7 Facts on the United States ...

These 7 facts on the United States are just a handful that I came across. There were tons and tons to choose from, but I felt this list includes the most interesting ones. I hope you have fun reading these and feel free to supply a few fun facts of your own that you might have, whether they are about the US or your country.

7. Juneau is the Largest City

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This Alaskan city covers 3,000 square miles, which is slightly bigger than Delaware. It’s hard to imagine a city being larger than an entire state! Jacksonville, Florida is the second largest, but it only covers a little over 800 square miles.

6. Disease Took out Most of the Soldiers in the Civil War

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There are far more deaths during the Civil War that resulted from disease than there ever were from fighting and gunshot wounds among the soldiers. I vaguely remember hearing something like this when I was in high school. My history teacher would always get excited when we had discussions on wars that took place throughout US history and he enjoyed telling all sorts of random tidbits.

5. At Least 140 US Cities and Towns Have ‘Christmas’ in Their Names

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This statistic is according to the US Geological Survey. Arizona, Florida, Kentucky, Michigan, and Mississippi all have towns named simply ‘Christmas’. Other towns with ‘Christmas’ in the name have either ‘city’, ‘cove’, ‘valley’, or ‘ville’ attached to them. I also came across quite a few towns named Noel, Santa Claus, Saint Nicholas, North Pole, Evergreen, Jolly, and even quite a few named after Santa’s reindeer.

4. A Tomato Was Put on Trial in New Jersey in 1820

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People thought tomatoes were poisonous until Robert Johnson ate an entire basket of them in front of the courthouse. He never died, so everyone decided tomatoes must not be poisonous. This ‘trial’ took place in Salem, New Jersey on September 25, 1820.

3. Lake Mead is the Largest Man-made Lake in the US

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This is considered to be more of a reservoir than a lake, since it was created from water impounded by Hoover Dam. Lake Mead extends 112 miles behind Hoover Dam and takes up more than 28 million acre feet of water. The reservoir is partially in Arizona and partially in Nevada and the water for the reservoir comes from the Colorado River.

2. Maine is the Only State That Touches Just One Other State

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All the rest of the lower 48 states touch at least two additional states. This is another aspect of the US that I’d never considered. I always pictured Florida sticking out into the ocean as well, but never took into consideration that it butted up to more than one state.

1. The Molasses Disaster of 1919 Killed 21 People

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Boston not only lost some of its occupants to the 2 million gallons of crude molasses that pushed its way through the city, but the entire mess took about 2 weeks to clean. I thought this was the oddest fact of all. There are some excellent black and white photos of the event. This event is also known as the Great Boston Molasses Tragedy, the Great Molasses Flood, and the Boston Molasses Disaster. Apparently the molasses went rushing through town at a whopping 35 mph! Not only were 21 people killed, but the wave of molasses injured at least 150 others.

I hope these 7 facts on the United States were entertaining! I had fun trying to find interesting facts to list and even came across quite a few other facts that would make excellent trivia questions. Do you know any unique facts about the US?

Top Photo Credit: freefotouk

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