Draw Virginia Outline from Memory
How well do you know The Old Dominion? Draw Virginia from memory and score 0–100 based on how accurately you sketch its distinctive outline.
More US States to Draw
Why Virginia Looks the Way It Does
Virginia's borders are older than the country — and were violently redrawn once. The oldest of the thirteen colonies by charter (1606-1624), Virginia originally claimed a swath of North America; the modern shape emerged as Kentucky (1792) and West Virginia (1863) were carved away. West Virginia's secession — the western counties refusing to leave the Union with the rest of the state during the Civil War — cut Virginia's outline in half and left the jagged mountain seam that runs down the map today.
The Potomac border carries a quirk of colonial law: Maryland owns the riverbed all the way to the Virginia shore, a 1632 charter grant confirmed by the Supreme Court in 1910 and by arbitration in 1877. Virginia touches the water; Maryland owns the water. The wiggly line on the map is therefore one of the few state borders where the boundary and the jurisdiction end at different places.
The Chesapeake gives the state its fractured east: the bay is a drowned river valley — the Susquehanna's ancient course flooded by rising seas — and its shoreline dismembers Virginia into peninsulas. Across the water, the Eastern Shore belongs to the Delmarva peninsula, unreachable from mainland Virginia without crossing Maryland. The Old Dominion's outline is the colonial map's survivor: claim by charter, split by civil war, and chewed at the edges by the sea.
Quick Facts: Virginia
- Capital
- Richmond
- Nickname
- The Old Dominion
- Statehood
- 1788
- Area
- 102,279 km²
- Borders
- Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina
What is "Drawing Virginia Outline from Memory"?
Drawing Virginia from memory means sketching the Old Dominion's border on a blank canvas without looking at a map. Focus on the state's distinctive features and overall proportions — that's what pushes your accuracy score up.
Virginia became a state in 1788 and is rated ★★★★ out of 4 for drawing difficulty — one of the hardest borders on the site. When you hit Reveal, your sketch is scored 0–100 against the real border, so every attempt teaches you something about the outline.
Virginia is an irregular, east-west wedge: the Atlantic and Chesapeake Bay gnaw the right side into drowned river valleys, the Potomac River wiggles along the top against Maryland, mountain ridge lines stack down the left against West Virginia and Kentucky, and the far southwest tip narrows to a point at the Cumberland Gap. The Eastern Shore sits offshore as a separate fragment of Delmarva.
How to Draw Virginia from Memory
Step 01
Sketch the overall wedge first: wide at the Chesapeake, tapering steadily westward to a sharp point. Virginia looks like a triangle that a mountain range has chewed on — the top edge rises northwest, the bottom runs flat.
Step 02
The top edge is the Potomac: a long, nervous wiggle running northwest, from the bay past Washington D.C. to Harpers Ferry, where the river breaks through the mountains. Let it saw; it's the state's most lively line.
Step 03
The left side is mountain logic: stacked ridge lines — the Appalachians' long, parallel spines — running southwest until the whole state narrows to the Cumberland Gap point. And don't forget the Eastern Shore: a small fragment of the Delmarva peninsula, floating across the bay at the top-right.
A jagged horizontal wedge: the Chesapeake's drowned valleys on the right, the Potomac wiggling along the top, mountain ridges stacking down the left, and a sharp southern tip poking into the Cumberland Gap.
How Virginia Is Scored
When you hit Reveal & compare, your sketch is measured against Virginia's real border, point by point, in the same canvas space. Three numbers come back:
Matched — the share of the real border your drawing covered. 100% means you traced every part of the outline.
Extra — how much of your drawing fell outside the true border. This catches sketches that are too big, mispositioned, or drifting off.
Missed — the border you didn't reach, the flip side of Matched.
The three combine into a single 0–100 accuracy score. The rating names give you a target: 80+ is Cartographer, 60+ is Border patrol, 40+ is Getting there, and below 40 is Try again.
Drawing large and roughly centered is the single fastest way to raise your score — a small sketch tucked in a corner overlaps less of the true border, so it scores lower. For Virginia, keep the whole outline in frame and let the distinctive parts do the work.
FAQ
- What makes Virginia's outline distinctive?
- Virginia is an irregular, east-west wedge: the Atlantic and Chesapeake Bay gnaw the right side into drowned river valleys, the Potomac River wiggles along the top against Maryland, mountain ridge lines stack down the left against West Virginia and Kentucky, and the far southwest tip narrows to a point at the Cumberland Gap. The Eastern Shore sits offshore as a separate fragment of Delmarva.
- How hard is it to draw Virginia from memory?
- Virginia is rated ★★★★ out of 4 for drawing difficulty — one of the hardest borders on the site. You can score your attempts immediately and watch your accuracy climb with practice.
- Which states border Virginia?
- Virginia shares its border with 5 US states — Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and North Carolina are on this site. Drawing a neighbor right after Virginia helps anchor both outlines in your memory.
- How is my Virginia drawing scored?
- Your sketch is compared with Virginia's real border, point by point, in the same canvas space. Matched is the share of the border you covered, Extra is how much of your drawing fell outside it, and Missed is the border you didn't reach. The three combine into a single 0–100 accuracy score.
- Can I draw Virginia on mobile?
- Yes — Virginia works on desktop, tablet, and mobile. Draw with your finger on touchscreens; no app download is required and it runs directly in your browser.