Virginia Geographic Calendar - July

July 1

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July 2

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July 3

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July 4

- Kaskaskia surrendered to George Rogers Clark, part of his successful 1778 campaign to win the Illinois Country

- First rocket was launched in 1945 from Wallops Island

July 5

- In 1774, Thomas Jefferson received his land grant after purchasing a 157-acre tract which included Natural Bridge

July 6

- In 1869, voters approved "Underwood" Constitution drafted in 1867-68 but rejected the clause that would disfranchise Confederates

July 7

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July 8

- The casino in Bristol opened in 2022, becoming the first legal casino in Virginia.

July 9

- Congress passed An act to retrocede the county of Alexandria, in the District of Columbia, to the State of Virginia

July 10

- The Constitution of 1902 went into effect, without a ratification vote of the new document adopted by the convention

July 11

- The second daily roundtrip Amtrak train between DC and Roanoke started service in 2022, after the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority (VPRA) and Norfolk Southern signed the Western Rail Agreement.

- In 1870 the US House of Representatives refused to seat Virginia's ninth member, elected at-large in 1869, because the state's population was insufficient afer the loss of West Virginia.

July 12

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July 13

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July 14

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July 15

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July 16

- In 1827, Chief Justice John Marshall ruled over a trial of three pirates in Richmond, for seizing the brig Crawford

July 17

- Third Virginia Convention meets at St. John's Church in Richmond, appoints Patrick Henry as the first Governor of Virginia, 1775

July 18

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July 19

- Nathaniel Bacon burned Jamestown during his "rebellion" against Governor Berkeley and the official colonial government, in a civil war that preceded the American Revolution by one century, in 1676

July 20

- In 1613, the first samples f tobacco grown in Virginia by John Rolfe arrived in England.

- opening day ceremonies held for S.S. Freestone, a ship moored offshore of what is now Leesylvania State Park... in Maryland, beyond the low water line, allowing slot machines and liquor-by-the-drink on the Prince William County waterfront

July 21

- In 1861, the Union Army under General Irvin McDowell retreated along the Warrenton-Alexandria Turnpike back to Alexandria after being defeated in its attempt to seize the railroad junction at Manassas.

July 22

- Alexander Mackenzie reached the Pacific Ocean at the mouth of the Bella Coola River in British Columbia in 1793, 12 years before Lewis and Clark reached the Pacific Ocean at the mouth of the Columbia River.

July 23

- In 1788, a hurricane passed over Mount Vernon and created a storm surge four feet high, which George Washington noted drove boats from the shoreline "into fields were no tide had ever been heard of before..."

July 24

- In 1608, John Smith left Jamesown on his second expedition that mapped the shape of the Chesapeake Bay.

July 25

- In 1861, John Wise fired a rifle at Confederates from a Union Army balloon, so the first aerial attack occurred in Alexandria County.

July 26

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July 27

- In 2022, the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that the Virginia Beach redistricting case was moot, since the General Assembly had already required eliminating the at-large districts created after Princess Anne County consolidated into the City of Virginia Beach in 1963.

July 28

- In 1883, the Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Southern Railroad started running trains to the resort area on the Atlantic Ocean, which was renamed from "Seatack" to "Virginia Beach"

- In 2021, the Miss Hampton II completed the last tour out of Hampton, after losing access to Fort Wool when it was converted to bird habitat.

July 29

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July 30

- The House of Burgesses met for the first time in Jamestown, 1619. They met during the heat of summer for six days in the church, "the most convenient place . . . they could finde to sitt in." This was long before air conditioning, and long before the separation of church and state was established as a basic tenet of Virginia law. (First Legislative Assembly at Jamestown, Virginia)
NOTE: the Iroquois Confederacy had established a government with elements of democracy as much as a century before the House of Burgesses met in Jamestown.

owner of the American Basketball Association team announces the Washington Capitals will be renamed the Virginia Squires, and team plays first regular season game at Old Dominion University fieldhouse on October 17, 1970

July 31

- In 2023, Gov. Glenn Youngkin attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the structure for Virginia's largest indoor farm, intended to grow 4 million pounds of Driscoll strawberries annually.