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I think the answer to this question is quite simple, and I don't really understand why people seem to have difficulty wrapping their heads around it.
The parts of Virginia that are DC suburbs are the Northeast. The rest of Virginia is the South. Cultural and political boundaries are not necessarily one and the same.
Northern Virginia might seem more Northern culturally, but it is definitely not the Northeast.
An area with schools with names like Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and roads such as Rebel Run, Lee Highway, and Jefferson Davis Highway is in no way, shape, or form, Northern. Many people might not have Southern accents. True. People in California don't have Southern accents, does that make California northern? No. Many people in the Atlanta suburbs don't have Southern accents, does that make Atlanta northern? No again.
People move around. That doesn't negate the entire history of the locale they move to. If Virginians heard people debating whether or not they were Southern 50 years ago, they would choke on their sweet tea.
Northern Virginia might seem more Northern culturally, but it is definitely not the Northeast.
An area with schools with names like Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and roads such as Rebel Run, Lee Highway, and Jefferson Davis Highway is in no way, shape, or form, Northern. Many people might not have Southern accents. True. People in California don't have Southern accents, does that make California northern? No. Many people in the Atlanta suburbs don't have Southern accents, does that make Atlanta northern? No again.
People move around. That doesn't negate the entire history of the locale they move to. If Virginians heard people debating whether or not they were Southern 50 years ago, they would choke on their sweet tea.
Amen! I agree with you there. NOVA is just at a disadvantage because of its proximity to DC and a lot of greedy corporate cut throat politcos.
Oh the strains of Dixie can be heard in some distant land over Fairfax County as the last of the boys in grey boy their heads in a moment of scilence, while another greedy developer puts up a McMansion and a Starbucks coffee so the yankee in their SUV can feel happy, lol
My wife and I visited Monticello this past June and aside from the stories of Jefferson's abuse of his slaves we would have believed we were on an estate in Vermont.
Well I have relatives in southwestern Virginia. Northern Virginia just seemed so far away from the southwestern corner. But I've met natives from northern Virginia and they still have southern accents. Even Washington, DC and Maryland natives have a slight southern accent.
Although Pennsylvania is relatively close to the northern Virginia border, it is different once you hit the Mason-Dixon Line. Not a bad difference or anything, but it's still different. It's hard to explain.
He just wants people to say that so he can feel good about himself. So I will do the opposite.
Virginia is geographically in the middle....so I dont know why its the south. Probably due to its history. But anyways its a north east state.
It is not a Northeast state. How can it be if like you said its in the middle?
Its actually in the Upper part of the South. If there is a Deep South, there is an Upper South and thats what Virgina is. And its not just history its culturallly Southern too.
Oh sigh.
We're certainly more Southron than Kentucky! And no one hesitates to put that in the South. Why I dont know- their culture and such is virtually indistguishable from Ohio.
Well I have relatives in southwestern Virginia. Northern Virginia just seemed so far away from the southwestern corner. But I've met natives from northern Virginia and they still have southern accents. Even Washington, DC and Maryland natives have a slight southern accent.
Although Pennsylvania is relatively close to the northern Virginia border, it is different once you hit the Mason-Dixon Line. Not a bad difference or anything, but it's still different. It's hard to explain.
That is so true! Its like the whole atmosphere changes once you cross that line. Its still rural in Southern PA, but its just different. Its not Southern rural. **** Northern rural. There arent any country blacks even
In Loudoun County, NOVA and Fauquier- county there are lot more black people. They have black churches way out in the country. I remember going to one as a youngin' in Throughfare , Virginia. I was one of a few whites. Thats just not the North, IMO. Thats South.
According to this website, 60.5 percent of U.S. born Northern Virginians (Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William, and Arlington County) were born in the South, including Virginia. 21 percent of U.S. born Northern Virginians are originally from the Northeast, 11.5 percent are from the Midwest, and 7 percent are from the West.
Northern Virginia really pulls people from everywhere. Therefore, you cannot really classify it culturally as being Northern.
Northern Virginia might seem more Northern culturally, but it is definitely not the Northeast.
An area with schools with names like Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and roads such as Rebel Run, Lee Highway, and Jefferson Davis Highway is in no way, shape, or form, Northern. Many people might not have Southern accents. True. People in California don't have Southern accents, does that make California northern? No. Many people in the Atlanta suburbs don't have Southern accents, does that make Atlanta northern? No again.
People move around. That doesn't negate the entire history of the locale they move to. If Virginians heard people debating whether or not they were Southern 50 years ago, they would choke on their sweet tea.
It surely does not. But nor is today fifty years ago. Northern Virginia (and by that I am referring only to the parts of the state that are part of the DC metro area) clearly has a history with the South, and retain Southern influences to this day, and probably always will. But there's really no denying that demographically, culturally, and socioeconomically, in the year 2008, Northern Virginia is most similar to the Northeast. That's not to say that it's exactly like, say, New Jersey - like the South, the Northeast has differences within it. But, today, is it more similar to New Jersey than it is to South Carolina? I think so.
I don't really see how any of this negates its entire history. Places and identities change and develop. Take, say, Texas. Texas was once a part of Mexico. Today it is a part of the United States, as it has been for over 150 years. So, clearly, Texas is very much "American," however, it has always retained strong Mexican influences, as opposed to Iowa or Pennsylvania, which have historically had little or nothing to do with Mexico.
Clearly, that analogy isn't perfect - the US and Mexico are much more clearly defined entities than the Northeast and the South - but my point is that to say that Northern Virginia is more a part of the Northeast today does not "negate the entire history" of the area.
And, finally, reasonable people can disagree about this, which is why we're discussing it .
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