By Emily Darrell, The Goochland Gazette, June 06, 2012

Virginia, says 29-year-old Albemarle County resident Laurel Woodworth, doesn’t always get the stately respect that it deserves.

“I sometimes feel it’s an underappreciated state,” Woodworth said.

It’s true that Virginia has a lot going for it: mountains, beaches, rolling hills, cities, countryside. And plenty of history. Yet, Virginians aren’t generally known for the sort of fierce state pride that, say, Texans are.

But since the age of 8 (she spent her earliest years in France), Woodworth has called no other place home. She grew up in the Shenandoah Valley, “went over the mountain to Charlottesville for college,” and has spent time in Richmond and on the Eastern Shore.  Read more...