Maryland is a southern state, and these rednecks won't let you forget that!! (Baltimore: 2013, income)

[David_J]

Originally Posted by what???

As someone who lives in the West, I don't feel Maryland is a southern state at all. I remember Maryland being the first state I was ever flipped off while driving, after I was passed and cut off by the same driver, for only going 15 MPH over the speed limit on a 2 lane country road. The people were noticeably rude and in a hurry compared to what I'm used to. There were no southern accents, but some very strange sounding twang. The people at a bar we went to in Baltimore were cursing enough to make a sailor cringe and the women were not very feminine at all.

I have been to the South, Atlanta included, and it has an extremely different feel than Maryland. People, while not all friendly, were mostly pleasant and seemed to be very lighthearted. Outside of Atlanta, drivers throughout the region were very courteous. Even in the cities people seemed to move slower and would at least greet you in stores. In Maryland store owners would barely greet you or mumble some nearly inaudible greeting after I would say hello.

Maybe Maryland was Southern at one time... but, as an outsdier, I didn't see it.

That's the Baltimore accent you're hearing there. Most people outside of the city and its inner-ring suburbs speak with no discernible accent due to the influence of DC.

Out of curiosity, is your perception of the Northeast negative?

[ptsum]

Originally Posted by Mahatma X

Maryland was in the union in the civil war not the confederacy. So if anyone was to ask me if Maryland is a true southern state I'd say no. That said Maryland isn't a true northern state either. The biggest city in Maryland looks like a northeastern city. and no Richmond doesn't look northern at all the rowhouses down there aren't connected, they have space between them.

Well not to be disrespectful but I seriously think you need to read up on your Civil War History, especially when it concerns The State of Maryland. Maryland was neither a northern or southern state officially and that's because Maryland was put under Martial Law during the Civil War, or as some of us southern marylanders call it the war of northern aggression, and that was because Lincoln did not want Washington, DC to be surrounded by a southern state and that's what would have happened had it not been put under Martial Law. However there were men from Maryland that fought for the Confederacy there was the 1st,2nd,3rd, and 4th Maryland Artillery Units, the 1st,and 2nd Maryland Calvary Units,and the 1st, and 2nd Maryland Infantry Units. It's interesting, a number of these units on both the north and the south fought against one another at Gettysburg, so you had Marylander killing Marylander and in some cases they were even neighbors and knew one another.

As a Native Marylander and Native American, I am proud of my heritage and I am just as proud to see that my home state has progressed beyond the old habits of the past, yes there are parts of Maryland that are still cling to their southern heritage and that would mostly be in the southern counties of Maryland, but there are just as many parts of Maryland that have a northern heritage those counties up near the Pennsylvania border that is also known as the Mason Dixon Line which by the way was the original dividing line for north and south. Geographically Maryland would be considered a southern state but that's only geographically , diversely, it's a mixture of Northern, Southern, Midwestern, and Western and that could be attributed to the fact that the nation's capital, Washington, DC is in such close proximity and people from all across this country have come to this area to work and live, so you're going to get that diversity.

[mrsltd]

Originally Posted by EVAunit1981

Maryland isn't Southern. Redneck and Southern aren't the same thing.

What about rednecks living in Nebraska or Montana?

It is south of the Mason-Dixon line and was a slave state. Even if not considered "southern" today by many, it definitely has southern roots as far as its original culture; border state might be a better way to describe it.

But yes, redneck and southern are definitely NOT interchangeable.

[ptsum]

Originally Posted by mrsltd

It is south of the Mason-Dixon line and was a slave state. Even if not considered "southern" today by many, it definitely has southern roots as far as its original culture; border state might be a better way to describe it.

But yes, redneck and southern are definitely NOT interchangeable.

The history of the term "redneck" comes from the coal mining wars in West Virginia during the 1920s and 1930s, the coal Miners that wanted to unionize their people wore red handkerchiefs around their necks to be able to tell who was a union person and who wasn't. There was nothing derogatory and nothing southern about it, its only in later years have people use that as a derogatory term toward southern people.

[David_J]

Maryland may have Southern roots, but most of the DC-Baltimore region in MD would certainly not be considered Southern by most people (aside from the two or three counties in Southern MD). Western MD also seems to be associated with Southwestern Pennsylvania. Obviously, most people in Maryland live in one of those regions, and tend to self-identify with the Northeast more than the Southeast. Going by the general consensus of the population, Maryland is more Northeastern than Southeastern, though some places do have Southern influence.

[K-Luv]

Originally Posted by mrsltd

It is south of the Mason-Dixon line and was a slave state. Even if not considered "southern" today by many, it definitely has southern roots as far as its original culture; border state might be a better way to describe it.

But yes, redneck and southern are definitely NOT interchangeable.

Wow, how many of these threads are there? The problem with the Mason-Dixon Line, aside from its original intent on settling a border dispute between Maryland and Pennsylvania, is that "the line" disproportionately divides the two regions...unless Florida is going to be completely removed from "The South". With the Mason-Dixon Line being the demarcation zone, The South is roughly two/thirds of the entire eastern side of the U.S. The Missouri Compromise divides in a more equal manner.

As for slave States, there were a few reasons why they existed, but the main was that without the free labor the South could not compete with the North economically. Another, possibly equal, reason was that every three slaves counted as one person...who could not vote. That gave the lesser-populated South electoral votes and say in politics they would otherwise not have based on their smaller population.

Despite having a few plantations and slaves, Maryland had industrialized in the same ways the North was industrialized, and was a major player in it, too. The only real claim Maryland has on being "Southern" is that when the original colonies expanded past NY and NJ (New York was once considered a part of New England), three regions were established: The northern colonies (All of what is now New England), the central colonies (NY, NJ, Penn), and southern colonies (everything from Maryland and down). I am fairly certain that Delaware was part of the central colonies, but I don't recall at the moment.

[David_J]

Originally Posted by K-Luv

I am fairly certain that Delaware was part of the central colonies, but I don't recall at the moment.

It was listed as a Middle Colony but was listed as a Southern state soon after it gained its statehood.

[slowlane3]

Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth, was a native of Bel Air, in northern MD. He was helped by the Surratt family of Clinton, MD, and others including Thomas Jones, a smuggler of Port Tobacco MD, who refused to turn in Booth to Federal authorities for a $10,000 reward.

The first bloodshed of the Civil War was by Baltimoreans shooting Union soldiers from Boston, as they marched a mile between stations in Baltimore to transfer trains, en route to (I think) Fort Sumter, SC. There is a small museum all about this (in the little italy section).

In all of Prince Georges County, Abraham Lincoln received only one vote for President. It was thought to be cast by Dr. John Bayne of Oxon Hill, the founder of the Univ. of Md.

Baltimore during the war was placed under martial law by Federal authorities, and its Mayor was imprisoned at Fort McHenry for his pro-Confederate sympathies (Ironically, he was a relative of Francis Scott Key).

There is a Confederate soldier statue today outside the court house in Rockville, MD, and a Robert E. Lee park / statue in north Baltimore. Sons of Confederate Veterans today has 3 chapters in MD, including one in western MD.

[Diff1]

To say that Baltimore, D.C. and Richmond Va dont have neighborhoods that look very similar is not true, and not all Richmond's row house are detached lol and so what if they were its plenty of cities in NJ that have detached rows i guess New Jersey is southern also lol

[the resident09]

Maryland is not southern