Nevada was the primary testing location of American nuclear devices from 1951 to 1992. During that time, 928 nuclear tests were performed at the Nevada Test Site just 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Of those, 828 were underground

Although millions of carats of diamonds are consumed each year in the United States, very few are domestically produced. The only active diamond mine in the country is the Crater of Diamonds Mine near Murfreesboro, Arkansas. The mine is a dig-for-fee operation maintained by the Crater of Diamonds State Park. Collectors pay a fee of a few dollars per day to prospect and can keep any diamonds they find.

There are only thirteen letters in the Hawaiian alphabet. There are five vowels: a, e, i, o, and u, and eight consonants: h, k, l, m, n, p, w, and the 'okina, which is a glottal stop similar to the sound between the syllables of "oh-oh." In print, the correct mark for designating an 'okina is the single open quote mark.

Its license plates carry the state motto: "Live Free or Die".

More than 80 percent of America's lobsters are hauled in from Maine.

The legend "Big Sky Country" appeared on Montana license plates from 1967 to 1975, a reference to the unobstructed skyline in the state, which seems to overwhelm the sparse landscape at times.

Both the Sioux and Cheyenne believed the Black Hills were the axis mundi, or sacred center of the world. The conflict over control of the region sparked the Black Hills War, also known as the Great Sioux War, the last major Indian War on the Great Plains. Following the defeat of the Lakota and their Cheyenne and Arapaho allies in 1876, the United States took control of the Black Hills. Despite their defeat, the Lakota never accepted the validity of the U.S. appropriation.

An attempt to drop the word North from the state name was defeated by the 1947 Legislative Assembly. Again in 1989 the Legislature rejected two resolutions intended to rename the state Dakota.

Texas shares borders with the states of Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, and New Mexico to the west.

Twenty-four presidents have U.S. counties or county equivalents named after them, but only George Washington has a state named in his honor.