The Big Book of American Trivia
Page 7
22. What state university is located in the Nittany Valley? [Answer]
23. Bloomington, Indiana, is home to what enormous college? [Answer]
24. You’d find the Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public Affairs on the main campus of what university? (Hint: Longhorns) [Answer]
25. What Ivy League college is in Ithaca, New York? [Answer]
26. What two famous black leaders are associated with Tuskegee University in Alabama? [Answer]
Famous Forts
1. Fort Dearborn became what Illinois metropolis? [Answer]
2. The settlement of Fort Nashborough later became what state capital? [Answer]
3. Famous as the site where Francis Scott Key wrote “The Star-Spangled Banner,” Fort McHenry was built to protect what city? [Answer]
4. What ill-fated cavalryman left Fort Abraham Lincoln on May 17, 1876? [Answer]
5. Fort Lee, near Petersburg, Virginia, is named for what famous soldier? [Answer]
6. What improperly named Texas metropolis has never been a fort? [Answer]
7. Fort Clatsop in Oregon reproduces the living quarters of what famous explorer duo? [Answer]
8. How did historic Fort Nonsense in New Jersey gets its name? [Answer]
9. Fort Pitt, named for British statesman William Pitt, became what industrial city of Pennsylvania? [Answer]
10. In February 1909 what great Apache leader died at Fort Sill, Oklahoma? [Answer]
11. Fort Christina, built in Delaware in 1638, was named for a queen of what country? [Answer]
12. What Florida metropolis on the Gulf grew out of the army post of Fort Brooke? [Answer]
13. Fort Donelson in Tennessee was the site of a Union general’s demand for “unconditional and immediate surrender.” What future president issued this ultimatum? [Answer]
14. Fort Necessity in Pennsylvania was the site of the opening battle of what great war of the colonial era? [Answer]
15. New York’s capital, Albany, began as a trading post, Fort Nassau, in 1614. What nation established this? [Answer]
16. In 1565 the Spanish destroyed the French Fort Caroline and built what settlement in what is now Florida? [Answer]
17. In what state would you find Fort King George, a colonial historic site? [Answer]
18. What was notable about the Civil War Battle of Fort Tyler in Georgia? [Answer]
19. An important Florida fort was constructed on December 25, 1837, as a defense during the Seminole War. What appropriate name was given to the fort? [Answer]
20. What historic Florida fort has a name referring to the Spanish slaughter of French Protestants? [Answer]
21. If you are in Fort Eustis, Virginia, viewing helicopters, trains, and marine craft, what museum are you touring? [Answer]
22. Historic Fort Ticonderoga, used in the French and Indian War and the Revolution, is in what northeastern state? [Answer]
23. Fort Putnam from the Revolutionary War overlooks what U.S. service academy? [Answer]
Parks, Caverns, and So Forth: State Landmarks
You might visit a state to see friends and relatives. Or you might be there to see the sights, whatever those might be. Given a list of a state’s “sights worth seeing,” could you guess the name of the state?
1. The Grand Canyon, Painted Desert, Petrified Forest [Answer]
2. Waikiki Beach, Haleakala National Park, Wailua River State Park [Answer]
3. Shenandoah National Park, Busch Gardens, Luray Caverns [Answer]
4. Space and Rocket Center, Gulf Shores, Bellingrath Gardens [Answer]
5. Mystic Seaport, P. T. Barnum Museum, USS Nautilus [Answer]
6. Yosemite National Park, Universal Studios, Lake Tahoe [Answer]
7. Salvador Dali Museum, the Everglades, Busch Gardens [Answer]
8. Circus World Museum, the Dells, Lake Winnebago [Answer]
9. Vicksburg National Military Park, Natchez Trace, Beauvoir [Answer]
10. Rocky Mountain National Park, Garden of the Gods, Pike’s Peak [Answer]
11. Padre Island National Seashore, the Alamo, Six Flags [Answer]
12. Carlsbad Caverns, White Sands National Monument, Chaco Canyon [Answer]
13. Chickamauga Battlefield, Six Flags, CNN Studios [Answer]
14. Independence Hall, Valley Forge, Gettysburg National Military Park [Answer]
15. Wyandotte Cave, Benjamin Harrison’s home, New Harmony [Answer]
16. Acadia National Park, Sugarloaf ski area, Bath Iron Works [Answer]
17. Henry Ford Museum, Pictured Rocks, Isle Royale [Answer]
18. Great Smoky Mountains, Rock City, the Grand Ole Opry [Answer]
19. Minnehaha Falls, Guthrie Theatre, Voyageurs National Park [Answer]
20. Glacier National Park, Little Bighorn Battlefield, Lewis and Clark Caverns [Answer]
21. Mount Rainier, San Juan Islands, the Space Needle [Answer]
22. Glacier Bay National Park, Denali National Park, Katmai National Park [Answer]
23. Sequoia National Park, Disneyland, HMS Queen Mary [Answer]
24. Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park, Buffalo Bill Museum [Answer]
25. The Field Museum, Nauvoo Mormon settlement, Abraham Lincoln’s home [Answer]
26. Plymouth Rock, Walden Pond, Basketball Hall of Fame [Answer]
27. Harrah’s, Circus Circus, Lake Mead, Death Valley [Answer]
28. First White House of the Confederacy, Helen Keller’s birthplace, the Vulcan statue [Answer]
29. Pro Football Hall of Fame, Schoenbrunn Village, Mill Creek Park [Answer]
30. Cape Hatteras, Biltmore mansion, Fort Raleigh [Answer]
31. Mammoth Cave, Shaker Village, Cumberland Gap National Historical Park [Answer]
32. Nottoway Plantation, Rosedown Plantation, Jean Lafitte Park [Answer]
33. Zion National Park, Temple Square, Lake Powell [Answer]
34. Newport cottages, Gilbert Stuart birthplace, Touro Synagogue [Answer]
35. Fort Sumter, Magnolia plantation, Patriots Point [Answer]
36. Cowboy Hall of Fame, Cherokee Cultural Center, Fort Gibson [Answer]
37. Multnomah Falls, Newberry Volcano, Columbia River Gorge [Answer]
38. Eisenhower Museum, Old Cowtown, Fort Leavenworth [Answer]
39. London Bridge, Meteor Crater, Canyon Diablo [Answer]
40. Universal Studios, Ringling Museum of Art, Walt Disney World [Answer]
41. Hot Springs, Crater of Diamonds, Ozark Folk Center [Answer]
42. The Corn Palace, Badlands, Mount Rushmore [Answer]
43. Craters of the Moon, Sun Valley, River of No Return [Answer]
44. U.S. Naval Academy, Fort McHenry, Antietam National Battlefield [Answer]
45. Thomas Edison Museum, Prudential Center, Six Flags Great Adventure [Answer]
Colors on the Map
The American map is a colorful thing—all sorts of towns, mountains, rivers, etc., named after Blue, White, Green, etc. There is no Turquoise Town or Lavender Valley, but there are a lot of other colorfully named places.
1. What Wyoming national park is known for its geysers, particularly Old Faithful? [Answer]
2. The thousand-mile-long river separating Texas and Oklahoma has what colorful name? [Answer]
3. What scenic parkway connects the Shenandoah and Great Smoky Mountain National Parks? [Answer]
4. The Great White Way is what famous New York street? [Answer]
5. In what famous D.C. home could you visit the Blue, Red, and Green Rooms? [Answer]
6. What colorful lawn grass gives Kentucky its nickname? [Answer]
7. In what two cities could you tour the White House of the Confederacy? [Answer]
8. What southern state has a Black Belt? [Answer]
9. “Red Stick,” translated into French, is the name of what Louisiana city? [Answer]
10. In Blue Mounds, Wisconsin, what type of ethnic village could you visit? [Answer]
11. What Wisconsin football town has a colorful name? [Answe
r]
12. Why is the White House white? [Answer]
13. What appropriate botanical name is given to the Florida county that contains Orlando? [Answer]
14. What 730-mile river in Utah and Wyoming flows into the Colorado River? [Answer]
15. What color are the mice and lizards that live in the White Sands National Monument of New Mexico? [Answer]
16. What colorful vegetable company logo can you see (fifty-five feet high) in Blue Earth, Minnesota? [Answer]
17. It’s called the Green Mountain State and its name means “green mountain.” What is it? [Answer]
18. White Plains is a posh suburb of what eastern metropolis? [Answer]
19. The Black Mountains in the eastern U.S. are part of what colorfully named mountain chain? [Answer]
20. Black Warrior and the Native American word tuscaloosa have the same meaning. In what state is the city of Tuscaloosa and the Black Warrior River? [Answer]
21. The Black Hills are in what two western states? [Answer]
22. Mount Washington, New Hampshire’s tallest peak, is in what mountain chain? [Answer]
23. If you wish to see the famous Pink Cliffs, what national park in Utah will you visit? [Answer]
24. Garden Grove, Santa Ana, and Anaheim are suburbs in what wealthy California county? (Hint: trees) [Answer]
25. What river, flowing out of Canada, forms the border between North Dakota and Minnesota? [Answer]
Funny Names on the Map
“Funny” is in the ear of the beholder. If you grew up in Hackensack or Schenectady, you probably don’t find the names funny, although others might. Anyway, the American map has more than its share of offbeat names. The ones here are only the tip of the iceberg.
1. Molokai, Lanai, Kauai, Kahoolawe, and Niihau are islands in what state? [Answer]
2. If you scurry to Scurry County, what western state are you in? [Answer]
3. What New Mexico town is named for a radio program of the 1940s? [Answer]
4. What famous 435,000-acre swamp sits astride the border of Georgia and Florida? [Answer]
5. If you want to go to Kingdom Come, where do you go? [Answer]
6. If you wanted to see Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Neptune, what southern state would you visit? [Answer]
7. Where was the short-lived state of Nickajack? [Answer]
8. What historic city was founded in 1718 and given the name Nouvelle-Orleans? [Answer]
9. What Florida lake is both extremely large (750 square miles) and extremely shallow (twenty-two-feet deep)? [Answer]
10. If you’re a tourist in the South visiting Chick-Chatt, where are you? [Answer]
11. What simple-living Christians founded the village of Bird-in-Hand in Pennsylvania? [Answer]
12. What noted fraternal organization (named for an animal) has its headquarters in Mooseheart, Illinois? [Answer]
13. If you ride the hill-climbing trolleys of the Monongahela Incline and Duquesne Incline, what Pennsylvania city are you in? [Answer]
14. Jockey’s Ridge State Park on the North Carolina coast has some amazing objects more than a hundred feet high. What are they? [Answer]
15. If you are at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, what state are you in? [Answer]
16. Port Tobacco is a town in what noted tobacco-growing state? [Answer]
17. What small Alabama town on the Tennessee River is noted as a recording center? [Answer]
18. The French-settled town of Natchitoches, founded in 1714, is the oldest town in what southern state? [Answer]
19. The charming town of Bishop Hill in Illinois, formerly known as Bishopskuna, was settled by people from what country? [Answer]
On the Road Again
1. All interstate highways that run coast to coast end in what number? [Answer]
2. The scenic Blue Ridge Parkway connects what two much-visited national parks? [Answer]
3. If you are walking the Street of the Golden Palace in Los Angeles, what ethnic neighborhood are you in? [Answer]
4. The colonial sites of Jamestown, Yorktown, and Williamsburg are connected by what (appropriately named) highway? [Answer]
5. What name is given to U.S. Highway 101 on its 380-mile run through California’s sequoia country? [Answer]
6. What street runs past Graceland in Memphis? [Answer]
7. What novel highway phenomenon was introduced at Woodbridge, New Jersey, in 1929? [Answer]
8. If you are at Mile Zero on U.S. Highway 1, what famous Florida island are you on? [Answer]
9. The New Jersey Turnpike was actually built to connect two cities not in New Jersey. One was New York. What was the other? [Answer]
10. What famous street, much loved by New Orleans tourists, is now a pedestrians-only zone? [Answer]
11. Montgomery Street, the “Wall Street of the West,” is in what California metropolis? [Answer]
12. The tree named Wawona, which has a road passing through it, is in what Wyoming national park? [Answer]
13. The first of the nation’s superhighways was the 470-mile turnpike in what northeastern state? (Hint: Quakers) [Answer]
14. What western capital limits street names to eight letters? [Answer]
15. What notable (and long) highway connects Key West, Florida, with Fort Kent, Maine? [Answer]
16. What type of highway is only 4 percent of the nation’s total road system but carries 40 percent of all the traffic? [Answer]
17. Charlotte, North Carolina, has a highway named for a famous preacher. Who? [Answer]
18. If you are driving the Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park, what state are you in? [Answer]
19. What was the interstate highway speed limit imposed in 1974 as an energy-saving measure? [Answer]
20. If you are riding on the Overseas Highway, U.S. 1, what scenic part of Florida are you in? [Answer]
21. The blues and Beale Street are associated with what major Tennessee city? [Answer]
22. If you are “inside the Beltway,” where are you? [Answer]
23. The Old Pecan Street Arts Festival is held in which western state capital? [Answer]
24. The Rim of the World Highway is in what scenic western state? [Answer]
Beantown, Barb City, and Other City Nicknames
New York is the Big Apple, and most big cities—and a few small ones—have notable nicknames.
1. What city on Lake Michigan is the Windy City? [Answer]
2. Beantown is what New England capital? [Answer]
3. What southern capital, with a thriving recording industry, is Music City USA? [Answer]
4. Motown is what Michigan metropolis? [Answer]
5. What Rocky Mountain capital is the Mile High City? [Answer]
6. What North Carolina college town was formerly known as Tobacco Town? [Answer]
7. The Crawfish Capital of the World is the town of Breaux Bridge in what state? [Answer]
8. What large Kentucky city is known as Heart of the Bluegrass? [Answer]
9. What Missouri resort town is often called Nashville West? [Answer]
10. America’s foremost desert resort was named Agua Caliente (“hot water”) by the Spanish. What is it now called? [Answer]
11. DeKalb, Illinois, is nicknamed Barb City. Why? [Answer]
12. Steamboat Springs, considered Ski Town U.S.A., is in what state? [Answer]
13. Valdosta, Georgia, is known as “the Gateway to” which popular vacation state? [Answer]
14. What humid southern city calls itself the City That Care Forgot? [Answer]
15. What northern Alabama city is Rocket City? [Answer]
16. Who founded Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, in 1682? [Answer]
17. What huge city is called City of Brotherly Shove on account of its supposed rudeness? [Answer]
18. America’s Smoky City is now bright and clean. What Pennsylvania industrial city is now “non-smoky”? [Answer]
19. What southern capital is sometimes called the Protestant Va
tican? [Answer]
20. What major California city is the Capital of Silicon Valley? [Answer]
21. The town of Stowe calls itself the Ski Capital of the East. What New England state is it in? [Answer]
22. Decatur, Illinois, proudly calls itself the “________ Capital of the World.” (Fill in the blank with the name of a common food crop.) [Answer]
23. What city was the Gateway to the Goldfields of California? [Answer]
24. It was called Second City for many years, but Los Angeles passed it in the 1990 census. What was it? [Answer]
25. Rockland is the Schooner Capital in what rock-bound New England state? [Answer]
26. The Big Easy is what laid-back Louisiana city? [Answer]
27. What Oklahoma metropolis was for years the Oil Capital of the World? [Answer]
Notable Purchases
1. What island did Dutchman Peter Minuit purchase from the Man-a-hat-a tribe in 1626? [Answer]
2. During what president’s administration was the Louisiana Territory purchased? [Answer]
3. What future vacation state did the U.S. purchase from Spain in 1819? [Answer]
4. What historic Virginia port was purchased in 1682 for ten thousand pounds of tobacco? [Answer]
5. With what 1853 purchase did the territory of the forty-eight U.S. states become complete? [Answer]
6. The site for what 840-acre New York City park was purchased by the city in 1856? [Answer]
7. What president claimed that the Louisiana Purchase was his greatest achievement, although he wasn’t president when it occurred? [Answer]
8. Philadelphia businessman Henry Disston paid twenty-five cents per acre for 4 million acres in what southern state? [Answer]
9. What southern capital’s site was purchased in 1609 by John Smith and named None Such? [Answer]
10. Who turned twenty-seven thousand acres of Florida swampland into one of the largest entertainment complexes in the world? [Answer]
11. On October 20, 1803, the Senate ratified the treaty for what major land acquisition? [Answer]