[tallrick]

y'all come back, ya hear? that's something you don't hear or see anymore in south Florida. I remember when even Winn Dixie had that over their exits, but no one does that anymore. I guess that all the northeasterners and immigrants from Latin America changed that idea. Where does the "southern hospitality" cut off to become the "new urbanism"?

[Dennis P]

Originally Posted by tallrick

y'all come back, ya hear? that's something you don't hear or see anymore in south Florida. I remember when even Winn Dixie had that over their exits, but no one does that anymore. I guess that all the northeasterners and immigrants from Latin America changed that idea. Where does the "southern hospitality" cut off to become the "new urbanism"?

I'm glad you brought this up. When I lived in Florida as a kid WAY back in the early 70s, I could remember hearing the natives speaking with a Southern accent, like the kind heard in Georgia and Alabama. I'm guessing that with the large influx of people from northern areas of the country and immigrants from Latin America, that the Southern accent in Florida is dying out, except in the northern part of the state from Jacksonville and going west. And I think that's sad, really. In South Florida, it seems that one hears either a New York accent or Spanish accent more than a Southern accent.

I knew a guy who was from North Carolina who lives here in Southern California, and he tells me that he doesn't think that Florida is a southern state, the same way that Georgia, Alabama, the Carolinas, etc., are, despite the fact that going back in history, Florida was a Confederate state during the Civil War. But then, I think most of the population was in the northern part near Georgia and Alabama. The rest of the state was yet to be discovered.

And look what's happened to it now...

[LABRAT16]

I believe if you did a census of the people and where they originally came from you'd see most are now from the northern states: NY, NJ, PA, etc.. That why most of the southern slang has disappeared. They went for the sun and fun and retirement, and south headed north to GA, SC, NC, AL, MS. If your need is for southern hospitality you'll find it starting to vacate the premises also.

[bale002]

The following is a sweeping generalization, but it may help a little.

From the Sixteenth Century throughout much of the Nineteenth Century the focus of Florida settlement and political history was mostly in the north, from St. Augustine to Panama City. In this context, one could argue that Florida was mostly a southern region/state from the perspective of Anglo settlers to the north (though the Spanish, French, and British at times viewed it at the northern outpost for their Caribbean interests).

With the arrival of the US northern industrialists during the Guilded Age in the late Nineteenth/early Twentieth Century and the extension of the railroad down to Miami, the focus of the settlement and political history of the state start to shift and one can say that Florida becomes a state sui generis in the US south/north context.

Climatically, certainly southern Florida to about Lake Okeechobee is not part of the continental United States but the Caribbean, while, from what I understand, the northern part of the state, from Jacksonville to the western panhandle, I suppose, still preserves elements of "classical" US southern culture, including architecture: I don't know the area, but I've read some nice descriptions from some people on this board.

By the way, does anyone know of any books specifically on "classical" US southern architecture in northern Florida (I have a few on Spanish architecture in Florida)?

[BlueWillowPlate]

bale
My husband might have a book or two, not sure. I wonder if Southern Living has put anything out? We love the old Florida style: the generous porches, the metal roof, the garage to the rear rather than front-loaded.
And that style (as well as the Southern accent, culture and hospitality) is still to be found here.

[bale002]

Originally Posted by cil

bale
My husband might have a book or two, not sure. I wonder if Southern Living has put anything out? We love the old Florida style: the generous porches, the metal roof, the garage to the rear rather than front-loaded.
And that style (as well as the Southern accent, culture and hospitality) is still to be found here.

Thanks, cil. I would be most interested in books with lots of photos of architecture, mostly aristocratic homesteads, from the period before automobiles were widespread, say from the 18th to the early 20th Centuries.

I know that the region from South Carolina to Louisiana has many extant examples of them, but I think quite a number near the Gulf coast were destroyed or damaged as a result of recent hurricanes. And it's a shame too, because right before Katrina I was thinking of taking a drive-through tour of the region.

In any case, it appears we agree that today's houses, with the garages featured prominently upfront, are an abomination.

[BUP41800]

There's an interesting book I saw a few years ago, called, "Classic Cracker: Florida's Wood-Frame Vernacular Architecture". Most of the houses pictured in it were from north Florida.

[BlueWillowPlate]

Originally Posted by BUP41800

There's an interesting book I saw a few years ago, called, "Classic Cracker: Florida's Wood-Frame Vernacular Architecture". Most of the houses pictured in it were from north Florida.

Thank you, BUP!
Here is the link:http://www.amazon.com/Classic-Cracke.../dp/156164014X

Bale, we are definitely in agreement about garages.

[tallrick]

Well I don't like wood houses at all, but did build mine with the seperate garage. Then again you can't see it because my yard looks like the front yard of "the barnacle"

[TriMT7]

If you want "Southern Hospitality," all you have to do is move North of the I-4 corridor to experience life in the "Deep South..." it's really not all it's cracked up to be.

I'm currently in Tallahassee, and much of the panhandle can basically be written off as "South Georgia." In my opinion, Florida should be cut into two states, North and South Florida, as the culture, landscape, vegetation, and people is vastly different. Both have their good and bad aspects.