Would you consider Maryland to be in the south?

[bradm90]

southerners call Marylanders yankees and yankees call Marylanders southerners... Maryland is Mid-Atlantic

[goldenchild08]

Maryland is a hard state to classify. Ultimately, Maryland is the East Coast and a Mid Atlantic state. Like others have said, Maryland is a good mix of Southern and Northern cultural characteristics depending on where you are in the state. However, Maryland is not extremely Northern or Southern in culture.

In terms of Northerness, the Baltimore-Washington corridor is very diverse. People mind their own business and aren't particularly friendly- this is a trademark Northern quality. Although Maryland is technically in the South because its bellow the Mason-Dixon line, the Balimore-DC corridor is included in the Boston-Washington Megapolis that is definitively the East Coast. Plenty of Yankees live out here or come out this way often. It is not uncommon to be surrounded by New York and New Jersey license plates on the road anywhere in or around DC or Baltimore. But DC and Baltimore, for the most part, are overwhelming black cities. However, true Northern cities above the Mason-Dixon line like Philadelphia and New York City tend to be larger, more cosmopolitan and more progressive. This is not to say that there are not plenty of small ghetto cities above the Mason Dixon (i.e. Camden, Trenton). Baltimore and DC are very segregated. Racial divisions are much more apparent in Maryland then they are in many places up north. Interracial couples and mixed people are much more commonplace in NYC and the integrated areas of Philly like Center City. Cities above the Mason-Dixon are also more culturally inclusive than DC and Baltimore. In Northern cities like NYC, people of all different races conform to the urban culture of the city. Up north, all the young people be it black, white, latino, asian or mixed all dress the same and get their haircut at the same barbershop. In even the most diverse parts of Maryland, it is often taboo or almost socially unacceptable for a non-black person to act too "urban" or black. Also, urban and metropolitan areas above the Mason-Dixon line have large populations of Italians, Puerto Ricans, Irish and even Chinese. In Maryland, all of these ethnic groups represent a much smaller percentage of the populace. Because of this, Maryland does not possess classic Northern cultural features like Puerto Rican barrios, guidos with Gotti blowouts and Soprano family types.

Western Maryland and the Eastern Shore are said to be Southern in culture. It is not uncommon to see houses and trucks emblazoned with Confederate Flags in the rural areas of Western Maryland. But Marylanders in rural areas don't have the same type of Southern twang that folks have in Georgia or the Carolinas. Marylanders who live in Southern cultural enclaves also don't have the same type of friendliness, courtesy or Southern hospitality, if you will, that exists in the deep south. Also, Southern , Western and Eastern Maryland don't have the same all-year-round warm weather and mild winters commonly associated with the South.

[MichaelinMaryland]

Maryland is not at ALL southern in culture and it's a very liberal state especially its richest county Montgomery The South doesn't start to noticably happen on the very east coast until you get to Southern Virginia.

[North Beach Person]

SoMd and the Eastern Shore retain a lot of the Upper South culture.

[exit18b]

Balto to DC is the north. However, the eastern shore and west of Frederick is the south. Most people think of MD as Balto to DC and thus the north. However, MD is south of the Mason-Dixon line. Maryland's early history (slave trade) was that of a southern state.

[7th generation]

This topic has such varying opinions and is 12 pages long. We'll let it rest for now and "I'll leave the light on for ya."