VA-W40 First Balloon Flight in Virginia

Marker text: FIRST BALLOON FLIGHT IN VIRGINIA

On May 7, 1801, J.S. Watson, a student a William and Mary, wrote a letter detailing attempts at flying hot air balloons on the Court House Green. The third balloon, decorated with sixteen stars, one for each of the existing states, and fueled with spirits of wine, was successful. Watson wrote, "I never saw so great and so universal delight as it gave to the spectators." This is the earliest recorded evidence of aeronautics in the commonwealth.

Department of Historic Resources, 1991.