U.S. Map

Connecting state capitals with trivial things

/ Power of 10 / By

I can remember a lot of facts pretty easily. Kind of a necessary skill in my business. But state capitals are my kryptonite.

(Well,  state capitals and presidents. A quiz about state capitals named for presidents would have me in the fetal position, weeping.)

But I’ve decided it’s finally time to get these committed to memory, because they come up too often in trivia to just throw  up my hands and say my brain doesn’t work that way. 

So the only way I could figure to study would be to create pop culture references that will help me remember them. That’s a totally legit methodology, right?

See if you can connect these pop culture references to your knowledge of U.S. state capitals.

Questions:

  1. What state capital is also the word for the type of creature that Professor Dumbledore keeps in his office at Hogwarts?
  2. The 12-pointed stag in Edwin Lanseer’s painting “The Monarch of the Glen” is the basis for the logo of what insurance company that shares a name with a state capital?
  3. Though there are many states in the U.S. with a city by this name — and for years, “Simpsons” creator Matt Groening refused to reveal which one was the true home of his show — it’s only the capital of one state.
  4. Though they share a name, what capital city is about as far up the Eastern Seaboard away from the city that plays home to a prestigious annual golf tournament as it could be?
  5. Remembering this state capital should be easy, as long as you know AP style state abbreviations and what to call Janet if you’re nasty.
  6. Which state capital might get confused with the My Chemical Romance track that is often listed with the parenthetical title “So Long & Goodnight”?
  7. What state capital might make you think of a grape cultivar known for making jelly, though the grape’s origins, also the home of Louisa May Alcott, were in a different state entirely.
  8. What state capital’s name has witchy associations, including Sabrina’s talking cat, but it’s actually more than 3,000 miles west of where the famed trials went down.
  9. This state capital shares its name with a whole host of things: a record label, an Ivy, a river — though it’s not in the home state of any of those things. 
  10. Designer Cardin, hockey player Pilote and statesman Trudeau might all find themselves at home in which state capital city?

Answers up after the best state capital study guide in the world: the song from “The Animaniacs.”

Answers:

  1. Phoenix, Arizona
  2. Hartford, Connecticut
  3. Springfield, Illinois
  4. Augusta, Maine
  5. Jackson, Mississippi
  6. Helena, Montana
  7. Concord, New Hampshire
  8. Salem, Oregon
  9. Columbia, South Carolina
  10. Pierre, South Dakota