Area in U.S. that looks and feels like England?

[THEBIRDS]

Scenery wise, parts of VA resemble SW England / South Wales a fair bit. In terms of towns and cities, many cities in the northeast have a British vibe, particularly Boston and even Philadelphia, which resembles Manchester's post-industrial urban landscape. Climate wise, nowhere in the US has a northern European climate. The northeast is much colder in the winter, hotter in the summer. The UK and NW Europe's climate is greatly affected by the Gulf Stream and that region experiences more rain.

[skihikeclimb]

Originally Posted by THEBIRDS

Scenery wise, parts of VA resemble SW England / South Wales a fair bit. In terms of towns and cities, many cities in the northeast have a British vibe, particularly Boston and even Philadelphia, which resembles Manchester's post-industrial urban landscape. Climate wise, nowhere in the US has a northern European climate. The northeast is much colder in the winter, hotter in the summer. The UK and NW Europe's climate is greatly affected by the Gulf Stream and that region experiences more rain.

Climate wise the Northeast and UK are very different. The summers in Northeast are quite a bit hotter.

Northern Europe has a marine climate. Very similar to British Columbia and the rest of the PNW. Although the PNW has much more variability over short distances.

[Kukla65th]

I would say that southeastern Pennsylvania and far southwestern New Jersey have an English feel to them, not to mention scads of place names (towns, cities, counties) taken directly from English place-name geography.

When I was in London in 2009 I felt very strongly that much of the West End of London (Oxford Street, Soho, etc.) felt like a combination of central Philadelphia and Boston combined. Boston's use of meets-and-bounds street layouts certainly is just like many English cities' plans (while Philadelphia of course was innovative in consciously using straight streets from day one).

Earlier posts mentioned that there are parts of Maryland and Virginia that are reminiscent of England and I would tend to agree. The Virginia Tidewater region in particular, being among the first English settled areas of the continent, have a goodly number of pre-Revolutionary homes that survived even the Civil War are among the most English looking estate homes anywhere outside Britain.

I might mention an aspect that wasn't part of the original post on this topic, but many of the accents among (mostly) white residents of much of the Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York, and Boston areas, for example, derive directly from changes to English regional accents, and Irish speech patterns, over the centuries through immigration and settlement. I often feel if one took someone from Boston and Philadelphia (both with stereotypical accents of those cities) and combined their speech sounds, you'd have someone that sounded as if they might be from the British Isles. Of course, lexicographers have documented the still very English (Elizabethan dialect they call it) still alive in remote areas of the Chesapeake Bay, for example, Tangier Island in VA, and Smith Island in MD. Well worth playing on YouTube to hear it. Some believe it sounds a bit like the accent of some in England's Cornwall, where some lexicographers believe many American accent patterns link back to.

[LINative]

Originally Posted by Greene45

Is there a region in the U.S. that has....
a) the same general climate as Britain
b) looks like england (green with deciduous or mixed forest and rolling hills)
c) towns/villages/cities/communities that feel like england in any way.

?????????

thank you,
James

One thing that has stood out to me regarding the rural landscape in England is how open and how heavily farmed it is compared to places here in the Eas Coast US where we are much more forested. This is not to say there are no forests or woodlands in England or no open farm land here. I am just talking generally.

I was in the Museum of Natural History over the weekend and there was a small exihibt of what part of Upstate NY used to look like in the mid 1800s. Birdseye view. Most of the land was cleared even up on the tops of the hills and along the slopes of the mountains. The land was open and you could see from one farm to the next all the way to the next small town.

Since then, much of the tougher farmland, in the hills and mountains, has since been abandoned and gone back to forest in states like New York and Pennsylvania. But if you go out to the Midwest, to say a state like Indiana you can still larges areas of open farmland.

So I am thinking that parts of the rural Midwest may look like parts of rural England. I am not saying that everything is the same; the architecture may be different and farm and field boundaries may be different (the Midwest fields may appear more modern & rational while some of England's date from the Middle Ages). But still the open rural landscape may look familar.

[CraigCreek]

The pastoral Bluegrass Region of Central Kentucky bears a great resemblance to the lightly-treed green rolling fields, drystone walls, ancient oaks, rolling brooks, and hedgerows of the rural English Midlands. The drystone (native limestone) walls are identical to those encountered around England's Lake District and in Scotland - flat natural slabs of limestone laid two on one, one on two, to just above waist height, then topped with similar stones laid at an acute angle, with the slope leading uphill. The center of such walls is filled with stone rubble. There are presently fewer sheep in Central Kentucky than in Britain, but they can still be found, along with cattle and of course, horses.

As noted previously in this thread, Queen Elizabeth II has privately visited the Bluegrass horse country five times in fairly recent years, as she has a keen interest in thoroughbreds and racing. By all indications, she has enjoyed the informal Bluegrass hospitality and rare opportunity to relax among trusted friends, away from the public eye. For a good many years, a number of mares from the Queen's Highclere Farm were boarded in the Bluegrass, to take advantage of the many fine thoroughbred stallions standing locally.

Western North Carolina bears a great resemblance to parts of the Scottish Highlands, so much so that the exiles of the '45 are reputed to have said, "We're hame agan'!" when they first arrived in the Blue Ridge. Many of their present-day descendants take joy in Highland Games and Scottish festivals throughout the area.

Of course, the theory of continental drift has North America splitting off from Scotland (except for a little sliver, now the West Highlands) at the Great Glen (i.e. Loch Ness and her sister lochs)...

[Hunter21]

I would think that some parts of the Pacific Northwest are quite similar to the climate of England (cool winters, cool summers, quite rainy). As far as cultural lifestyle and overall vibe (besides climate), you've got to go with New England. Heck, even Albany has that old town feel. Though I've never been to England, I think that Albany and some parts of New England might look a little bit like what you'd see over there, as far as the age of some structures and the style of that area in the U.S.

[Seacove]

If you put the architecture of Boston in the geography of the Pacific Northwest, it would look like England. The PNW has the English climate but is too young to have its architecture.

[mörkrädd]

The rolling hills of Virginia is about as close as you'll get to the English countryside. Beautiful and underrated state.

[mörkrädd]

Virginia:

[jtur88]

American dockyards and ports look pretty much like English ones. Stacks of containers and tied-up ships and loading cranes.