Is Virginia a Northern or Southern state? (Woodbridge, Fairfax: restaurant, food)

[stlouisan]

Originally Posted by Diff1

No personal attacks just speaking on what i see on city data ALL of the time,people on here read a couple of paragraphs on wiki or something and think they know it all when in reality life is alot more than what you read on a computer sceen im sorry if i offended you though my apologies. And as far as facts if you want to go by actual documents alot of sources still classify EVERYTHING from Maryland down to be southern, the US Government is one to be exact.

The US Government does it because of the Mason-Dixon line more than anything else. Even many of it's own statistics contradict this classification. And you believe I read a couple of paragraphs on wikipedia and come to a conclusion? And I've been to Maryland and all over Virginia. i'm sorry to disappoint you, but my opinions were formed over years, not seconds, and from personal experience. I have friends that live in Wytheville that go to Richmond all the time, and relatives in D.C. I'm not the simpleton you think I am. And I rarely hear government officials openly professing how southern Maryland is..in fact, I almost never hear it.

[CookieSkoon]

Originally Posted by stlouisan

The US Government does it because of the Mason-Dixon line more than anything else. Even many of it's own statistics contradict this classification. And you believe I read a couple of paragraphs on wikipedia and come to a conclusion? And I've been to Maryland and all over Virginia. i'm sorry to disappoint you, but my opinions were formed over years, not seconds, and from personal experience. I have friends that live in Wytheville that go to Richmond all the time, and relatives in D.C. I'm not the simpleton you think I am. And I rarely hear government officials openly professing how southern Maryland is..in fact, I almost never hear it.

Amen to that.

Same here, all of my opinions are based on experience as well.

I never say anything about I state I haven't either been to, or known people from.

[stlouisan]

Originally Posted by CookieSkoon

Amen to that.

Same here, all of my opinions are based on experience as well.

I never say anything about I state I haven't either been to, or known people from.

That's how you do it. Well played my friend

[Diff1]

Jim Crow laws,economy based off tobacco and slaves,confederate monuments,legal segregation,KKK bases within the state,state song telling you its southern, and Annapolis played a very big role in the slave trade. Can you tell a true Northern state with all of these characteristics??

[gkunkel]

Historically, Virginia is most definitely Southern. It was after all, the epicenter of the Confederacy.

Culturally, whether or not it still is, where it sill is, depends on one’s perspective. Having lived in New Jersey for most of my life, I’d put Virginia squarely in the Southern column. Someone from Georgia might disagree and designate it as “Northern” or “Mid-Atlantic.” Many who live in the central or southern part of the state see themselves as true Southerners and regard residents of Northern Virginia as “Yankees.”


Let’s get to specifics. In Fairfax County, a number of residents struggle with the area’s Civil War heritage. Yet a few major highways are named after icons of the Confederacy. The predominant accent would be that which you might regularly hear on a TV series. That said, older people who were born and raised in the area have retained their Southern accents to varying degrees. Fairfax County boasts an incredibly wide diversity of restaurants – reflecting the cultures of its populace. Yes, you can find BBQ restaurants in Fairfax County, and Famous Dave’s is my favorite, but they’re outnumbered by Kebab places – which my wife and I have also enjoyed. Although one can feast on numerous cuisines, I must say that I’ve only found one decent place for pizza: Tony’s New York Style Pizza in Fair Lakes. The name says it all. Let’s face it, this dish is not a Southern specialty.


In October, we relocated to Purcellville from the Fair Oaks area in Fairfax County and found it ironic that in doing so, we moved an hour northwest and entered the South. Having spent most of my life in New Jersey, the area has a Southern feel. I hear it in the accents of those who grew up there. I feel it in the hospitality of business owners in my town, and I see it in the number of restaurants around that serve BBQ. That said, Western Loudoun County has its share of transplants like myself who I suspect outnumber the life-long residents.

From my perspective, in Northern Virginia, the South begins in Leesburg – growing more and more Southern as one travels west of the town. But even that description isn’t entirely accurate. I don’t think there’s a real dividing line.

It might be better to ask how Southern an area is. However, you might first ned to define what it means to be Southern.

Just my two cents for y’all.

[KodeBlue]

Originally Posted by Diff1

Jim Crow laws,economy based off tobacco and slaves,confederate monuments,legal segregation,KKK bases within the state,state song telling you its southern, and Annapolis played a very big role in the slave trade. Can you tell a true Northern state with all of these characteristics??

Jim crow started in the north, Conneticut is a much larger tobacco economy than most cities in the south; PA, NY, OH, IN, all have larger skinhead and KKK bases than MD;MD had the lowest slave population aside from Florida. BTW, every state from Maine to Florida had slaves at point or another. Slaves built Wall street.

[soug]

Originally Posted by gkunkel

Historically, Virginia is most definitely Southern. It was after all, the epicenter of the Confederacy.

Culturally, whether or not it still is, where it sill is, depends on one’s perspective. Having lived in New Jersey for most of my life, I’d put Virginia squarely in the Southern column. Someone from Georgia might disagree and designate it as “Northern” or “Mid-Atlantic.” Many who live in the central or southern part of the state see themselves as true Southerners and regard residents of Northern Virginia as “Yankees.”


Let’s get to specifics. In Fairfax County, a number of residents struggle with the area’s Civil War heritage. Yet a few major highways are named after icons of the Confederacy. The predominant accent would be that which you might regularly hear on a TV series. That said, older people who were born and raised in the area have retained their Southern accents to varying degrees. Fairfax County boasts an incredibly wide diversity of restaurants – reflecting the cultures of its populace. Yes, you can find BBQ restaurants in Fairfax County, and Famous Dave’s is my favorite, but they’re outnumbered by Kebab places – which my wife and I have also enjoyed. Although one can feast on numerous cuisines, I must say that I’ve only found one decent place for pizza: Tony’s New York Style Pizza in Fair Lakes. The name says it all. Let’s face it, this dish is not a Southern specialty.


In October, we relocated to Purcellville from the Fair Oaks area in Fairfax County and found it ironic that in doing so, we moved an hour northwest and entered the South. Having spent most of my life in New Jersey, the area has a Southern feel. I hear it in the accents of those who grew up there. I feel it in the hospitality of business owners in my town, and I see it in the number of restaurants around that serve BBQ. That said, Western Loudoun County has its share of transplants like myself who I suspect outnumber the life-long residents.

From my perspective, in Northern Virginia, the South begins in Leesburg – growing more and more Southern as one travels west of the town. But even that description isn’t entirely accurate. I don’t think there’s a real dividing line.

It might be better to ask how Southern an area is. However, you might first ned to define what it means to be Southern.

Just my two cents for y’all.

Great post based on real-world experience. However, not sure where you are going with the Famous Dave's reference.... there's one ten minutes from my parents' house in NJ.

[gkunkel]

Thanks.

Famous Dave's is our all time favorite place to get BBQ. My point was that there are plenty of BBQ places in NoVA, more so than I've seen up north. Purcellville and Western Loudoun County for that matter, offer few of the amenities that were available in Fairfax County. But we have TWO BBQ restaurants in town.

Amazing!

[stlouisan]

Originally Posted by KodeBlue

Jim crow started in the north, Conneticut is a much larger tobacco economy than most cities in the south; PA, NY, OH, IN, all have larger skinhead and KKK bases than MD;MD had the lowest slave population aside from Florida. BTW, every state from Maine to Florida had slaves at point or another. Slaves built Wall street.

Not to mention, Confederate monuments can be found outside of these states. Camp Douglas, Gettysburg, etc. Jim Crow was fairly dominant in Indiana as well into the late 1940s. The KKK had its headquarters in Indiana and had a Klan governor.

[CookieSkoon]

Originally Posted by KodeBlue

Jim crow started in the north, Conneticut is a much larger tobacco economy than most cities in the south; PA, NY, OH, IN, all have larger skinhead and KKK bases than MD;MD had the lowest slave population aside from Florida. BTW, every state from Maine to Florida had slaves at point or another. Slaves built Wall street.

Hell, NY STILL has a KKK presence. On the Ontario plains no less.