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Which region is the Midwest more like: the northeast or the Great Plains?
Culturally, I'm thinking of areas that are not "southern" in the sense that they were ever slave states.
So I will, for purpose of definition, I am listing the following states as Midwest (all but one on the Great Lakes): MN, IA, WI, IL, IN, MI, OH
for the Great Plains, I'm including: ND, SD, NE, KS, OK
and the northeast would be a combo of the Mid-Atlantic and New England: ME, NH, VT, MA, RI, CT, NY, NJ, PA
I'm pretty much thinking across the board on this: urbanization, culture, life style, politics, climate, topography, demographics, etc.
MD and DE should be included in that list. Oklahoma is a Southern state and is not a part of the Midwestern Great Plains. Obviously most of the Midwest with the exception of Ohio is more like the Great Plains at least from my perspective.
Oklahoma is Southern to the core and has very little in common with the Midwest or even the northern plains states. Take Oklahoma out of the equation, and I think the Midwest and the rest of the plains are fairly similar, with the plains being significantly less urban of course.
Oklahoma is Southern to the core and has very little in common with the Midwest or even the northern plains states. Take Oklahoma out of the equation, and I think the Midwest and the rest of the plains are fairly similar, with the plains being significantly less urban of course.
"This area [The Great Plains] covers parts, but not all , of the states of Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming, Minnesota, Iowa and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan."
Based on that definition I would say Nebraska is both a Great Plains state and a Midwestern state and same goes for Iowa and Minnesota depending on which part of the state you are concerned with.
I would say Western Ohio is more like the Great Plains than Northeast, Southern Ohio is Appalachian influenced and has much in common with West Virginia and Northern Kentucky. Eastern Ohio bleeds into Western Pennsylvania, Northwest Ohio is essentially Michigan, Northeast Ohio I would say is more like the Northeast than the great plains. Central Ohio is straight up Midwestern with no northeast flair but I don't think we have a ton in common with The Great Plains State outside of Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska. So as you can see it's not really clear cut.
Although the boundaries bleed into one another, I would generally say the midwest is best divided into a couple different regions:
The Great Lakes region/states: which is clearly more like the Northeast than the Great Plains.
The more scenic parts of Wisconsin (Driftless Area/Baraboo Hills) feel like parts of Upstate New York or Vermont, Northern Michigan feels like Maine (Mackinac Island with a 1700s fort with white buildings with black shutters, on an island, surrounded by lakes big enough to pass as seas at first glance, and densely forested peninsulas on both sides - one has to acknowledge being more like the northeast than the great plains). Missouri and the southern reaches of Indiana/Ohio/Illinois is going to be more similar to Maryland/northern Virginia, with again, the Ozarks and hills near the Ohio River being like a mini Appalachians, with settlements and historic sites that again date back to the 1700s. (French settlements south of STL especially along the Miss. River). And of course Chicago and the urban areas.
The Northeast clearly has on average prettier scenery, has more history, cities much more accessible, with the hinterlands having a longer history of old money infused into college towns, tourist/second home destinations, but I still think the Great Lakes region is a big of an extension of this for many reasons.
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.)
"This area [The Great Plains] covers parts, but not all , of the states of Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming, Minnesota, Iowa and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan."
Based on that definition I would say Nebraska is both a Great Plains state and a Midwestern state and same goes for Iowa and Minnesota depending on which part of the state you are concerned with.
I would say Western Ohio is more like the Great Plains than Northeast, Southern Ohio is Appalachian influenced and has much in common with West Virginia and Northern Kentucky. Eastern Ohio bleeds into Western Pennsylvania, Northwest Ohio is essentially Michigan, Northeast Ohio I would say is more like the Northeast than the great plains. Central Ohio is straight up Midwestern with no northeast flair but I don't think we have a ton in common with The Great Plains State outside of Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska. So as you can see it's not really clear cut.
Although the boundaries bleed into one another, I would generally say the midwest is best divided into a couple different regions:
The Great Lakes region/states: which is clearly more like the Northeast than the Great Plains.
The more scenic parts of Wisconsin (Driftless Area/Baraboo Hills) feel like parts of Upstate New York or Vermont, Northern Michigan feels like Maine (Mackinac Island with a 1700s fort with white buildings with black shutters, on an island, surrounded by lakes big enough to pass as seas at first glance, and densely forested peninsulas on both sides - one has to acknowledge being more like the northeast than the great plains). Missouri and the southern reaches of Indiana/Ohio/Illinois is going to be more similar to Maryland/northern Virginia, with again, the Ozarks and hills near the Ohio River being like a mini Appalachians, with settlements and historic sites that again date back to the 1700s. (French settlements south of STL especially along the Miss. River). And of course Chicago and the urban areas.
The Northeast clearly has on average prettier scenery, has more history, cities much more accessible, with the hinterlands having a longer history of old money infused into college towns, tourist/second home destinations, but I still think the Great Lakes region is a big of an extension of this for many reasons.
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.)
The Northern half of Missouri is also part of the Cornbelt.
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