Is the Midwest more like the Great Plains or the Northeast?

[nei]

Originally Posted by Tex?Il?

The Corn Belt (Iowa, southern Minnesota, eastern Nebraska, most of Illinois, central Indiana): More like the Great Plains but different. (The similarities are vast plains where agriculture is king, differences being is that it is green, with trees/woods, rivers, etc.) (Basically the region that makes you think of "I can understand where Stephen King and the directors of the Children of the Corn horror film franchise get their inspiration, there is something a little creepy about these never ending cornfields.

The corn belt stops at the 100th meridian, where the landscape is more semiarid, and you get into the vast stretches typical of the west. You are no longer in the midwest west of the 100th meridian. West of this point, there are stretches of natural prairie that have remnants of high plains wildlife in places (pronghorn antelope, prairie dogs, etc.)

Originally Posted by Maintainschaos

In my experience, these parts of Illinois, Indiana, and even Iowa that grow corn and soybeans (i.e., the corn belt) aren't really anything like the plains, and these states also have green, rolling, and even forested areas, especially IL and IN.

Really, the plains are the plains, and generally the Midwestern states closer to the Northeast are going to be more "Northeastern like," although all of these states are solidly Midwestern.

I did a roadtrip (and train trip) from Chicago westward to the Rockies. To me, coming from the Northeast, the Corn Belt and the Great Plains (except maybe the high Plains on the western edge of the Dakotas) felt more similar to each other than back homes. Mostly flat, endless wide open spaces with little trees or human structures blocking the view. Farms are also rather large in size.

[Jjmars]

Originally Posted by lydunn

Upper North Ohio is more NE we sound nothing like Southern Ohio..ie Cincinnati...has a TWANG accent

I agree. Northern Ohio is pretty much the northeast on many levels.