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Many people don't realize that Pittsburgh is technically part of Appalachia. In fact, for a long time, I never suspected it. Being in Pennsylvania, and being known as a major industrial city, it can be easy to misunderstand. Culturally, it is different from the rest of Appalachia.
And even when you go out into the hinterlands away from Pittsburgh, there are still differences. Rural western Pennsylvania, northern West Virginia, western Maryland, east-central Ohio and the southern tier of upstate New York have enough differences with southern West Virginia, southern Ohio, western Virginia and eastern Kentucky to be noticeable.
It's the difference between the northern and central Appalachians. The quality of life in the northern Appalachians might not compare favorably to rural New England, but it absolutely does compare favorably to the central Appalachians. This is why the term "Pennsyltucky" annoys me, because there's literally nowhere in Pennsylvania that's as bad off as the eastern Kentucky coalfields, regardless of what anybody in New England might have you believe.
And if people want to highlight the cultural similarities between the different regions of the Appalachians, then it's their duty to bear in mind which direction the culture has been driven. There's no Mid-South influence in Pennsylvania; there's Pennsylvania influence in the Mid-South, which is one of the main factors in differentiating it from the Deep South and the South Atlantic in the first place. (The other is the relative lack of slaves historically.)
Gatlinburg is kinda touristy, like an Appalachian version of Myrtle Beach, but I guess it's pretty cool depending on your taste.
Except it would be greatly preferable if Myrtle Beach stayed at the beach and didn't ooze its garish chintziness up to the front door of perhaps the greatest natural attraction east of the Mississippi.
And even when you go out into the hinterlands away from Pittsburgh, there are still differences. Rural western Pennsylvania, northern West Virginia, western Maryland, east-central Ohio and the southern tier of upstate New York have enough differences with southern West Virginia, southern Ohio, western Virginia and eastern Kentucky to be noticeable.
It's the difference between the northern and central Appalachians. The quality of life in the northern Appalachians might not compare favorably to rural New England, but it absolutely does compare favorably to the central Appalachians. This is why the term "Pennsyltucky" annoys me, because there's literally nowhere in Pennsylvania that's as bad off as the eastern Kentucky coalfields, regardless of what anybody in New England might have you believe.
And if people want to highlight the cultural similarities between the different regions of the Appalachians, then it's their duty to bear in mind which direction the culture has been driven. There's no Mid-South influence in Pennsylvania; there's Pennsylvania influence in the Mid-South, which is one of the main factors in differentiating it from the Deep South and the South Atlantic in the first place. (The other is the relative lack of slaves historically.)
I am quite aware of the differences. I've met people from western Pennsylvania. Western PA might not be any picnic, but judging from documentaries about Eastern KY and WV, those places look much worse than rural PA.
I'm not from New England, and I've never heard anyone from New England compare rural PA to Kentucky or West Virginia.
Culturally, Western PA resembles more of the northern industrial areas than its neighbors in Kentucky and West Virginia.
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