South Carolina stereotypes? (Columbia, Greenville, Clemson: mobile home, public schools, college)

[Iraqvet]

Hello everyone,

I am curious as to everyones opinions, thoughts and stereotypes of the Palmetto State. While I was in the military, some people who have never really visited the south would book South Carolina in the same category as Mississippi or Alabama. No offense MS and AL. I have never been to Mississippi so I will not go into my thoughts of that state but anyway, I just wanted to know what comes to mind when you guys think of South Carolina. Please do not hold back, if you think SC is full of rednecks and trailers or is a great tourist destination and uhhh......then state it.

[waccamatt]

There are a lot of different South Carolina's and many of them do not fit the "stereotypes". I think much of rural South Carolina would fit many of your stereotypes, but most urban and resort areas in South Carolina would not. You can find almost any type of area you're looking for within South Carolina, in my opinion.

[Jammie]

OK, I'm an outsider so I'd like to take a stab at this.

We had never been to SC until 3 (?) years ago. I had never really thought of it as the deep south. IMHO those states would be Ala., La., Ga., and Ms. Some of the thoughts that would pop into my mind were the foods like grits and hominy and also sweet tea. OH yea, and friend chicken. The second thing I would think of is the Southern drawl. It's kind of appealing, but I have to listen closely so I understand yall correctly.

Redneck? That thought may have flipped through my mind. But since I come from an area where hunting and four wheel drive pickups are the norm, it's not something I was dwelling on.

I'd have to say the most negative thing I had thought about SC was the lack of a good education system. I'm sure many of you are more educated then I am, but it does have a rep for not having good school systems.

But since we visited your state, the first things that pop into my mind are the beaches and the friendly people. Everyone was so nice to us and we enjoyed our trip. I had a bit of an allergy thing going on while I was there so it interfered with our good time, but all in all we came away with very good thoughts about SC.

[NCN]

South Carolina is the land of many historic plantations, southern belles and southern gentlemen like most of the South.

[Tommy1981]

I think any opinon you get from this question will be slanted based on the person's background and personal history. I'm a native South Carolinian. As Matt mentioned, there are many different areas of SC where you'll find alot of different types of people and almost different "cultures" (I'm not sure if culture is the right word, but its close enough).

For example, in the more rural parts of SC you'll find towns that have festivals for the start of hunting season, or a festival celebrating Cat Fish (technically its a "feastival").

In some of the urban areas there are some very "high brow" kind of people with black tie events at places like the Peace Center in Greenville or the Koger Center in Columbia.

As for the education system, I think most of the reputation comes from test scores. It has been pointed out on other posts on the topic that SC encourages all students to take the SAT/ACT so students that are college bound anyway pull down the average. My Wife and I both went to public schools in SC and I'd say we both feel confident that we got a respectible education here. Clemson has been ranked in the top 20 on the US News public school list. USC has the #1 Int'l Business Master's program in the country.

It seems the south is becoming much more well rounded in the last 10-20 years. There are alot of notherners that end up here in retirement. Some call them "half backs" because they started out in Florida but didn't like it there, so made it half way back to the north and settled in SC or NC. Also there's a fairly large population of latinos in the state now. More than ever, the south is a Melting Pot.

[Jammie]

I hope my post wasn't offensive to any of you. I was only giving my unbiased opinion as an outsider. We like SC and the people that we met there.

[Tommy1981]

Originally Posted by Jammie

I hope my post wasn't offensive to any of you. I was only giving my unbiased opinion as an outsider. We like SC and the people that we met there.

No worries. I'm not offended. SC does have a rep of having poor education based on the test scores I mentioned. Most if not all other states only tell their college bound students to take the SAT/ACT so they get higher averages.

[Brandon Hoffman]

Lot of different regions ranging from mountains, flat land, beaches that lend to all sorts. You have areas with lots of mobile homes and you have areas with lots of million dollar homes. Areas where people have never left SC and areas that attract tourists of all sorts. SC is a very diverse state.

[ShanaP]

I've never been to South Carolina but my husband starts his job in Columbia on April 21st.

Coming from a huge city like Houston, I am a little nervous about moving to Columbia even though I've lived in the Deep South all my life. Many people have given us a bad impression of the area but we're trying to have a positive outlook on this move and what it will mean for our family.

I'm pretty excited about putting my house on the market and starting a new life in South Carolina. I'll look past the stereotypes and hopefully will be able to find a place to set down roots in Columbia. It looks like a great city to me.

[burr]

[quote=ShanaP;3243890]I've never been to South Carolina but my husband starts his job in Columbia on April 21st.

I picked up my daughter (freshman at Carolina) on GoodFriday, and before the short trip back to EdgefieldCty, we had lunch on WColumbia side of the riverfront; a beautiful surrounding, still very natural but developed. Combined with a perfect SC spring day, it was hard to leave. Columbia area has many miles developed (improved for use) on both sides of the two or three rivers that merge at this point. I imagine it may get a little crowded on weekends, but it is an almost natural environment in the middle of the city, well Columbia anyway.