Updated map of U.S. cultural regions (transplants, radio)

[Orwelleaut]

Excellent map!!!

Being from the NE corner of Ohio near the PA border, I think you got the Great Lakes thing right on for our area. Erie, PA, and Ashtabula, OH are not very different culturally. Even Cleveland and Buffalo are pretty similar when compared to Non-Great Lakes locations. You've got the Great Lakes thing just right by including Erie, PA, and the NY state Great Lakes area with the rest of the Great Lakes region. Talk to someone from Syracuse, and they sound much more like us Ohioans than like folks from Long Island.

My small suggestion would be with regards to Northern Appalachia where it meets The Midwest. You have these two areas meeting at the PA border. In NE Ohio, just extend Northern Appalachia up, from its' NorthWesternmost point in Ohio, to meet Great Lakes. The rocky land East of Akron is where Northern Appalachia begins. West of Akron you start to get into more rich farmland, but West of Mansfield is where you hit the cornbelt proper. Until Mansfield, you are technically in the Appalachian foothills.

On the South and East, I think your border for Northern Appalachia is right on. Western MD West of Hagerstown and Northern WV are definitely Northern Appalachia. You also included the Anthracite Coal COuntry and The Southern Tier of NY in Northern Appalachia, which is good. Scranton and Pottsville are quintessential Northern Appalachia, while Reading, Allentown and Harrisburg are Mid-Atlantic all the way.

[northstar22]

Originally Posted by Orwelleaut

Excellent map!!!

Being from the NE corner of Ohio near the PA border, I think you got the Great Lakes thing right on for our area. Erie, PA, and Ashtabula, OH are not very different culturally. Even Cleveland and Buffalo are pretty similar when compared to Non-Great Lakes locations. You've got the Great Lakes thing just right by including Erie, PA, and the NY state Great Lakes area with the rest of the Great Lakes region. Talk to someone from Syracuse, and they sound much more like us Ohioans than like folks from Long Island.

Just because Upstate NY doesn't have an accent, doesn't mean it's culturally the same as the Midwestern Great Lakes. I don't think you realize how huge the Great Lakes are - from the west end of Lake Superior to the east end of Lake Ontario is over 1,000 miles - longer than the distance from Detroit to Tampa!

Erie and Ashtabula are similar because they're only about 30 miles apart, but Plattsburgh, NY and Duluth, MN are as different as cities can be, totally in different regions. Syracuse is still geographically and culturally closer to Long Island than it is to Ohio, Michigan, or Minnesota. Just because they don't have an NY accent, doesn't mean they're Midwestern. The NY accent is only found in the city and it's immediate suburbs. Most of the inland Northeast (Upstate NY, New Hampshire, Western MA) doesn't have an accent either, does that make these areas Midwestern?

Upstate NY (and Western PA) is decidedly Northeastern.

[Geechie North]

Western Lakes, or Upper Lakes.

Eastern lakes, or Lower Lakes.

They are divided that way for many reasons.

[Orwelleaut]

Originally Posted by kazoopilot

Just because Upstate NY doesn't have an accent, doesn't mean it's culturally the same as the Midwestern Great Lakes. I don't think you realize how huge the Great Lakes are - from the west end of Lake Superior to the east end of Lake Ontario is over 1,000 miles - longer than the distance from Detroit to Tampa!

Erie and Ashtabula are similar because they're only about 30 miles apart, but Plattsburgh, NY and Duluth, MN are as different as cities can be, totally in different regions. Syracuse is still geographically and culturally closer to Long Island than it is to Ohio, Michigan, or Minnesota. Just because they don't have an NY accent, doesn't mean they're Midwestern. The NY accent is only found in the city and it's immediate suburbs. Most of the inland Northeast (Upstate NY, New Hampshire, Western MA) doesn't have an accent either, does that make these areas Midwestern?

Upstate NY (and Western PA) is decidedly Northeastern.

If you want to divide the Great Lakes section into subsections, that makes good sense. Toledo and Michigan are a little different from NE Ohio and the territory East of Cleveland, so maybe this would be a different subregion.

Upstate NY, regionally, is a complicated area. Syracuse is about 300 miles from NYC, and a little closer than that to the Ohio border. The 'cuse is 150 miles from The Buff, and The Buff is 120 miles from the Ohio/PA border on I-90. Following 90, though, I believe the mileage is a little less than 270, as you don't go through the center of Buffalo. The mile marker on The Thruway near Syracuse is 288 or something similar, and I believe that is the mileage to where The Thruway ends, which I believe is near Yonkers.


A little NY Thruway trivia: Longest toll road in the world!! 496 miles from Yonkers to Ripley, on the NY/PA border about 20 miles West of Erie.

Buffalo is closer to Detroit, by way of Canada, than to ALbany, and about as close to Toledo as to Albany. NY state has a very odd shape, and is full of geographical oddities. The funniest one is that, I believe, Lake Chautauqua is actually closer to Chicago than to Montauk, Long Island. I know Erie, PA is almost as close to Chicago as it is to Philly, so it is probably true.

[northstar22]

Originally Posted by Orwelleaut

If you want to divide the Great Lakes section into subsections, that makes good sense. Toledo and Michigan are a little different from NE Ohio and the territory East of Cleveland, so maybe this would be a different subregion.

Upstate NY, regionally, is a complicated area. Syracuse is about 300 miles from NYC, and a little closer than that to the Ohio border. The 'cuse is 150 miles from The Buff, and The Buff is 120 miles from the Ohio/PA border on I-90. Following 90, though, I believe the mileage is a little less than 270, as you don't go through the center of Buffalo. The mile marker on The Thruway near Syracuse is 288 or something similar, and I believe that is the mileage to where The Thruway ends, which I believe is near Yonkers.


A little NY Thruway trivia: Longest toll road in the world!! 496 miles from Yonkers to Ripley, on the NY/PA border about 20 miles West of Erie.

Buffalo is closer to Detroit, by way of Canada, than to ALbany, and about as close to Toledo as to Albany. NY state has a very odd shape, and is full of geographical oddities. The funniest one is that, I believe, Lake Chautauqua is actually closer to Chicago than to Montauk, Long Island. I know Erie, PA is almost as close to Chicago as it is to Philly, so it is probably true.

That's really interesting! Michigan also has the same kind of geographical oddities. Did you know that Three Rivers, located in SW Michigan on the Indiana border, is 100 miles closer to Nashville, Tennessee than Copper Harbor, Michigan, located at the top of the state. It takes the same amount of time (12 hours) to drive to Atlanta, Georgia as it does to the top of the U.P. from Three Rivers. The Smoky Mountains (in TN, NC, and VA) are a shorter trip from Southwest Michigan that the Porcupine Mountains (called "The Porkies") in Northern Michigan!

Ironwood, MI, in the northwest corner of the state, is closer to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and Devil's Lake, North Dakota than it is to Three Rivers, Lansing, or Detroit.

Michigan is a huge, vast state, that is shaped in really interesting ways!

[gv0928]

I petition for the New Orleans area to have it's own color, separate from the rest of Louisiana!

[JimmyJohnWilson]

Originally Posted by DeaconJ

Oh-My-God...that's about what I would expect from your previous posts. What an ignorant response...you are FAR from being definitively correct, my friend.

I don't NEED you to make any maps for me, thank you. There are plenty of cultural maps available that are made by people who know something about cultures and regions.

a quote from you: "Every state in the U.S. is JUST as culturally diverse as Florida, Texas, and California and all have more than one VERY different cultures within their boundaries."

you think that there is as much cultural change in iowa as there is in florida. basically you have this "every state is special" motto. every state does NOT "have more than one VERY different cultures within their boundaries". there might be slight differences, but not enough to signify a different region on this type of scale.

that is why i suggested to make you a cultural map. of your state, because it sounded like that is what you wanted.

i know plenty about cultures and regions, and if you only suggestion is that i should make every single state in the country have its own cultural regions within its state, then you arent in a position to be giving advice.

as i said before, on a map of this scale to give every part of each state as its own cultural region is ridiculous (northern iowa, southern iowa, etc...)

i might as well just make a map of whatever state you want individually.

[JimmyJohnWilson]

Originally Posted by gv0928

I petition for the New Orleans area to have it's own color, separate from the rest of Louisiana!

a "cajun country" subregion could be added. and apparently western great lakes are "vastly different" from eastern great lakes.


an updated map could be in order, but i don't really think that these are great enough mistakes to warrant an update.

mainly because there has yet to be enough evidence that these regions don't share enough in common to be included together.

[TXSooner]

Excellent map JJW!

I would like to suggest one change. I guess you could say that my suggested change comes from a "Geography of The American Southwest" class I took in college.

I suggest you move the south-central portion of Colorado and southwest-portion of Colorado into the Southwest. Hispanic settlers from New Mexico founded San Luis in south-central CO (1851), making it the oldest permanent European settlement in the state. Durango, Cortez, and Mesa Verde in the southwest part of CO should be classified as Southwest because that area was settled by Ancient Pueblo People, Navajos, and Utes, all three tribes clearly Southwestern tribes.

[ajf131]

Originally Posted by kazoopilot

I'd say I-80 is s better dividing line.

Interstate 80!!! Are you kidding me? That is not the southern boundary of the Midwest by far. Maybe the Upper Midwest, but the true southern boundary of the Midwest is the Ohio River and roughly U.S. Highway 60 in Missouri.