Hokie Stone is a pinkish-gray
limestone used in
construction of almost all buildings on the
Virginia Tech campus. It is named such in honor of the "
Hokies" nickname of Virginia Tech sports teams, often extended to students in general.
Hokie Stone is mined in eastern Montgomery County, Virginia, near the Virginia Tech campus. It is only allowed to be used for campus buildings at VT, and appears on nearly all buildings on the south side of campus, and at least on the facings of most academic buildings on the Drillfield. The uniform look this presents gives Tech a striking appearance reminding many of a military school (which Tech is, to a certain extent).
One complication to this is the expense; for example, the donor for McComas Hall, the student fitness facility opened in 1998, specified that the entire exterior must be done in Hokie Stone. The exercise areas could have been substantially larger had only the front been Hokie Stone; the expense of full-building Hokie Stone meant that the facility is still undersized for a 26,000-student university.