Google Books is a very interesting feature. Serendipity has found a book of a Canadian traveling in the US in 1846. He was explaining US State nicknames for Canadians so they would understand what they were hearing when they traveled here. Some of these have persisted to this day and some are just plain weird and funny: Massachussetts The Bay State, Steady Habits Rhode Island Plantation State Vermont Banner State or Green Mountain Boys New Hampsire The Granite State Connecticut Freestone State Maine Lumber State Pennsylvania Keystone State Delaware Little Delaware Maryland Monumental Virginia Old Dominion or Cavaliers North Carolina...