North Carolina: More like South Carolina or Virginia? (Charlotte, Raleigh: chapel, incomes)

[metro.m]

NC is one of the best states in the nation. Just because NC and SC share the same last name doesn't mean, their the same. NC is cut above every state it borders. Culture wise it's more of a hybrid of both states... NC is the largest state of the two, by a considerable margin.

[Akhenaton06]

Originally Posted by CAROLINAKAYEE

North carolina is the place to be.
I was born in charlotte but married and move to sc.
I hate sc there is no hope as far as jobs and things to do here other then the beach,
there is no growth here.

I live in marion sc.

How can you judge an entire state by one of the poorest towns in the state? SC is indeed growing (it's one of the nation's fastest-growing states actually), just not in Marion or the Pee Dee in general, which is the most stagnant part of the state. Your experience would essentially be the same if you lived in, say, Laurinburg or Kinston.

As far as the original question goes, I'd probably say that NC is more like VA than SC at this point. The rural areas between all three are pretty much the same, but the more populous areas of NC (CLT, Triad, Triangle) and VA (Richmond, Hampton Roads, NoVA) seem to mirror each other somewhat. But I'd also say that NC and SC are more connected than NC and VA. Charlotte's metro area extends into SC (York, Chester, Lancaster counties), western NC is in the Greenville-Spartanburg DMA, and Myrtle Beach and Wilmington are on the path to becoming loosely-connected metro areas.

[castufari]

Originally Posted by Carolina_native

NC can differ greatly from county to county. Some counties are very rural still and are dominated by farms, some counties are even losing population while a couple of counties over they are exploding with new growth.

I agree 100% - it varies from area to area. I can be in Charlotte, which has that big city feel (because it is) and within 45 minutes be in Shelby, which has a small southern town feel. Or Asheville, which is probably the most liberal city in the state. I have friends who live 30 min outside of Avl and their attitude is that it's a hotbed of sin.

I wish we had the same gas tax as VA or SC.

[NCnut]

Originally Posted by tenken627

I've always been curious about North Carolina.

Would North Carolina compare with South Carolina or Virginia more since it sits between the two.

In any aspect, whether it be economy, housing, recreation, traffic, etc.

I know historically North Carolina was always paired with South Carolina, but both seem to be moving in different directions right now.

Actually, Virginia and South Carolina have a more similar history. North Carolina was the oddball state stuck between two aristocratic, well-to-do states. That is where the statement: "A valley of humility between two mountains of conceit" came from. Virginia and South Carolina both had a much bigger slave population than North Carolina. North Carolina was a much more "yeoman" state than VA and SC during antebellum times.
Both South Carolina and Virginia seceded before North Carolina at the start of the Civil War.
North Carolina's coast was known as "The Graveyard of the Atlantic" because ships would commonly get lost or sink off the NC coast.
Virginia and South Carolina both have big deepwater ports on their coasts wheras North Carolina doesn't. That was the main reason why VA and SC grew so much more rapidly than NC in the colonial days.
Also, Virginia's and South Carolina's early settlers were mostly of English stock. North Carolina's early settlers were a fairly even mix of English, Scottish/Scots-Irish, and German.

States change and there have been many changes in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina over the centuries. I would say all 3 states are different yet have similarities. Remember, state lines are really only imaginary political boundaries. There are lots of similarities between southern portions of NC and northern portions of SC just like there are many similarities between northern portions of NC and southern portions of VA.

[rubber_factory]

Originally Posted by NCnut

Also, Virginia's and South Carolina's early settlers were mostly of English stock. North Carolina's early settlers were a fairly even mix of English, Scottish/Scots-Irish, and German.

I agree with most of what you say, but I'm not sure that this is the case. I know SC had relatively large numbers of Scots-Irish, French protestant, German, Swiss, and Dutch immigrants prior to the Civil War.

[bmd69]

Nothing is like SC. We have it all here.

[urbancharlotte]

Originally Posted by bmd69

Nothing is like SC. We have it all here.

I don't know about that. We have John Edwards. SC has Mark Sanford. Both of these guys are official card carrying members of the Carolinas "pimp squad". I am sooooo proud.

[Waterboy526]

Originally Posted by urbancharlotte

I don't know about that. We have John Edwards. SC has Mark Sanford. Both of these guys are official card carrying members of the Carolinas "pimp squad". I am sooooo proud.

Ok that was funny...

[CLTKing]

NC is better. We have one of the greatest cities in the Souty, Charlotte, huge companies headquarted in both Raleigh and CLT. We have the mountains and the Outer Banks. A big pool of educated young transplants from the NE and Midwest. I think NC is closer to VA (NoVa) in the sense that it has a developed economy, far better than SC currently has.

[Akhenaton06]

Originally Posted by urbancharlotte

I don't know about that. We have John Edwards. SC has Mark Sanford. Both of these guys are official card carrying members of the Carolinas "pimp squad". I am sooooo proud.

And NC had Jesse Helms while SC had Strom Thurmond.