I'm in the South now. Sort of! (St. Louis, Springfield: transplants, for sale)

[SouthernManMO]

Hey everyone. So I just moved to SW FL from St. Louis. Anyways I drove down. I drove i64 into IL though onto the rest of my way.

I will first say where I am in SW FL even the Stl area would seem more southern than this, and we all know St. Louis is NOT southern. Even Jefferson County would look more southern than this and there is only a little bit of transition zone influence in southern parts of Jeffco where it begins.


When driving in IL I noticed when I got just south of Mt Vernon I started to notice the transition zone of northern and southern mix. Sorta like Farmington Missouri and Cuba. Overall leans Midwestern but noticeable southern influences as well aka transition zone.

When I got close to Metropolis IL, not very far from the OH river it seemed southern such as the accents were similar to KY, parts of Southern MO.

Also to note I only saw 4 confederate flags my entire drive through MO, IL, KY, TN, GA, and FL.

The first one was near Paducah a good size one on the side of the highway, another was at a BBQ place in Ringgold GA, another one in southern GA on I75 and the one in FL near Tampa on I75.

That is it. I went through a number of small towns and didn't see any quantities of Stars and Bars.

I would have thought I would have seen them all over in Rural GA.

Where have all the flags gone? I saw a number of them in the gift shops in Branson on the strip last year for sale.

Why are people not flying these flags in huge quantities in the deep south anymore?

I want more Battle Flags!

Anyways SW FL drivers are just terrible. TN was bad too.

KY and Georgia drivers were decent drivers. in GA speed traps everywhere. FL drivers are aggressive as well.

[countryboy73]

Here in the Ozarks, the Stars and Bars is fairly common, but folks I know who flew one eventually stopped, because they kept getting stolen! Now, normally I would think it was the work of folks who hate the flag due to misunderstanding its significance, but here I think it was more likely folks who wanted to have one for themselves but did not want to buy it. Maybe that dynamic is at work all over the south? There are a lot less morals, and a lot more interest in instant gratification in America these days...

[SouthernManMO]

Originally Posted by countryboy73

Here in the Ozarks, the Stars and Bars is fairly common, but folks I know who flew one eventually stopped, because they kept getting stolen! Now, normally I would think it was the work of folks who hate the flag due to misunderstanding its significance, but here I think it was more likely folks who wanted to have one for themselves but did not want to buy it. Maybe that dynamic is at work all over the south? There are a lot less morals, and a lot more interest in instant gratification in America these days...

What part of the Ozarks are they being stolen in?

It's odd though how in places like Eastern TN, Southern Missouri Ozarks, Arkansas Ozarks and far northern GA were divided or leaned pro union during the civil war yet you tend to see a number of them in eastern TN and the Ozarks as well even though they were anti confederate in those areas. Eastern TN almost broke away to join the union.

The people there are still southern though.

[countryboy73]

Originally Posted by SouthernManMO

What part of the Ozarks are they being stolen in?

It's odd though how in places like Eastern TN, Southern Missouri Ozarks, Arkansas Ozarks and far northern GA were divided or leaned pro union during the civil war yet you tend to see a number of them in eastern TN and the Ozarks as well even though they were anti confederate in those areas. Eastern TN almost broke away to join the union.

The people there are still southern though.

Western Ozarks near Springfield/Ft. Leonard Wood, and also around the West Plains/Alton area.

The Ozarks was a wild place during the "War of Northern Aggression". Between the Bushwackers raiding and burning pro-Confederate areas, Confederate retaliatory raids, and other stimuli, many areas of the Ozarks nearly depopulated by the end of the war. In Howell County alone, over 3000 residents left or were killed, leaving just an estimated 300 people in the county by the end of the war. In Laclede county, many residents left for north or south, depending on their sympathies, and never returned. Both Union and Confederate sympathizers formed guerilla units, some of which were more a cover for sheer banditry than anything else, and neighbor was often pitted against neighbor. Missouri has always been a battleground, whether of arms, or simply ideologies, and will likely always be so to some extent. Us folks in the southern portion simply don't live or think like the folks up north(I know, my whole extended family is north of Marshall), and the country folks have little in common with the city folks. It's simply the way it is, and probably will always be.

[northbound74]

Missouri's southerness gets debated a lot probably due to it's "role" during the Civil War.
In modern times, portions of southern Indiana, Ohio, Illinois make those states look equally as "border-state" as Missouri. Florida has been inundated with transplants to the point few really consider it to be southern in culture. Georgia may or may not get to that point someday as well.

[SouthernManMO]

Originally Posted by northbound74

Missouri's southerness gets debated a lot probably due to it's "role" during the Civil War.
In modern times, portions of southern Indiana, Ohio, Illinois make those states look equally as "border-state" as Missouri. Florida has been inundated with transplants to the point few really consider it to be southern in culture. Georgia may or may not get to that point someday as well.

Except MO has portions of the state that are still geographically and culturally southern. Southern IN and IL are transition zones like MO is around Farmington, Cuba, and Rolla. MO is the most southern of all the modern Midwestern states as part of the state is in the south.

Nowhere in IL or IN is as southern culturally as the bootheel. The bootheel is more southern than probably anywhere in KY as well.

And you're correct about FL. North FL north of Orlando has still section that are truly Dixie and there are still sections that are a mixture of southern and northern culture.

I was at the air show in Punta Gorda today and there are some hints of southern culture in Charlotte county, but it's not a lot though and I wouldn't call it "Dixie" maybe like 20 percent southern.

Poplar Bluff is probably more southern than most places in the state of FL. Politically FL is starting to not behave like a southern state. At the state level Democrat Crist is probably going to become the next governor. Eventually state level politics will become more of a battle ground. I worry FL will not be as pro gun if more democrats start to win.

Georgia outside of Atlanta seems southern to me. The only reason why the elections are becoming a bit closer there is because of all the liberals moving and in Atlanta.

Atlanta is like Missouri's St. Louis and KC

in MO outside of Stl and KC the state is a conservative, Republican state. Without Stl democrats would do terrible in elections in MO.

[brushrunner]

Most have quit flying the Stars and Bars because so many don't know the true meaning behind the flag I use to fly the Stars and Bars but now just the Missouri Battle Flag so many don't know what they are looking at they think it is a Christian Flag.

If you want to get into hard Southern Influence go from Little Rock into Louisiana and Mississppi. Lived there with family thought it funny they considerd me yankee even though we like the same things and had same interest.

brushrunner

[SouthernManMO]

Originally Posted by brushrunner

Most have quit flying the Stars and Bars because so many don't know the true meaning behind the flag I use to fly the Stars and Bars but now just the Missouri Battle Flag so many don't know what they are looking at they think it is a Christian Flag.

If you want to get into hard Southern Influence go from Little Rock into Louisiana and Mississppi. Lived there with family thought it funny they considerd me yankee even though we like the same things and had same interest.

brushrunner

True. Like I said GA seemed pretty southern to me.

However FL geographically is in the deep south but in 2014 it certainly doesn't feel like a deep south state except in some areas of rural north FL and even then it didn't feel like Dixie in MS or AL.

The Bootheel, TN and KY feel more southern than most places in FL currently. Even in north florida the Dixie areas just didn't give me the heavily Dixie vibe like GA and MS do. Dixie, yes but certainly not like other deep south states.

And you're correct about the flags.

Most people probably don't even know what the National Confederate flag looks like. You know not the Battle flag but the national flag. It's quite sad honestly. They only know what the battle flag is due to TV and what the media says.

There are a couple small cemetaries in Missouri that fly the Missouri Battle flag. I think one is in Stoddard County. So there are some people in this state that know what the MO Battle Flag is.

In St. Louis there is someone who lives on Hege Rd by Watson and they have a Missouri Confederate Battle Flag sticker on the back of their pickup truck. I used to pass it everyday driving to school.