Capital - Harrisburg
Motto:Virtue, Liberty, and Independence
Nickname - The Keystone State

Flower - Mountain Laurel
Bird-Ruffled Grouse
Border States - Delaware, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, West Virginia
Highest Point - Mt Davis - 3,213 feet

Second State to ratify The Constitution.

Economy:
Agriculture: Dairy products, poultry, cattle, nursery stock, mushrooms, hogs, hay.
Industry:Food processing, chemical products, machinery, electric equipment, tourism.

President James Buchanan - 1857-1861 - 15th President
Born: April 23, 1791, in Cove Gap (near Mercersburg), Pennsylvania

Fun Facts:

Nickname: Keystone State - During colonial times Pennsylvania was the middle colony of the original 13 colonies. It held the colonies together like the "keystone" in a window or door arch.

Background: Pennsylvania was settled in 1643. Philadelphia was our state capital during the Revolutionary War and York was the first capital of the United States.

State name’s meaning: Penn’s Woods (after Admiral William Penn's father)

Motto: Virtue, Liberty and Independence

Important Documents: Several important documents were written in Pennsylvania
The Constitution of the United States
The American Declaration of Independence
Lincoln's Gettysburg Address

Flower: Mountain Laurel

Tree: Hemlock

Bird: Ruffed Grouse

Animal: Whitetail Deer

Insect: Firefly

Dog: Great Dane

Beverage: Milk

Fish Brook Trout

Fossil: Phacops Rana

Ship: United States Brig Niagara

Geography:

To purchase maps click here.

Area: 45,888 square miles

Rank: 32nd in nation

Width: 310 miles (east to west) 180 miles (N to S)

Geographic center: Centre County, home of Penn State University

Highest point: Mt. Davis, Somerset County 3,213 feet. Somerset County was also the site of the September 11, 2001 crash of Flight 93.

Lowest point:Delaware River

Largest County: Lycoming County with its county seat of Williamsport (the Home of Little League Baseball) is larger than the State of Rhode Island. Bradford County is second in size.

Counties with NO traffic lights: Forest County and Perry County

Capital: Harrisburg in Dauphin County

Counties: 67

Headwaters of three major rivers: Potter County

Population: 12,009,000
Lancaster County has more people than the entire state of Wyoming

Lakes:50 natural lakes (over 20 acres wide) and 2,500 man-made lakes

Christmas Tree Capital of the World: Indiana County

Rivers and streams: 45,000 miles

State Parks: 116 Acreage: 282,500

State Forest Districts: 20 Acreage: 2,200,000

State Game Lands: 294 Acreage: 1,379,002

Government:

State Representatives: 203

State Senators: 50

U.S Representatives: 21

U.S. Senators: 2

Pennsylvania Firsts:

Hospital, Library, Zoo, Newspaper, Nation's Capitol, all motion-picture theater, television broadcast, radio broadcast, educational public-television station, paper mill, druggist, locomotive for railroad use, high-speed multi-lane highway - the Pennsylvania Turnpike, Banana Split, electronic computer built, commercial use of computer, cable television, educational public television station, government low-interest, long term business financing program Agriculture:

Farms: 55,000

Farmland: 9,000,000 acres

Agricultural product sales: $3,500,000,000

Rural Population: 3,700,000

Leading Farm products: dairy products, mushrooms, apples, tobacco, grapes, peaches, cut flowers

PA is First Among US in:

Rural Population, number of licensed hunters, State Game Lands, covered bridges, potato chip production, pretzel bakeries, licensed bakeries, meat packing plants, mushroom production, sausage production, scrapple production

If you have an interesting Pennsylvania Fact
send it to us!
Annual Temperature Averages: Maximum/Minimum
AllentownErieHarrisburgPhiladelphia
32/1827/1634/2235/20
66/4361/4267/4667/56
83/6378/6285/6785/66
65/4463/4665/4969/50 PittsburghWilkes-BarreWilliamsport & ScrantonPoconos
29/1629/1430/1630/15
67/4362/4166/4165/40
80/6080/6082/6080/60
65/4562/4363/4862/47 http://pavisnet.com/pafact/

There is a lot more information here about not only PA but all other states. Have fun reading.

learned that Pennsylvania has a State Locomotive too

The Pennsylvania Railroad K4S

Just learned this too....

State Beautification Plant - Penngift Crownvetch - Often planted along highways to prevent erosion. These purple pink flowers are eye catching and help to beautify the landscape for motorists.

My idiot neighbor cleared the ridge of them. I hated to see them go. They are beautiful and so are their leaves:

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Don't ever take my kindness as weakness, believe me when I say that.

That was correct 10 years ago, but we lost two seats after the 2000 census. There are currently only 19 House members from PA. We'll almost certainly lose another seat after next year's census due to further population loss. And because the district lines will need to be redrawn, many Pennsylvanians will find themselves with a new congressperson.

I was thinking about getting some of that for the hill in front of my house - it is really hard to mow, and the weeds get way out of hand... I also thought about English Ivy... Not sure which I will choose yet.

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I have learned that stress is caused by saying "no problem" when you really mean "no chance".