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How could D.C., Maryland and Virginia not be in the South when they gave birth to the South. Both the majority of black and white southerners can trace their ancestry through the Chesapeake region. Where everything is getting confused at is the different regions of the south. The Upper south has always been different from the deep south. Tobacco was the main crop of the Chesapeake, North Carolina and Kentucky whereas cotton was the main crop of the deep southern states. The upper south never had a deep southern accent and had a large free black population unlike the deep south. But the answer to the question about northeast characteristics needs to be defined a little more clearer because the rowhouse is more of a colonial characteristic than a northeast one
I agree with your post because it is true that the architecture is not exclusive to the northeast however the subway stations, street vendors, and overall street level activity that was captured in those photos do give it more of a northeastern vibe which can also be attributed to characteristics of the northeast while the cities I highlighted do not have that type of environment.
D.C. and Maryland are southern (Yea folks this includes Baltimore tewww)
I mean when most people come here, they probably do consider the DC area as northern, but the way black folks talk here is southern. Not deep southern country corn on the cob southern, but its southern nonetheless.
Anytime you pronounce words like "area" as "urrea" or "Maryland" as "Murrland" you are southern
D.C. and Maryland are southern (Yea folks this includes Baltimore tewww)
I mean when most people come here, they probably do consider the DC area as northern, but the way black folks talk here is southern. Not deep southern country corn on the cob southern, but its southern nonetheless.
Anytime you pronounce words like "area" as "urrea" or "Maryland" as "Murrland" you are southern
No. As I stated in another thread, that pronunciation is not characteristic of the south. They pronounce it that way in St. Louis. Are they southern now too?
Just because it may sound "country" doesn't mean you can just equate it with the south. Most southerners would pronounce Maryland as "Mare-lin"
No. As I stated in another thread, that pronunciation is not characteristic of the south. They pronounce it that way in St. Louis. Are they southern now too?
Just because it may sound "country" doesn't mean you can just equate it with the south. Most southerners would pronounce Maryland as "Mare-lin"
As someone who lives in Atlanta, I really can't say that it is aesthetically northeastern. There are elements of northeastern influence, but it's still a southern city at heart. The housing styles are similar to what you see in other parts of the Piedmont or Mid-Atlantic region. If anything, Atlanta shares more similarities to the Mid-Atlantic States of VA and MD more than anything further north than that.
The only northeastern city it could compare to in terms of layout is Boston due to the nonsensical street system in each respective city, but a brief trip down Peachtree and Commonwealth Ave would still show these are two totally different cities.
Is there an overtly "Eastern" character to Atlanta compared to the other Sunbelt boom cities? Yes. But Northeastern aesthetics/characteristics? Not to me. A lot of the more urban parts of Inside-The-Perimeter Atlanta share characteristics with other cities that were built around the same time.
Dallas and Houston's layout and characteristics remind me more of parts of SoCal, Phoenix or Florida's sunbelt boom cities than Atlanta.
New Orleans is the only city in the South that I'd consider having SOME Northeastern Characteristics in terms of the ethnic neighborhoods, layout, and density/vibrancy. The 'Y'at' accent that many of the Italian and Irish natives have is very similar to Brooklyneese. Obviously, the terrain, weather, architecture, etc is significantly different from the Northeastern Cities, but the comparison is in my opinion.
Regarding DC being "southern," my snotty family from the Maryland suburbs are always making remarks about the South whenever they're down here in Atlanta. One of my cousins goes to college here in Atlanta, and he still hasn't gotten used to the fact that people down here may greet each other just because, and he complains that you can't tell when the city of Atlanta ends and where the suburbs start.
I consider DC a transitional zone, because it has overt Northeastern elements and Southern elements, but I don't feel as if I'm truly in the "South" until I get somewhere between Fredericksburg and Richmond. Much of Suburban Maryland feels like New Jersey to me, and Northern VA (outside Arlington Co. & Alexandria) is built more like the Atlanta burbs. The land use policies are different in both states and how they developed is definitely a reflection of that.
Miami? The dense sprawl of LA, but with swamps instead of mountains constraining its growth. The end.
I do not see the SoCal or Phoenix in Houston or Dallas. I see southern, mixed with Middle America, mixed with Gulf Coastal (in Houston's case).
I remember a thread I saw a while back where an OP posted several pictures of some Western looking homes, and they wanted us to guess where they were located. 80% of the people in the thread suggested that the homes could be in Texas, but paying close attention to detail, I knew you did not see homes like that in most of Texas. Turns out, the OP revealed that the houses were located in New Mexico I believe.
If anything, Texas housing styles are seem somewhat unique to the South Central US. Texas is overwhelmingly brick and vinyl, while the Southwest and California is notorious for its stucco.
But this thread is not about Texas, so back to the subject at hand lol.
The Mason-Dixon line was an arbitrary line to settle state border disputes, not a legally binding contract to determine "North" vs "South". It later evolved to be this historically cultural divide during a "portion" of American history, but like everything in history, things change. Nothing is static.
In DC's case a number of quite significant things changed. The white population in the counties of Maryland and Northern Virginia surrounding DC has all exploded from hamlets of a few thousand to the millions. Many of those newer people are from Northern states or are international residents there for government work. No Southern culture there.
The local Asian and Hispanic populations have soared, along with other non-white immigrants. None of those people were even American, therefore they have no Southern culture. Even in cities like Atlanta or Texas where Hispanics and Asians have settled, their influence is overwhelmed by the pervasive Southern culture surrounding them. Not to mention if one travels for at least 10 hours in any direction from Atlanta you are still in the South. Even if someone were to mistakenly insist DC/Baltimore is in the South, you go just 1 hour from the Harbor Tunnels and you're in Southern New Jersey.
The black population in DC/Baltimore mostly descends from former slaves from the Carolinas, so yes, there is a Southern element to that population. But that Southern connection also exists in Chicago, Detroit, New York, and other big cities with large black populations.
Geographically and topographically, if one looks at a map of the U.S. the DC area and even Virginia kind of "fit" into the Northeast. The VA/NC border on a map marks the divide between the North/South. If one follows that "hump" on the coast where the Outer Banks start curving in a southwesterly direction, it leads the eye into the Southeast region.
As DC and Baltimore expanded these past few decades, we did so on existing infrastructure that is connected to Philly, New York and Boston (just hours away from each city by car). As a result, the interconnected Bos-Wash corridor has accelerated "Northern culture" moving south along I-95 and the Amtrak/rail lines. The fact that there are so few clusters of population South of DC until you get to North Carolina and then really until you get to Atlanta makes it much less likely for large volumes of Southern people, goods and ideas to affect the overall culture of DC on a large scale.
So yes, at one time DC may have been on the border of the Colonial South. But like the maps of Europe were redrawn after the various wars, the border between Pennsylvania and Maryland is just that, a border. Not a cultural litmus test like it was once "perceived to be" over a century ago.
BINGO!!! Ding!! Ding!! Ding!!! That's what separates cities like DC and Miami from the others really.
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No. As I stated in another thread, that pronunciation is not characteristic of the south. They pronounce it that way in St. Louis. Are they southern now too?
