Virginia
Virginia the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States located between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" due to its status as the first English colonial possession established in mainland North America and "Mother of Presidents" because eight U. S. presidents were born there, more than any other state. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay, which provide habitat for much of its flora and fauna; the capital of the Commonwealth is Richmond. The Commonwealth's estimated population as of 2018 is over 8.5 million. The area's history begins with several indigenous groups, including the Powhatan. In 1607 the London Company established the Colony of Virginia as the first permanent New World English colony. Slave labor and the land acquired from displaced Native American tribes each played a significant role in the colony's early politics and plantation economy.
Virginia was one of the 13 Colonies in the American Revolution. In the American Civil War, Virginia's Secession Convention resolved to join the Confederacy, Virginia's First Wheeling Convention resolved to remain in the Union. Although the Commonwealth was under one-party rule for nearly a century following Reconstruction, both major national parties are competitive in modern Virginia; the Virginia General Assembly is the oldest continuous law-making body in the New World. The state government was ranked most effective by the Pew Center on the States in both 2005 and 2008, it is unique in how it treats cities and counties manages local roads, prohibits its governors from serving consecutive terms. Virginia's economy has many sectors: agriculture in the Shenandoah Valley. S. Department of Defense and Central Intelligence Agency. Virginia has a total area of 42,774.2 square miles, including 3,180.13 square miles of water, making it the 35th-largest state by area. Virginia is bordered by Maryland and Washington, D.
C. to the north and east. Virginia's boundary with Maryland and Washington, D. C. extends to the low-water mark of the south shore of the Potomac River. The southern border is defined as the 36° 30′ parallel north, though surveyor error led to deviations of as much as three arcminutes; the border with Tennessee was not settled until 1893, when their dispute was brought to the U. S. Supreme Court; the Chesapeake Bay separates the contiguous portion of the Commonwealth from the two-county peninsula of Virginia's Eastern Shore. The bay was formed from the drowned river valleys of the James River. Many of Virginia's rivers flow into the Chesapeake Bay, including the Potomac, Rappahannock and James, which create three peninsulas in the bay; the Tidewater is a coastal plain between the fall line. It includes major estuaries of Chesapeake Bay; the Piedmont is a series of sedimentary and igneous rock-based foothills east of the mountains which were formed in the Mesozoic era. The region, known for its heavy clay soil, includes the Southwest Mountains around Charlottesville.
The Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the Appalachian Mountains with the highest points in the state, the tallest being Mount Rogers at 5,729 feet. The Ridge and Valley region includes the Great Appalachian Valley; the region includes Massanutten Mountain. The Cumberland Plateau and the Cumberland Mountains are in the southwest corner of Virginia, south of the Allegheny Plateau. In this region, rivers flow northwest, into the Ohio River basin; the Virginia Seismic Zone has not had a history of regular earthquake activity. Earthquakes are above 4.5 in magnitude, because Virginia is located away from the edges of the North American Plate. The largest earthquake, at an estimated 5.9 magnitude, was in 1897 near Blacksburg. A 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck central Virginia on August 2011, near Mineral. The earthquake was felt as far away as Toronto and Florida. 35 million years ago, a bolide impacted. The resulting Chesapeake Bay impact crater may explain what earthquakes and subsidence the region does experience.
Coal mining takes place in the three mountainous regions at 45 distinct coal beds near Mesozoic basins. Over 64 million tons of other non-fuel resources, such as slate, sand, or gravel, were mined in Virginia in 2018; the state's carbonate rock is filled with more than 4,000 caves, ten of which are open for tourism, including the popular Luray Caverns and Skyline Caverns. The climate of Virginia is humid subtropical and becomes warmer and more humid farther south and east. Seasonal extremes vary from average lows of 26 °F in January to average highs of 86 °F in July; the Atlantic Ocean has a strong effect on southeastern coastal areas of the state. Influenced by the Gulf Stream, coastal weather is subject to hurricanes, most pronouncedly near the mouth of Chesapeake Bay. In spite of its position adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean the coastal areas have a significant continental influence with quite large temperature differences between summ
Woodbridge, Virginia
Woodbridge is a census-designated place in Prince William County, United States, located 20 miles south of Washington, D. C. Bounded by the Occoquan and Potomac rivers, Woodbridge Magisterial District had 54,275 residents at the 2010 census; the Woodbridge census-designated place comprises just one portion of the magisterial district and had a population of 4,055 in the 2010 census. The census-designated place consists of the section north of Occoquan Road and Dawson Beach Road, east of Interstate 95. Woodbridge offers a variety of amenities for residents and visitors, including the Potomac Mills shopping mall and the Stonebridge at Potomac Town Centre Shopping Centers. Woodbridge is served by the Prince William County Public Schools, the Woodbridge campus of Northern Virginia Community College borders the district. Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center Potomac Hospital expanded and now has the capacity to serve 183 patients. Transportation includes access to Interstate 95, two VRE commuter train stations, bus service, a local "slugging" system, offering residents a variety of transit options.
Woodbridge offers a wide range of recreational opportunities for resident and visitors. The Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge is a natural habitat for a variety of plant and animal life including the bald eagles and ospreys. Veteran's Park and Leesylvania State Park are located on the Potomac River and provide swimming, boating and hiking services. Close by is Rippon Lodge, the oldest house in Prince William County, open for tours throughout the summer. Trails at Leesylvania Park lead to the ancestral home of the Lee family. Woodbridge was a village composed of either farms or industrial complexes; the Woodbridge postal delivery area became the hub that included Dale City and Lake Ridge, forged as a planned community in the 1960s and 1970s. The area takes its name from Thomas Mason's 1795 wooden toll bridge built to supplant the existing ferry, carrying the King's Highway traffic across the Occoquan River. Mason's Woodbridge Plantation was located in the area of the present day Belmont Bay golf course community.
The Freestone Point Confederate Battery and Rippon Lodge are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Tent citySince ca. 2003 there exists a 10-acre tent city adjacent to the Potomac Mills mall. It is tolerated by the private landlord. In 2018, part of the residents were directed to leave. Woodbridge is at 38°38′37″N 77°15′39″W. According to the United States Census Bureau, in 2000, the CDP has a total area of 10.8 square miles, of which 10.5 square miles is land and 0.3 square miles, or 2.87%, is water. Woodbridge is about 20 miles from Washington, D. C; the 2010 census reconfigured Woodbridge so that the majority of its land area was redesignated Marumsco and Neabsco, Virginia. The southern border of Woodbridge is now Occoquan Road; the area between Occoquan Road and Opitz Boulevard–Rippon Boulevard is now Marumsco. All of the former Woodbridge CDP south of those streets has been designated as Neabsco. However, these areas continue to have postal addresses in "Woodbridge,", served by a post office in Marumsco.
Woodbridge has a humid subtropical climate. Dale City Lorton Occoquan Dumfries Montclair Alexandria As of the 2010 Census, the Woodbridge Magisterial District had 54,275 residents with 17,796 households; the racial demographics were as follows: 55% White 23% Black 10% Asian 0.55% Native American 0.17% Pacific Islander 13% HispanicAs of the census of 2000, there were 31,941 people, 10,687 households, 7,769 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 3,047.8 people per square mile. There were 11,026 housing units at an average density of 1,052.1/sq mi. The racial makeup of the CDP was 56.34% White, 23.45% African American, 0.55% Native American, 4.90% Asian, 0.17% Pacific Islander, 9.62% from other races, 4.96% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 19.07% of the population. There were 10,687 households out of which 41.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.3% were married couples living together, 14.2% had a female householder with no husband present, 27.3% were non-families.
Of all households 20.4% were made up of individuals and 3.9% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.96 and the average family size was 3.40. In the CDP, the population was spread out with 30.0% under the age of 18, 10.7% from 18 to 24, 35.7% from 25 to 44, 17.0% from 45 to 64, 6.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females, there were 102.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.2 males. The median income for a household in the CDP was $75,525, the median income for a family was $52,362. Males had a median income of $35,538 versus $28,587 for females; the per capita income for the CDP was $19,810. About 4.6% of families and 5.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.7% of those under age 18 and 5.9% of those age 65 or over. The estimate median house or condo value was $294,156 as of 2008; as of 2013, the average home sale price was $222,940. Woodbridge has over 20 elementary and middle schools.
The public high schools include: Battlefield High School Brentsville District High School C. D. Hylton High School Charles J. Colgan Sr. High School Forest Park High School Freedom High School Gar-Field Senior High SchoolOsbourn Park Senior High School Patriot High School Potomac Senior High School Stonewall Jackson High School Woodbridge High SchoolThe middle schools include: Fred Lynn Middle School George M. Hampton Middle School Herbert J
Vestry
A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England and Wales, which met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, became known colloquially as the "vestry". For many centuries, vestries were the sole civil government of rural areas. At the high point of their powers, just prior to removal of Poor Law responsibilities in 1834, the vestries spent not far short of one-fifth of the budget of the national government itself; the secular and ecclesiastical duties of the vestries were separated under local government reforms in 1894. Their secular duties have been performed since 1894 by parish councils, leaving their ecclesiastical duties to the Church of England where they have been performed by Parochial Church Councils since 1921; the only remnant of the vestry meeting is the annual parish meeting called to appoint churchwardens. The vestry was a meeting of the parish ratepayers chaired by the incumbent of the parish held in the parish church or its vestry, from which it got its name.
The vestry committees were not established by any law, but they evolved independently in each parish according to local needs from their roots in medieval parochial governance. By the late 17th century they had become, along with the county magistrates, the rulers of rural England. In England, until the 19th century, the parish vestry committee was in effect what would today be called a parochial church council, but was responsible for secular parish business, now the responsibility of a parish council, other activities, such as administering locally the poor law; the original unit of settlement among the Anglo-Saxons in England was the town. The inhabitants met to carry out this business in the town moot or meeting, at which they appointed the various officials and the common law would be promulgated. With the rise of the shire, the township would send its reeve and four best men to represent it in the courts of the hundred and shire. However, this local independence of the Saxon system was lost to the township by the introduction of the feudal manorial Court Leet which replaced the town meeting.
The division into ancient parishes was linked to the manorial system, with parishes and manors sharing the same boundaries. The manor was the principal unit of local administration and justice in the rural economy, but over time the Church replaced the manorial court as the centre of rural administration, levied a local tax on produce known as a tithe; the decline of the feudal system and, following the Reformation in the 16th century, the power of the Church, led to a new form of township or parish meeting, which dealt with both civil and ecclesiastical affairs. This new meeting was supervised by the parish priest the best educated of the inhabitants, it evolved to become the vestry meeting; as the complexity of rural society increased, the vestry meetings pragmatically acquired greater responsibilities, were given the power to grant or deny payments from parish funds. Although the vestry committees were not established by any law, had come into being in an unregulated ad-hoc process, it was convenient to allow them to develop.
This was convenient when they were the obvious body for administering the Edwardian and Elizabethan systems for support of the poor on a parochial basis. This was their first, for many centuries their principal, statutory power. With this gradual formalisation of civil responsibilities, the ecclesiastical parishes acquired a dual nature and could be classed as both civil and ecclesiastical parishes. In England, until the 19th century, the parish vestry was in effect what would today be called a parochial church council, but was responsible for all the secular parish business now dealt with by civil bodies, such as parish councils; the vestry assumed a variety of tasks. It became responsible for appointing parish officials, such as the parish clerk, overseers of the poor and scavengers, constables and nightwatchmen. At the high point of their powers, just prior to removal of Poor Law responsibilities in 1834, the vestries spent not far short of one-fifth of the budget of the national government itself.
More than 15,600 ecclesiastical parish vestries looked after their own: churches and burial grounds, parish cottages and workhouses, endowed charities, market crosses, pounds, whipping posts, cages, watch houses and scales, clocks and fire engines. Or to put it another way: the maintenance of the church and its services, the keeping of the peace, the repression of vagrancy, the relief of destitution, the mending of roads, the suppression of nuisances, the destruction of vermin, the furnishing of soldiers and sailors to some extent the enforcement of religious and moral discipline; these were among the multitudinous duties imposed on the parish and its officers, to say the vestry and its organisation, by the law of the land, by local custom and practice as the situation demanded. This level of activity had resulted in an increasing sophistication of administration; the decisions and accounts of the vestry committee would be administered by the parish clerk, records of parish business would be stored in a "parish chest" kept in the church and provided for security with three different locks, the individual keys to which would be held by such as the parish priest and churchwardens.
Whilst the vestry was a general meeting of all inhabitant rate-paying householders in a parish, in the 17th century the huge growth of population in some parishes urban, made it difficult to convene and conduct meetings. In some of these a new body, the select vestry, was created; this was an administrative committee of se
Lake District
The Lake District known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes and mountains, its associations with William Wordsworth and other Lake Poets and with Beatrix Potter and John Ruskin; the National Park covers an area of 2,362 square kilometres. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2017; the Lake District is located within the county of Cumbria. All the land in England higher than 3,000 feet above sea level lies within the National Park, including Scafell Pike, the highest mountain in England, it contains the deepest and largest natural lakes in England, Wast Water and Windermere respectively. The Lake District National Park includes all of the central Lake District, though the town of Kendal, some coastal areas, the Lakeland Peninsulas are outside the park boundary; the area was designated a national park on 9 May 1951. It retained its original boundaries until 2016 when it was extended by 3% in the direction of the Yorkshire Dales National Park to incorporate areas such as land of high landscape value in the Lune Valley.
It is the most visited national park in the United Kingdom with 15.8 million annual visitors and more than 23 million annual day visits, the largest of the thirteen national parks in England and Wales, the second largest in the UK after the Cairngorms National Park. Its aim is to protect the landscape by restricting unwelcome change by commerce. Most of the land in the park is in private ownership, with about 55% registered as agricultural land. Landowners include: Individual farmers and other private landowners, with more than half of the agricultural land farmed by the owners; the National Trust owns about a quarter of the total area. The Forestry Commission and other investors in forests and woodland. United Utilities owns 8% Lake District National Park Authority The National Park Authority is based at offices in Kendal, it runs a visitor centre on Windermere at a former country house called Brockhole, Coniston Boating Centre, Information Centres. It is reducing its landholding. In common with all other national parks in England, there is no restriction on entry to, or movement within the park along public routes, but access to cultivated land is restricted to public footpaths and byways.
Much of the uncultivated land has statutory open access rights. The lakes and mountains combine to form impressive scenery. Farmland and mining have altered the natural scenery, the ecology has been modified by human influence for millennia and includes important wildlife habitats. Having failed in a previous attempt to gain World Heritage status as a natural World Heritage Site, because of human activities, it was successful in the category of cultural landscape and was awarded the status in 2017; the precise extent of the Lake District was not defined traditionally, but is larger than that of the National Park, the total area of, about 912 square miles. The park extends just over 32 miles from east to west and nearly 40 miles from north to south, with areas such as the Lake District Peninsulas to the south lying outside the National Park; the Lake District is one of the most populated national parks. There are, only a handful of major settlements within this mountainous area, the towns of Keswick, Windermere and Bowness-on-Windermere being the four largest.
Significant towns outside the boundary of the national park include Millom, Barrow-in-Furness, Ulverston, Dalton-in-Furness, Cockermouth and Grange-over-Sands. Villages such as Coniston, Glenridding, Pooley Bridge, Broughton-in-Furness, Newby Bridge, Lindale and Hawkshead are more local centres; the economies of all are intimately linked with tourism. Beyond these are a scattering of hamlets and many isolated farmsteads, some of which are still tied to agriculture; the Lake District National Park is contained within a box of trunk routes. It is flanked to the east by the A6 road; the A590 which connects the M6 to Barrow-in-Furness, the A5092 trunk roads cut across its southern fringes and the A66 trunk road between Penrith and Workington cuts across its northern edge. The A595 trunk road runs through the coastal plains to the west of the area, linking the A66 with the A5092. Besides these, a few A roads penetrate the area itself, notably the A591 which runs north-westwards from Kendal to Windermere and on to Keswick.
It continues up the east side of Bassenthwaite Lake. "The A591, Lake District" was short-listed in the 2011 Google Street View awards in the Most Romantic Street category. The A593 and A5084 link the Ambleside and Coniston areas with the A590 to the south whilst the A592 and A5074 link Windermere with the A590; the A592 continues northwards from Windermere to Ullswater and Penrith by way of the Kirkstone Pass. Some valleys which are not penetrated by A roads are served by B roads; the B5289 serves links via the Honister Pass with Borrowdale. The B5292 ascends the Whinlatter Pass from Lorton Vale before dropping down to Braithwaite near Keswick; the B5322 serves the valley of St John's in the Vale whilst Great Langdale is served by the B5343. Other valle
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is a principal agency of the U. S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy; the Census Bureau is part of the U. S. Department of Commerce and its director is appointed by the President of the United States; the Census Bureau's primary mission is conducting the U. S. Census every ten years, which allocates the seats of the U. S. House of Representatives to the states based on their population; the Bureau's various censuses and surveys help allocate over $400 billion in federal funds every year and it helps states, local communities, businesses make informed decisions. The information provided by the census informs decisions on where to build and maintain schools, transportation infrastructure, police and fire departments. In addition to the decennial census, the Census Bureau continually conducts dozens of other censuses and surveys, including the American Community Survey, the U. S. Economic Census, the Current Population Survey.
Furthermore and foreign trade indicators released by the federal government contain data produced by the Census Bureau. Article One of the United States Constitution directs the population be enumerated at least once every ten years and the resulting counts used to set the number of members from each state in the House of Representatives and, by extension, in the Electoral College; the Census Bureau now conducts a full population count every 10 years in years ending with a zero and uses the term "decennial" to describe the operation. Between censuses, the Census Bureau makes population projections. In addition, Census data directly affects how more than $400 billion per year in federal and state funding is allocated to communities for neighborhood improvements, public health, education and more; the Census Bureau is mandated with fulfilling these obligations: the collecting of statistics about the nation, its people, economy. The Census Bureau's legal authority is codified in Title 13 of the United States Code.
The Census Bureau conducts surveys on behalf of various federal government and local government agencies on topics such as employment, health, consumer expenditures, housing. Within the bureau, these are known as "demographic surveys" and are conducted perpetually between and during decennial population counts; the Census Bureau conducts economic surveys of manufacturing, retail and other establishments and of domestic governments. Between 1790 and 1840, the census was taken by marshals of the judicial districts; the Census Act of 1840 established a central office. Several acts followed that revised and authorized new censuses at the 10-year intervals. In 1902, the temporary Census Office was moved under the Department of Interior, in 1903 it was renamed the Census Bureau under the new Department of Commerce and Labor; the department was intended to consolidate overlapping statistical agencies, but Census Bureau officials were hindered by their subordinate role in the department. An act in 1920 changed the date and authorized manufacturing censuses every two years and agriculture censuses every 10 years.
In 1929, a bill was passed mandating the House of Representatives be reapportioned based on the results of the 1930 Census. In 1954, various acts were codified into Title 13 of the US Code. By law, the Census Bureau must count everyone and submit state population totals to the U. S. President by December 31 of any year ending in a zero. States within the Union receive the results in the spring of the following year; the United States Census Bureau defines four statistical regions, with nine divisions. The Census Bureau regions are "widely used...for data collection and analysis". The Census Bureau definition is pervasive. Regional divisions used by the United States Census Bureau: Region 1: Northeast Division 1: New England Division 2: Mid-Atlantic Region 2: Midwest Division 3: East North Central Division 4: West North Central Region 3: South Division 5: South Atlantic Division 6: East South Central Division 7: West South Central Region 4: West Division 8: Mountain Division 9: Pacific Many federal, state and tribal governments use census data to: Decide the location of new housing and public facilities, Examine the demographic characteristics of communities and the US, Plan transportation systems and roadways, Determine quotas and creation of police and fire precincts, Create localized areas for elections, utilities, etc.
Gathers population information every 10 years The United States Census Bureau is committed to confidentiality, guarantees non-disclosure of any addresses or personal information related to individuals or establishments. Title 13 of the U. S. Code establishes penalties for the disclosure of this information. All Census employees must sign an affidavit of non-disclosure prior to employment; the Bureau cannot share responses, addresses or personal information with anyone including United States or foreign government
George Mason
George Mason IV was an American planter and delegate to the U. S. Constitutional Convention of 1787, one of three delegates who refused to sign the Constitution, his writings, including substantial portions of the Fairfax Resolves of 1774, the Virginia Declaration of Rights of 1776, his Objections to this Constitution of Government in opposition to ratification, have exercised a significant influence on American political thought and events. The Virginia Declaration of Rights, which Mason principally authored, served as a basis for the United States Bill of Rights, of which he has been deemed the father. Mason was born in 1725, most in what is now Fairfax County, Virginia, his father died when he was young, his mother managed the family estates until he came of age. He married in 1750, built Gunston Hall, lived the life of a country squire, supervising his lands and slaves, he served in the House of Burgesses and involved himself in community affairs, sometimes serving with his neighbor George Washington.
As tensions grew between Britain and the American colonies, Mason came to support the colonial side, used his knowledge and experience to help the revolutionary cause, finding ways to work around the Stamp Act of 1765 and serving in the pro-independence Fourth Virginia Convention in 1775 and the Fifth Virginia Convention in 1776. Mason prepared the first draft of the Virginia Declaration of Rights in 1776, his words formed much of the text adopted by the final Revolutionary Virginia Convention, he wrote a constitution for the state. During the American Revolutionary War, Mason was a member of the powerful House of Delegates of the Virginia General Assembly but, to the irritation of Washington and others, he refused to serve in the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, citing health and family commitments. Mason was in 1787 named one of his state's delegates to the Constitutional Convention and traveled to Philadelphia, his only lengthy trip outside Virginia. Many clauses in the Constitution bear his stamp, as he was active in the convention for months before deciding that he could not sign it.
He cited the lack of a bill of rights most prominently in his Objections, but wanted an immediate end to the slave trade and a supermajority for navigation acts, which might force exporters of tobacco to use more expensive American ships. He failed to attain these objectives there, again at the Virginia Ratifying Convention of 1788, but his prominent fight for a bill of rights led fellow Virginian James Madison to introduce one during the First Congress in 1789. Obscure after his death, Mason has come to be recognized in the 20th and 21st centuries for his contributions both to the early United States and to Virginia. George Mason's great-grandfather, George Mason I, had been a Cavalier: militarily defeated in the English Civil War, some of them came to America in the 1640s and 1650s, he had been born in 1629 in the English county of Worcestershire. The immigrant George Mason settled in what is now Stafford County, having obtained land as a reward for bringing his party to the colony as 50 acres were awarded for each person transported into the Colony of Virginia.
His son, George Mason II, was the first to move to what in 1742 became Fairfax County at the frontier between English and Native American areas. George Mason III served in the House of Burgesses and, like his father, was county lieutenant. George Mason IV's mother, Ann Thomson Mason, was the daughter of a former Attorney General of Virginia who had immigrated from London and was of a Yorkshire family; the Masons lived in a colonial Virginia that had few roads, as most commerce was carried on Chesapeake Bay or along the waters of its tributaries, such as the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers. Most settlement took place near the rivers. Thus, colonial Virginia developed few towns, since estates were self-sufficient, could get what they needed without the need to purchase locally; the capital, saw little activity when the legislature was not in session. Local politics was dominated by large landowners like the Masons; the Virginia economy rose and fell with tobacco, the main crop, raised for export to Britain.
Into this world was born George Mason, fourth of that name, on December 11, 1725. He may have been born at his father's plantation on Dogue's Neck, but this is uncertain as his parents lived on their lands across the Potomac in Maryland. On March 5, 1735, George Mason III died, his widow Ann raised their son George and two younger siblings as co-guardian with lawyer John Mercer, their uncle by marriage, having wed George Mason III's sister Catherine. Ann Mason selected property at Chopawamsic Creek as her dower house and there lived with her children and administered the lands that her elder son would control upon reaching his 21st birthday. In 1736, George began his education with a Mr. Williams, hired to teach him for the price of 1,000 pounds of tobacco per annum. George's studies began at his mother's house, but the following year, he was boarded out to a Mrs. Simpson in Maryland, with Williams continuing as teacher through 1739. By 1740, George Mason was again under the tutelage of a Dr. Bridges.
Mason's biographers have speculated that this was Charles Bridges, who helped develop the sc
ZIP Code
A ZIP Code is a postal code used by the United States Postal Service in a system it introduced in 1963. The term ZIP is an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan; the basic format consists of five digits. An extended ZIP+4 code was introduced in 1983 which includes the five digits of the ZIP Code, followed by a hyphen and four additional digits that reference a more specific location; the term ZIP Code was registered as a servicemark by the U. S. Postal Service, but its registration has since expired; the early history and context of postal codes began with postal district/zone numbers. The United States Post Office Department implemented postal zones for numerous large cities in 1943. For example: The "16" was the number of the postal zone in the specific city. By the early 1960s, a more organized system was needed, non-mandatory five-digit ZIP Codes were introduced nationwide on July 1, 1963; the USPOD issued its Publication 59: Abbreviations for Use with ZIP Code on October 1, 1963, with the list of two-letter state abbreviations which are written with both letters capitalized.
An earlier list in June had proposed capitalized abbreviations ranging from two to five letters. According to Publication 59, the two-letter standard was "based on a maximum 23-position line, because this has been found to be the most universally acceptable line capacity basis for major addressing systems", which would be exceeded by a long city name combined with a multi-letter state abbreviation, such as "Sacramento, Calif." along with the ZIP Code. The abbreviations have remained unchanged, with the exception of Nebraska, changed from NB to NE in 1969 at the request of the Canadian postal administration, to avoid confusion with the Canadian province of New Brunswick. Robert Moon is considered the father of the ZIP Code; the post office only credits Moon with the first three digits of the ZIP Code, which describe the sectional center facility or "sec center." An SCF is a central mail processing facility with those three digits. The fourth and fifth digits, which give a more precise locale within the SCF, were proposed by Henry Bentley Hahn Sr.
The SCF sorts mail to all post offices with those first three digits in their ZIP Codes. The mail is sorted according to the final two digits of the ZIP Code and sent to the corresponding post offices in the early morning. Sectional centers do not deliver mail and are not open to the public, most of their employees work the night shift. Mail picked up at post offices is sent to their own SCF in the afternoon, where the mail is sorted overnight. In the case of large cities, the last two digits coincide with the older postal zone number thus: In 1967, these became mandatory for second- and third-class bulk mailers, the system was soon adopted generally; the United States Post Office used a cartoon character, which it called Mr. ZIP, to promote the use of the ZIP Code, he was depicted with a legend such as "USE ZIP CODE" in the selvage of panes of postage stamps or on the covers of booklet panes of stamps. In 1971 Elmira Star-Gazette reporter Dick Baumbach found out the White House was not using a ZIP Code on its envelopes.
Herb Klein, special assistant to President Nixon, responded by saying the next printing of envelopes would include the ZIP Code. In 1983, the U. S. Postal Service introduced an expanded ZIP Code system that it called ZIP+4 called "plus-four codes", "add-on codes", or "add-ons". A ZIP+4 Code uses the basic five-digit code plus four additional digits to identify a geographic segment within the five-digit delivery area, such as a city block, a group of apartments, an individual high-volume receiver of mail, a post office box, or any other unit that could use an extra identifier to aid in efficient mail sorting and delivery. However, initial attempts to promote universal use of the new format met with public resistance and today the plus-four code is not required. In general, mail is read by a multiline optical character reader that instantly determines the correct ZIP+4 Code from the address—along with the more specific delivery point—and sprays an Intelligent Mail barcode on the face of the mail piece that corresponds to 11 digits—nine for the ZIP+4 Code and two for the delivery point.
For Post Office Boxes, the general rule is. The add-on code is one of the following: the last four digits of the box number, zero plus the last three digits of the box number, or, if the box number consists of fewer than four digits, enough zeros are attached to the front of the box number to produce a four-digit number. However, there is no uniform rule, so the ZIP+4 Code must be looked up individually for each box; the ZIP Code is translated into an Intelligent Mail barcode, printed on the mailpiece to make it easier for automated machines to sort. A barcode can be printed by the sender, it is better to let the post office put one on. In general, the post office uses OCR technology, though in some cases a human might have to read and enter the address. Customers who send bulk mail can get a discount on postage if they have printed the barcode themselves and have presorted the mai
