I mentioned in that post about Traveller that I am a Knight of the Golden Horseshoe. I earned this honor after I scored high enough on a test about West Virginia’s history, culture, politics, and the economy. This test is given to eighth graders, because it is in the eighth grade that all West Virginia students must take West Virginia History and Studies.
The title comes from a 1715 safari across the Blue Ridge led by the colonial Virginia lieutenant governor Alexander Spotswood. Upon returning from their journey, r Spotswood gave the members of his party a golden horseshoe to recognize their achievement
I didn’t have to cross the wilderness beyond the Blue Ridge to get my golden horseshoe. (In fact, the area where he visited is now a rather densely populated part of the Shenandoah Valley and isn’t wilderness at all.) I just had to take a test.
To get an idea of the kind of test I took, here is the 1955 Golden Horseshoe test.
Mine was scored on a scan-tron, so it was a bit more technologically advanced than that test.
