Fun Fact about your hometown/state

[Dave1982]

Portions of the movie "The Knowing" take place in my town, though none of the "locations" aside from Haystack Observatory were accurate. At one point they said something about caves off of Rt 40.....there are no caves anywhere along that road. Nicolas Cage was here briefly for location shooting at the Observatory.

Supposedly Edgar Allen Poe briefly lived here in 1848, but I believe that to be an urban legend.

LPGA and Golf Hall of Famer Pat Bradley was born here.

[Kheldarson]

What part of the state are you in? I am in the Mid Ohio Valley.

We're in the Kanawha Valley. Actually live right off Corridor G.

Oh, and we can't forget we're the state that coined the term "rednecks".

[AnaKhouri]

I live a couple miles from the Gate to Hell.

I've even been there a few times but saw nothing stranger than some people riding a mechanical bull.

http://www.bobbymackey.com/hellsgate.html

The world's first hand transplant and the first Abiocor artificial heart operation were performed at a hospital in my hometown.

[Antisocial_Worker]

A selection of fun facts about my city:

1. My city is mentioned in The Great Gatsby as a playground for the rich.

2. It is also mentioned on an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, wherein one character distracts a guard by asking if that guard attended high school with her in my city.

3. In an episode of The X-Files, Mulder and Scully visit my city to conduct an autopsy on two victims found in a nearby county. This is problematic because there isn't enough left of the victims to perform an autopsy. It was also problematic because the show's producers incorrectly identified the county in which my city is located when naming the county morgue where this autopsy took place, and they didn't do their research -- there is no county morgue here. There is a pathology morgue at the hospital, but thanks to my state's centralized death-investigation system, autopsies are carried out in only four cities in the state. None of them are mine.

4. The Philippine government operated out of a hotel in my city for a time during WWII. Also during WWII, the US Federal Government commandeered all of my city's fancy resort hotels as well as a downtown shopping arcade. The hotels were used as prisons for captured Axis diplomats and POW's, and the arcade was used as the federal building. A few federal agencies also moved to my city because of its safe, isolated location and one, the National Climatic Data Center, still remains.

5. My city is home to the biggest private home in the US. This house boasts 250,000 square feet of floor space -- about four acres' worth. And in keeping with that WWII theme, this house also did its part for the war effort when the treasures of the National Gallery were transported here for storage, out of fears that Washington, DC might be bombed.

6. Of the two rivers that flow through my city, the larger is thought to be the third oldest river on the face of the earth. My city is the largest to be located on that river.

7. Robert Morgan, pilot of the Memphis Belle was born and raised here. During a bond drive tour of the country during WWII, Morgan banked the Belle at a 90-degree angle and flew it between city hall and the county courthouse -- which are less than 100 feet apart from each other.

8. Swannanoa, New Zealand is named after a community located just outside my city. it was named by a native from here who moved there and established a farm. Later, that man moved back here and built himself a castle called Zealandia, which still stands and which is known to be perhaps the most haunted location in town.

[firecat88]

In the next town over from us, there is a festival honoring a chicken who lived for four years without its head (the farmer who owned said chicken was going to make it into dinner, but the darned thing was still alive after having its head cut off).

About 6 hours' drive from here, in Estes Park, is the Stanley Hotel, which is where Stephen King got the inspiration to write The Shining.

My hometown is home to the Grand Mesa, which is the world's largest flat-top mountain.

Colorado has more microbreweries per capita than any other state.

Colorado has the highest mean altitude of all the states.

The highest suspension bridge in the world is over the Royal Gorge near Canon City. The Royal Gorge Bridge spans the Arkansas River at a height of 1,053 feet. (I have been there. It's beautiful, but freaky if you're like me and don't do well with heights.)

[NateTheChops]

I'm from the town where Robert Frost is buried.

Shirley Jackson wrote The Lottery at Bennington College.

Southern Vermont College once belonged to Rupert Everett, who was the owner of the largest glass factory in the country during the 1800's.

Dom Deluise ate pizza at a place called Anne Marie's. You can see his autograph if you're ever in town.

Although the Battle of Bennington did not take place in the town, the Bennington Battle Monument was built to honor the fallen veterans of that battle. It is interesting to note that Ethan Allen's wife is reported to have said, "Tonight I go to bed a widow," the night before the battle.

[FormerCallingCardRep]

We're also the only state where the Armed Forces have been used against the citizens.

I forgot about that one.

We were also the butt of the hillbilly jokes due to the Hatfield and McCoy fued.

What part of the state are you in? I am in the Mid Ohio Valley.

The Lilly Family reunion held in Flat Top is listed in the Guiness Book of World Records for being the larges family reunion in the world and lasts 3 days

[Food Lady]

My hometown has the first orange tree ever grafted to produce navel oranges. It's been around at least 100 years. It's at the diagonal cross of 2 major streets and surrounded by a little wrought-iron fence.

[Kheldarson]

We're also the only state where the Armed Forces have been used against the citizens.

Pepperoni rolls were invented here.

[FormerCallingCardRep]

As far as State:

Our state capital dome is plated in gold

The first land battle of the Civil War was fought in Phillippi, WV over a covered bridge

We seceded from Virginia and became a state during the Civil War

Famous people from the state include Pearl S Buck, Don Knotts and Mary Lou Retton

Mother's Day originated in my state

[Lady Legira]

My city has the largest Gothic cathedral in northern Europe. York Minster

The Roman Emperor Constantius I died in 306 AD during his stay in York, and his son Constantine the Great was proclaimed Emperor by the troops based in the fortress.

In 1644 the city was held in siege by the Parliamentarians from 22 April - 16 July. Lord Fairfax was made Governor of York by Parliament. He earned the thanks of the city by refusing to allow religious zealots in the victorious Scots and Parliamentarian armies to vandalise the many churches. This is one reason why we have a great deal of stained glass left when other churches in the country do not from the same period.

I could go on and on...

[Treasure]

STATE:
our Capitol building is made from native (pink) granite, and stands taller than the White House
Have been our own nation (and are damn proud of it)
the only state to join the union via treaty

CITY:
motto - Keep (city) Wierd!
at least 3 separate and distinct downtown "bar" districts - 6th street, Red River, and the "warehouse district"
we have a cross-dressing homeless man that runs for Mayor every so often.... he has his own Wikipedia entry....
we claim to be the "Live Music Capitol of the World"
also home to the largest "Mexican free tail Bat" colony - they live under the South Congress Bridge, and is a "maternity" colony - comprised of mature females and their babies...

[taxguykarl]

Site of the invention of the flyswatter and radar gun.

First Illinois residence of Abraham Lincoln (he was born in Kentucky).

4 count them 4 Main Streets (North, South, East and West Main)...these meet at the site of an log cabin courthouse (since relocated) where Lincoln first practiced law.

A block north of the 4 Mains (as us natives refer to that intersection) lies a theater listed among the Travel Channel's Most Terrifying Places in America.

HQ for various soy bean processors, hence its nickname Soy City. A radio station call letters are literally WSOY (AM-news/talk; FM-top 40).

Original home of the Bears, before George Halas bought the team and moved it to Chicago.

[chikenlady]

t's the home of the Edmonton Protocol, a pancreatic islet transplantation process hailed as a possible cure for diabetes.
While Edmonton may have the worlds largest shopping mall it was in the Guiness Book of World Records for the largest parking lot in the world (at said mall).
Edmonton is also home to North America’s largest urban green space known as River Valley. It’s 22 times the size of New York’s Central Park making Edmonton have the largest per capita area of parkland of any other Canadian city.
known as “the Festival City” Edmonton is host to over 30 different festivals throughout the year including the Edmonton International Fringe Festival taking place for over 30 years now, every August. The Fringe Festival is the biggest of its kind in North America and is the second biggest in the world next to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland.
Was the home of Wilfrid "Wop" May, a famous bush pilot who fought the Red Baron in his last dogfight of WW1.
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity located a rock on the south slope of the Endurance Crater on Mars. The 1 metre (3.3-foot) rock was given the name wopmay after the legendary Canadian bush pilot.[5]

*sorry, I found it easier to copy and paste these facts

[FormerCallingCardRep]

I will give you facts about both where I live and where I work

Where I live (Metro Area wide):

Where Aaron Burr meet to plan his new republic

The first public high school in the State

The first public schools in the state for the African Americans

Largest high school in the state

Runner up for the title of Titletown USA

Home of one of the best high school choirs in the world. Last spring at the world championships, our Women's Ensemble placed first in the world.

Where I work:

The first settlement in the Northwest Territory