguration, a short Constitutional crisis arose over the succession process. Tyler was the first to succeed to the office of President on the death of the incumbent, in this case William Henry Harrison.

Tyler's opposition to federalism and emphatic support of states' rights endeared him to his fellow Virginians but alienated him from most of the political allies that brought him to power in Washington. Though he had several foreign policy achievements, his presidency was crippled by opposition from both parties. Near the end of his life he would side with the South in its secession from the United States. Although some have praised Tyler's political resolve, his presidency is generally held in low esteem by historians; today he is considered an obscure president, with little presence in the American cultural memory.

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This month in Virginia history

March 8–9, 1862: The Battle of Hampton Roads pits the USS Monitor against the CSS Virginia (formerly the USS Merrimack) in the world's first battle between ironclad warships (pictured).
March 12, 1719: The 14 surviving members of Blackbeard's crew are tried for piracy in Williamsburg. 12 are convicted and later executed there.
March 22, 1622: The entire Colony of Virginia is attacked by forces led by Chief Opchanacanough in what became known as the Indian massacre of 1622. Forewarned, Jamestown is one of the only settlements to survive.

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Monticello, the self-designed home of Thomas Jefferson, in Albemarle County, Virginia

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... that Eppa Hunton Jr. and his son, Eppa Hunton IV, the namesakes of the Hunton Student Center at Virginia Commonwealth University, served a combined 50 years on the Medical College of Virginia's board of visitors?
... that Tyrone Davis set a school record with 28 career touchdown receptions while playing wide receiver for the Virginia Cavaliers?
... that by September 29, 1864, the 23rd Virginia Infantry Battalion only had 78 enlisted men present for duty?
... that Adam W. Oberlin, the 1917 Republican nominee to be the mayor of Canton, Ohio, went missing and was found seven months later working as a carpenter in Norfolk, Virginia?
... that there is a Loch Ness Monster in Williamsburg, Virginia?
... that Orion Anderson, who was murdered by a lynch mob in Virginia in 1889, was recently found to have been only 14 years old at the time of his death?