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Richmond is Southern and Northern at the same time to me. It was once a much bigger place and certain companies of built the infrastructure which exists today. Mostly Financial, Tobacco etc. That was then this is now. Richmond does punch above it's weight for it's size. And the river does make parts of it very pretty. The downtown area is very gritty (which is why it feels northern, and the city has always benefited with 95 running right through it) That being said crime is an issue, admittedly it's better than it once was. Richmond has a old school southern charm to it which is cool. And if you like that gritty feel it has that too.
Raleigh is a little harder to classify because it benefits (mostly) from being right beside other populated areas. Durham and Cary and Chapel Hill and it's hard to seperate the city from the metro. I can say that in media and travel Raleigh is talked about much much more than Richmond for whatever reason probably because of RTP and the impact the companies based there make on the tech savvy modern age. Raleigh does not feel as big as Richmond especially upon drive by the downtown areas as it's less dense and does not have the growth pattern interstates usually promote although the city proper is much bigger than Richmond. That being said Raleigh has a very modern mindset and a strong growth pattern which is not at least 15 years old, and shows no sign of slowing.
Those who like Raleigh will not like Richmond, and those who Like Richmond don't care for Raleigh in my travels. One is older, more industrial, and on a river. The other modern, progressive, and part of a larger metro.
Both Richmond and Raleigh are southern cities. It's very irritating when people call these two areas "Mid-Atlantic", especially Raleigh. They're Upper South, not Mid-Atlantic like the DC area and Baltimore. Richmond might have a very slight Mid-Atlantic feel, mainly due to the row houses which are not very prominent in many other southern cities, but I'd say it's Upper South overall. Most of the similarities have already been pointed out, but Richmond and Virginia as a whole is much more historic than Raleigh and North Carolina. North Carolina was historically the backwoods state between SC and VA, "A valley of humility between two mountains of conceit." Richmond was the Capital of the Confederacy, while Raleigh was a fairly small state capital until the boom of RTP. Mainly due to RTP, Raleigh has surpassed Richmond in size and is growing at a faster rate. To be honest, I see more similarities between Durham, Winston-Salem, NC and Richmond than I do with Richmond and Raleigh, mainly due to the tobacco industry. However, Raleigh and Richmond do have their similarities. The suburban areas of both areas feel similar to me, and both are state capitals on the fall line. The mighty James River flows through Richmond, while the smaller Neuse flows past Raleigh but doesn't get near the downtown area like the James does in Richmond. Raleigh has more of a "New South" atmosphere mainly due to RTP, which has brought transplants down from the northeast, making Raleigh and the Triangle in general more progressive than it used to be. I'd probably say Raleigh is more similar to Charlotte and Atlanta than it is to Richmond, because both Charlotte and Atlanta are also considered "New South." Seems like many people compare Raleigh (The Triangle) to NOVA, but I don't see that. Comparing the Triangle to the Atlanta metro makes more sense to me.
There isn't a ton of interaction between Raleigh and Richmond, also. Richmond is close enough to the DC area and Hampton Roads that I imagine most people up there wouldn't have a reason to come down to the Triangle area in NC. I've never been on a crowded I-85 between Durham, NC and Petersburg, VA, this highway slices through some pretty remote areas and you don't pass through any decent sized towns. Personally, I rarely hear about people in the Triangle traveling up to the Richmond area except the occasional Kings Dominion trip. So even though NC and VA as a pair are a little more similar to one another, there is more of an interaction between NC and SC.
Just visited Richmond for the day, first time visiting since last April. Okay, this time visiting, I've realized that Raleigh seems much more southern than Richmond, even with all the northeastern transplants in the Research Triangle. Only my opinion, but if you're a Raleigh native visiting Richmond, you definitely receive the vibe that you're starting to "get up north." The two cities do share their similarities, but I don't see how anyone could see Richmond as more southern than Raleigh. It's still a southern city, no doubt about it. However, if you're coming from areas further south like Raleigh, it feels much less southern.
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