State-By-State Fun Facts and History

California - California is the only continental state where it is still illegal to own a ferret. It is also illegal to own a gerbil, axolotl, hedgehog, squirrel, skunk, sugar glider, or wolf-dog hybrid. Short of Hawaii, they have the strictest laws surrounding pet ownership.

Oregon - Of any state in the US, Oregon has the most ghost towns with over 200. These places still attract curious tourists and even get used for things like movie sets, such as the one in the 2021 horror movie “Antlers.”

Washington - The sport known as “pickleball,” which is quickly rising in popularity in the US, originates from Washington state. It was created in 1964, in Bainbridge Island.

Idaho - In Boise, residents may not fish from a giraffe’s back. It is also a statewide law that you cannot fish from a camel’s back. This leads to the question; what happened to make these laws necessary?

Nevada - The word “Nevada” is derived from the Spanish word for “snow-covered” or “snow-capped.” Yet the Mojave Desert, spanning across much of Nevada, is also one of the hottest deserts worldwide. Nevada is also recorded as the driest state in the US. In other words; these guys have some funky biomes >.>

Utah - The current makers of Jell-O have noted that residents of Utah eat more Jell-O than any other state in the nation, actually twice as much. It seems that lime is the most popular flavor, and many *supposedly* serve it with shredded carrot(?!).

Montana - Montana was one of the biggest spots for finding fossilized remnants of dinosaur eggs. As a matter of fact, those found at the Egg Mountain by Choteau helped scientists determine that some dinosaurs were more similar to birds and mammals than reptiles.

Wyoming - Wyoming is the least populated state in the US. As a matter of fact, there are more antelope than people.

Colorado - It is illegal in Colorado to take your horse or mule off the ground floor of any building. This is actually a smart law, but again, it’s fun to think about whatever happened to make it necessary.

Arizona - Arizona is the only continental state that doesn't observe daylight savings time. If you already had trouble understanding time zones, you can factor that in as well.

New Mexico - New Mexico is home to a saloon that was owned by notorious gunslinger, Doc Holliday, in 1879. Modern sleuths have used old photos from Fire Insurance companies to pinpoint the bar in Las Vegas, New Mexico, where it stands as a vacant building (as far as current knowledge goes).

Oklahoma - Not only are there seven astronauts hailing from Oklahoma as of 2020, but Oklahoma is the only state to have astronauts who have taken part in all stages of the US space program.

Texas - The most spoken languages in Texas are English and Spanish, but you may be surprised to know that Vietnamese ranks third, and Chinese fourth. There is also a dialect of German that is only spoken in Texas, particularly “German towns” like Fredericksburg, New Braunfels, Boerne, and more.

North Dakota - North Dakota produces more honey than any other state, raking in over 38.6 million pounds of honey yearly. As beekeeping is taken very seriously, all the honeybees in the state are tracked and their owners need a license.

South Dakota - In Mitchell, South Dakota, stands the Corn Palace. It is literally a huge building decorated with murals of corn and other grains, and it is used primarily as a venue for community events, live shows, even sports. Finally, an ode to our CORN!

Nebraska - There was a law coined in Lehigh, Nebraska, in the late 1800s that forbade merchants from selling donut holes. Nebraskans, hide your donut holes!

Kansas - Scientists actually did prove that Kansas was “flatter than a pancake” by measuring its terrain against an IHop pancake.

Missouri - Though the West Coast is the place known for earthquakes, the most powerful earthquake to strike the United States occurred in New Madrid, Missouri. Another city, Warsaw, also holds the national record for lowest temperature, -40° F.

Iowa - It was in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1982 that Ozzy Osbourne infamously bit into a live bat on stage. Appropriately, in 1995, they also saw the rise of Slipknot, a revolutionary band in the rock, metal, and industrial scene. In other words -Iowa is freakin’ METAL!

Minnesota - On account of an indicted councilman handing out Twinkies during his campaign, Minnesota’s very serious act about fair campaigning is called “The Twinkie Law.”

Wisconsin - Wisconsin is the leading producer of cheese in the US and is famous for making over 600 different cheese varieties. They are also the only state to offer master cheesemaker programs, similar to those seen in Europe.

Illinois - Illinoisans are responsible for a lot of very random yet handy innovations, including barbed wire, zippers, and red solo cups. They also invented brownies.

Indiana - It is technically illegal for liquor stores in Indiana to sell cold soft drinks or water. Whether this law still exists and is enforced or not, I could not tell you.

Michigan - The state of Michigan is bordered by more water than the entire East Coast, with over 3,288 miles of shoreline. That number is the highest in the lower 48, beat only by Alaska.

Ohio - Though Hollywood is the place known for anything to do with film, the very famous Warner Bros Pictures started in Youngstown, Ohio. Founding brothers Harry, Jack, and Albert founded the first movie theater there and dedicated it to their dead brother, Sam.

Arkansas - Arkansas is the birthplace and modern hq of Walmart. Starting as a tiny discount retailer in Rogers, their current hq is now in Bentonville.

Louisiana - Louisiana is home to both the frog and crawdad capitals of the world, respectively Rayne and Breaux Bridge, which explains much of the traditional cuisine in the area.

Mississippi - The University of Mississippi Medical Center, in 1963, witnessed the world’s first human lung transplant.

Alabama - It’s a Class-B felony to wrestle bears in Alabama. Once again, I can’t help but wonder, what happened to make this law necessary??

Tennessee - The official fruit of Tennessee is the tomato. They harvest roughly 4,000 acres’ worth of tomatoes yearly, with a production value of $54 million. SO. MANY. TOMATOES!

Kentucky - Kentucky has more barrels of bourbon than people. There are over 10 million barrels currently aging, more than two for every person in the state.

Georgia - Georgia is known for peaches, but it is also the top world producer for pecans, peanuts, corn, soybeans, and -uniquely Georgian- Vidalia onions. Gainesville is also the top producer of poultry in the US. Honestly, Georgia is one of the biggest contributors to the US economy through agriculture alone.

West Virginia - West Virginia hosts an actual Strawberry Festival where they celebrate the state’s strawberry harvest with parades, pageants, carnival rides, and strawberry-themed carnival foods. YUM.

Virginia - Virginia has some of the most haunted places in North America, particularly its old battlefields. There are countless reports of seeing apparitions of Civil War soldiers, as well as outliers like a little girl and inhuman figures.

North Carolina - More than a thousand ships, dating back as far as 1526, have been lost around Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. The area is known as the “Graveyard of the Atlantic” due to the incredibly dense cluster of shipwrecks.

South Carolina - South Carolina has an island on its coastline where over 3,000 rhesus monkeys dwell. The island is inaccessible to humans and is the only part of the US where monkeys roam freely.

Florida - There have been no dinosaur fossils found in Florida, but there are megalodon teeth. Florida is also the shark bite and shark tooth capital of the world. So if you have galeophobia, best to avoid Florida waters…

Pennsylvania - The state of Pennsylvania is where the first department store, the oldest functioning gas station, and the Hershey Chocolate company all started and still reside.

Delaware - Wilmington, Delaware, is where the largest Lego tower was ever built, standing eleven stories tall and using over 500,000 bricks.

Maryland - The infamous Ouija Board was invented in Baltimore, Maryland. Baltimore is also known for being the home and place of death for Edgar Allan Poe, and his ghost has been reportedly seen around the very haunted Westminster Burial Grounds. Maryland is a surprisingly spooky state!

New Jersey - Though known for its beaches, boardwalks, and businesses, New Jersey has a big hand in the agriculture sector because of its cranberries. Millions of pounds of cranberries come from New Jersey bogs every year.

New York - One of the hotspots for innovation back in the day, New York saw the creation of tons of unexpected everyday objects like safety pins, toilet paper, Velveeta cheese, Pepto Bismol, Elmer’s glue, and -one of their most successful businesses- those paper sticks used in Q-tips and lollipops.

Vermont - Despite being a tiny state, Vermont is responsible for an overwhelming majority of US maple syrup production, cranking out roughly 2.5 million gallons of maple syrup every year.

Massachusetts - If you thought the state name was hard to spell or pronounce, there is a lake in Massachusetts called Lake Char­gogg­a­gogg­man­chaugg­a­gogg­chau­bun­a­gung­a­maugg.

Connecticut - In Hartford, Connecticut, it is illegal to cross a street by walking on your hands. It is also illegal to walk backward after sunset, but that's only in Devon.

Rhode Island - The style and term for “sideburns” was based on Rhode Island’s former governor and Union general, Ambrose Burnside, who popularized the unique style.

New Hampshire - The first public library was established in Peterborough, New Hampshire, in 1833. Also, one New Hampshireian(?) named Earl Silas Tupper was a tree surgeon who went on to create Tupperware in 1947.

Maine - The Bay of Fundy, in Maine, is where you’ll find the largest whirlpool in the western hemisphere. It even has its own name, “Old Sow.” It looks absolutely horrifying to people with thalassophobia, or maybe that’s just me.

Hawaii - Kilauea Volcano on Big Island is the world’s most active volcano. The state sometimes experiences a volcanic haze called “vog” due to debris from the volcano.

Alaska - Alaska's state flag features seven yellow stars in the shape of the big dipper constellation, plus one star in the upper-right corner, against a dark blue canvas. The odd part is that this flag was actually designed by a thirteen-year-old from Cognac.