Is Delaware in the souuuuuth? (Wilmington, Dover: credit, living in, legal)

[jdoll]

Delaware is both Northern and Southern. North of the canal is Yankee, suburban Philly and I-95 corridor, east coast. South of the canal is NASCAR, Waffle House and sweet tea country.

And for thoughs debating the Union-Confederacy and the Mason-Dixon Line, remember the slaves traveling the Underground Railroad were not considered free until they crossed out of DE and into PA. Slaves captured in DE were sent back to the South and many a Wilmington businessman (ie: Thomas Garrett) were fined, jailed and some even lost there business for their participation in getting slaves to PA.

One great part of DE is that North-South diversity. Fine dining in Wilmington on Friday night before a performance at The Grand, and a Waffle House breakfast in Smyrna (better yet, a stop at Helen's Sausage) on your way to a NASCAR Busch series race on Saturday.

[doctorjef]

I think the NASCAR and Waffle House stuff can equally be viewed as small town/middle America proletarian. It's not strictly Southern and you'd be most unlikely to see Southerners of the professional, upper middle, or aristocratic classes at such venues.

[cpterp]

Originally Posted by jdoll

Delaware is both Northern and Southern. North of the canal is Yankee, suburban Philly and I-95 corridor, east coast. South of the canal is NASCAR, Waffle House and sweet tea country.

And for thoughs debating the Union-Confederacy and the Mason-Dixon Line, remember the slaves traveling the Underground Railroad were not considered free until they crossed out of DE and into PA. Slaves captured in DE were sent back to the South and many a Wilmington businessman (ie: Thomas Garrett) were fined, jailed and some even lost there business for their participation in getting slaves to PA.

One great part of DE is that North-South diversity. Fine dining in Wilmington on Friday night before a performance at The Grand, and a Waffle House breakfast in Smyrna (better yet, a stop at Helen's Sausage) on your way to a NASCAR Busch series race on Saturday.

Maybe at the time of the Missouri Compromise Delaware was Southern, but it certainly isn't now. New Hampshire and New York also have active NASCAR tracks. Numerous Waffle House stores (which are located in 25 states) can be found all over Pennsylvania, and in Western and extreme NE MD. At one point every colony had a significant number of slaves. For instance Newport, RI was a very large slave trading port in New England. By the time of Civil War 91% of Delaware's (and 50% of Maryland's) blacks were free, and most importantly DE was part of the Union, along with MD and DC. Delaware, Maryland, and Missouri also banished slavery on their own accord, and not under the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed the slaves in the South.

The thing is we need to decide how much history to include when dividing the country into regions. Do we go all the way back to the 1600's? I think the Civil War is a convenient point, since its only about 150 years ago, and was arguably the time when the country was most divided and "regions" were most important.

[ltdontcare]

I've been here over 50 years and have found that if you are from the north, we're south. If you're from the south, we're north. If you are from the west you just don't know what or where Delaware is and if you're from Jersey, we're west.
We are just Delaware if you are from here.
As a matter of fact, I've been in DC and people commented after seeing my DE tags that DE was in NY and wondered why we had city tags instead of NY state tags...
It's because we're so special, Ed
There's no shortage my friends

[Katsmeeyow]

Originally Posted by MimzyMusic

Does Delaware share anything in common with Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, etc?

Nope.

[jdoll]

Nice to know I can still **** people off *GRIN*. I could spend my time using other analogies, but it still won't change the facts; DE is Northern and Southern. It's not that unique a situation either. The southern regions of Illinois and Indiana for example have large cultural attachments to the South, yet are Union states. I've heard both jokingly referred to as Northern Kentucky. Delaware is much the same.

And I please, tell Thomas Garretts ancestors he didn't need to help 2,700+ slaves reach freedom in PA because DE was Union and a free state. I quote: In addition, for slave states like Delaware, Maryland, Missouri and Kentucky that sided with the Union, but remained slave-holding, the Emancipation Proclamation did not apply. For their loyalty to the Union, the slaveholders of these states were rewarded with the use of their slaves until the end of the war. Because of this decision the Underground Railroad in Delaware became stronger!

The quote was taken from. Delaware's Underground Railroad and is also supported by writings at delawareonline.com

The Union state slaves of DE, MD, MO and KY were the last to be freed. Embrace the diversity of DE folks. It's not PA and it's not VA; it's a touch of both and all Delaware. And I for one love it all.

[ToughLuv]

weird because when i've been down South they dont even accept VA and MD as the South..They told me "Yall to high up there"..I personally never thought of Deleware as the South once I leave Baltimore and head into Delware I fell like im officially in the North.

[toobusytoday]

Originally Posted by jdoll

Delaware is both Northern and Southern. North of the canal is Yankee, suburban Philly and I-95 corridor, east coast. South of the canal is NASCAR, Waffle House and sweet tea country.

And for thoughs debating the Union-Confederacy and the Mason-Dixon Line, remember the slaves traveling the Underground Railroad were not considered free until they crossed out of DE and into PA. Slaves captured in DE were sent back to the South and many a Wilmington businessman (ie: Thomas Garrett) were fined, jailed and some even lost there business for their participation in getting slaves to PA.

One great part of DE is that North-South diversity. Fine dining in Wilmington on Friday night before a performance at The Grand, and a Waffle House breakfast in Smyrna (better yet, a stop at Helen's Sausage) on your way to a NASCAR Busch series race on Saturday.

I grew up in Milford, definitely did not drink any sweet tea. My co-workers here where I live near Allentown PA ARE Nascar fans. I wasn't even aware of Nascar when I was growing up. Is that really a Southern thing? Waffle house? We have one of those up here. I ate at my first Waffle house when driving to Florida in one of the (real) Southern States.

I do think there is confusion with rural and Southern. Some parts of upstate New York reminded me of lower Delaware.

[Rakin]

Most people in TX would say it's in the north. Most Maine folks would agree its in the south.

Depends on where you draw the line

[Dusty Rhodes]

Well, Delaware does share the English language with the southern states, except, yall folks in Delaware surely do pronounce it peculiarly. I'm kinda partial to a bit of a drawl in the American dialect of the English language. Delaware is a nice place, lived there for a spell when I was a kid, as it's pronounced there, New Ark, nice town.