Now, the other day we covered Missouri, this time we’ve got a dynamite pair to show off with Texas and Tennessee. Here are ten interesting facts about both!
Tennessee:
- A replica of The Parthenon, a famous Greek building in Athens, stands in Nashville’s Centennial Park
- The Grand Ole Opry is the longest-running live radio show in the world, broadcasting every Friday and Saturday night since 1925
- Coca-Cola was first bottled in 1899 in Chattanooga
- Tennessee has over 3,800 caves
- The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most visited national park in the US.
- Bristol is called by many “the birthplace of country music”
- Kingston served as Tennessee’s state capital for one day (Sep 21st, 1807). The two-hour legislative passed two resolutions and adjourned back to Knoxville.
- Tennessee ties with Missouri as the most neighborly state in the union, touching eight states.
- The Heisman Trophy was named after George Heisman, a coach in 1916 that lead Georgia Tech to a win against Cumberland University by an alarming two-hundred and twenty-two points to zero
- Andrew Johnson held every position of Tennessee government, being at one point or another an alderman, mayor, state representative, and state senator, on top of serving as governor and military governor, then, just to outdo himself, went a step farther, becoming a congressman, senator, vice president, then, after the assassination of Lincoln, became president himself.
Texas:
- The state was an independent nation from 1836 to 1845
- And speaking of nations: Texas has had the flags of six different nations above it: Spain, France, Mexico, Republic of Texas, the Confederate States, and finally (hopefully!) the United States.
- The worst natural disaster in US history occurred in Galveston in 1900. It left over eight thousand dead.
- The Waco bridge was the US’s first suspension bridge. It was built in 1870 and is still in use today as a pedestrian crossing.
- Texas is 7.4% of the nation’s total area.
- The Tyler Rose Garden is the world’s largest rose garden, containing 38,000 bushes and holding over 500 varieties of roses within the 22-acre garden.
- Texas is the nation’s biggest producer of oil, cattle, sheep, minerals, cotton and wool.
- Forty percent of farm-grown catfish is consumed by Texans
- In Texas, it’s illegal to put graffiti on someone else’s cow
- Jeepers Creepers: It’s also illegal to sell your eyes in Texas