Would you consider Maryland to be in the south? (Baltimore: subdivisions, to live in)

[Missingatlanta]

I think its a northern state. MD is situated so closely to NY and the rest of New England that this state has developed a strong northern culture. The mason dixon thing is past. Everyone I know back home refers to this area as the north.

[DITC]

First and foremost it is east coast. East coast is really (culturally) divided into three areas:

The South: Florida, Georgia, Carolinas, most of VA
Mid Atlantic: Northern VA, Maryland, Delaware, Eastern PA, and Southern NJ
The actual northeast: Northern NJ, NY (minus the western half upstate), and New England

Mid Atlantic and Northeast often get lumped together as the "Northeast Corridor" because they are similar by economic prosperity and population density.

The MD suburbs are very technologically advanced and have thriving economies similar to the rest of the Northeast, but so do cities like Atlanta, Raleigh, Houston, and Chicago. What it comes down to is there is just a different feel of the local people and lifestyles in the NY and Boston metro areas. Jobs and economies are transferable, but native culture is not.

Its understandable that MD identifies with the north in the North vs. South argument...you dont see yourselves as country boys in the F-150 down in Richmond.

Metro Miami is more "North" than Maryland will ever be.

[Tom Lennox 70]

Originally Posted by RFinMD

Maryland is a border state so answering this question is harder than you think.

In the urban areas of the Baltimore and Washington metropolitan regions, I would say there's a definite Northern attitude.

But the rural areas, especially in Southern Maryland (tobacco country) and lower Eastern Shore, there's a Southern vibe.

Go due north-northwest (in Western Maryland places like Frederick, Hagerstown, Cumberland, Hancock, Oakland) and you will find Northerners who are Southern sympathizers.

Maryland, by the way, is sometimes called "America in Miniature" because it has big cities, suburbs, quaint small towns, the mountains, rolling countryside, farmlands, the Atlantic, and of course, the Chesapeake Bay right smack in the middle.

In other words, it can be whatever your want, Northern or Southern or somewhere in between.

Well I WANT it to be Southern. That's the kind of image our state should be promoting. I've posted this before:

Images of the North: urban decay, crime, pollution, unfriendliness, rudeness, endless winters, gray skies, rushed lifestyle

Images of the South: laid-back lifestyle, friendly small towns, sweet tea, pink lemonade, white picket fences, weeping willows, booming cities, the Sun Belt, warm weather......

[Tom Lennox 70]

I associate high tech and economic development with the South (and West) these days. Compare the booming Sunbelt cities like Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, and Raleigh and Charlotte and Tampa with the crumbling Rust Belt cities like Baltimore, Philly, Pittsburgh, Detroit. When I think northern cities, I see declinking populations, crime, drugs, brownfields. The South....booming suburbs, high-tech development, flashy modern architecture.

Funnily, the SOuth also brings up images of friendly small towns, while the North has images of rude, unfriendly attidues, aggressive driving, etc.

[miamiman]

Maryland is border territory. Anything on the Eastern Shore, south of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge is the South. That includes Salisbury, Cambridge, and Ocean City. The Eastern Shore of Maryland look and feel VERY similar to many areas of coastal North and South Carolina.

Baltimore/Washington is a grey area. 40 years ago there would be no argument that this area was in the South. However, as is the case in many other parts of the country, others have moved in and forever changed the area's identity.

Western Maryland feels like it has elements of Pittsburgh influence, while still pulling some influence from West Virginia and Western Virginia. I am sure there are some natives of Western Maryland with very Southern sounding accents, but I am not sure I would go as far to say that it is firmly entrentched in the South.

[LexusNexus]

Originally Posted by Billiam

i find it surprising some people are still living in the 1800's

Hey, no need to be insulting or take it personally. I seriously thought this was how states were originally defined and that this has persisted.

I always understood Maryland to be a part of the "South" because it was orginally south of the M-D line.

[LexusNexus]

Originally Posted by DITC

First and foremost it is east coast. East coast is really (culturally) divided into three areas:

The South: Florida, Georgia, Carolinas, most of VA
Mid Atlantic: Northern VA, Maryland, Delaware, Eastern PA, and Southern NJ
The actual northeast: Northern NJ, NY (minus the western half upstate), and New England

Mid Atlantic and Northeast often get lumped together as the "Northeast Corridor" because they are similar by economic prosperity and population density.

The MD suburbs are very technologically advanced and have thriving economies similar to the rest of the Northeast, but so do cities like Atlanta, Raleigh, Houston, and Chicago. What it comes down to is there is just a different feel of the local people and lifestyles in the NY and Boston metro areas. Jobs and economies are transferable, but native culture is not.

Its understandable that MD identifies with the north in the North vs. South argument...you dont see yourselves as country boys in the F-150 down in Richmond.

Metro Miami is more "North" than Maryland will ever be.

Thanks for this post. Best explanation I've read yet.

[CHIP72]

Actually, I'd consider the NYC metro area to be considerably more similar to Philadelphia than to Boston. The Mid-Atlantic would go from the NYC metro area (including SW Connecticut) down to northern Virginia, while the Northeast (or actually New England) would include all 6 New England states excluding the portion of Connecticut most strongly connected with the NYC metro area. As I noted earlier, Appalachia and the eastern Great Lakes are a different animal, and so is Delmarva (which would be the area of Maryland and for that matter Delaware that would be the most like the South).

[Tom Lennox 70]

Originally Posted by CHIP72

I've long considered Pittsburgh to be the primate (i.e. most important/dominant) city of Appalachia. In terms of other relatively large cities, Pittsburgh has more in common with Cleveland, Buffalo, and Rochester than it does with Philadelphia, Baltimore, or Washington. I believe the northern portion of Appalachia has a higher degree of similarity (actually a much higher degree of similarity) with the eastern Great Lakes area than it does with the Northeast Corridor/Megalopolis.

Pittsburgh is a Northeast and "Rust Belt" city. I wouldn't consider it to be Applachia, for one thing its too far north. The main city of Appalachia I'd say would be something like Wheeling or Charleston, West Virginia. Cumberland, Maryland is in Appalachia, though. I'm not sure about Hagerstown. Frederick definitely is not.

[Tom Lennox 70]

Prince George's County has a particular southern feel according to many peopel, though with an African American twist. I have friends who would drive half an hour just to eat at the Bojangles in New Carrollton...I haven't been there yet but I'll go someday I've also heard Waldrof and Charles County used to have a southern feel until all the development went in....a very tragic thing if you ask me. If you compare the things the south is associated is vs. the things the north, particularly the Northeast is associated with, I think I'd rather be southern.

Culturally, country music is still big in Maryland once you leave Montgomery and PG Counties adn Baltimore City. Even in Howard County, the less "ethnic" parts of Montgomery and in Baltimore and ANne Arundel counties, most people love country unlike in Jersey, where even many people in the rural parts listen to the genre. The only northern state where country music is very popular is Pennsylvania, and mostly in the rural areas.

I don't why people from up north are so arrogant and stuck up adn think they're better than anyone else in the country. Baltimore is a typical rotting city with a northern feel, just like Philly, Newark, and dozens of places in New Jersey and Pennsylania. Why are they produ of their dying steel mill towns, graffiti and trash strewn urban housing projects, and snotty classist golf courses, their abortion clinics, their overpriced soulless urban apartments, their concrete and brick jungles, and their 5-foot snowfalls? Why would I want to live in NY or Boston and see cluttered brick rowhouses and taxis out my window, give me a suburban subdivision any day.

4 inches of snow gets Montgomery, PG and Howard and Baltimore County schools closed .That will not get Philadelphia or South Jersey schools closed or delayed. On the other hand, Marylanders are still retiring to Florida, Georgia, and Arizona in droves. North Carolinians don't seem warmer, sunnier places.