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Each city where Davis and his cabinet met (Danville, Greensboro, and Charlotte) likes to claim that it was the "Last Confederate Capital". Since Charlotte was the last place where the entire "government" held its final meeting, I think that Charlotte has the best claim to the title of "Last Capital of the Confederacy".
Surprised the city fathers haven't put that on the welcome signs at the city limits ...
I've lived in Atlanta and I currently live in Raleigh. Have visited all the others except Birmingham, mainly because it's in Alabama and I don't see a reason why I'd ever want/have to go there.
Atlanta is the urban capital of the Southeast with all the typical urban amenities. Raleigh is where you live if you want to raise an intelligent family. Richmond's my least favorite city on this list; feels too southern for my liking. Charlotte's basically a mini Atlanta and feels more spread out/less urban. The downtown's not too bad though.
Raleigh is also more tech-focused than the other cities so I like that aspect as well. Reminds me a little of Austin, TX.
If you've never been to Birmingham (and have no desire to go) how can you say Richmond is your least favorite city on the list? Seems that Birmingham would deserve that judgment.
If you've never been to Birmingham (and have no desire to go) how can you say Richmond is your least favorite city on the list? Seems that Birmingham would deserve that judgment.
Can’t give judgement to something he has no desire to go.
Richmond more southern than B-ham or any of the other cities really??
I stopped trying to understand what’s the general definition of “Southern” on CD awhile ago. Charlotte and Raleigh looks more Southern than Birmingham or Richmond, Birmingham might feel more Black Southern, Richmond feeling more “Old South” Southern? Man idk.
No offense, but I don’t keep up with White Southern culture tbh. I don’t know what that is.
I stopped trying to understand what’s the general definition of “Southern” on CD awhile ago. Charlotte and Raleigh looks more Southern than Birmingham or Richmond, Birmingham might feel more Black Southern, Richmond feeling more “Old South” Southern? Man idk.
No offense, but I don’t keep up with White Southern culture tbh. I don’t know what that is.
Lol apparently "southern" exclusively and only means Civil War monuments and former Confederacy capital 153 years ago...
I've lived in Atlanta and Richmond and have visited the other cities on numerous occasions--although I've not been to any of them for several years now. Thus my opinion of each is probably somewhat out-of-date. I'll list them by alphabetical order and offer my opinion of each.
ATLANTA
Atlanta is easily the hub of the entire southeast. "The city too busy to hate" as the saying went. Too auto-oriented for my taste with massive freeways and interchanges that mar the urban landscape. Surface parking lots everywhere. Atlanta desperately needs a regional commuter rail system like Philly has in SEPTA. On the plus side, Atlanta has some great attractions: The Cyclorama (my favorite), the aquarium, the World of Coca Cola, CNN Headquarters, the Fox Theater, and the Capitol come to mind. Also some of the most beautiful residential areas in the U.S. especially the Paces Ferry Road area. Then of course there is "Gone With the Wind"....
BIRMINGHAM
Birmingham has come a long way since the days of "Bombingham" and Bull Conner. The city seems to be making a real effort to better itself and is to be commended for that. Birmingham tried seriously to attract the 2016 Democratic National Convention--I hope they try again in 2020. I was very impressed with the Birmingham Museum of Art, and the view of the city from Vulcan Park is amazing. Of course there is the annual Alabama-Auburn football game (do they still play that game in Legion Field?). Overall, Birmingham is impressive especially considering what a new city it is (founded 1871) and that it is somewhat in Atlanta's shadow.
CHARLOTTE
If there is one southeastern city that could de-throne Atlanta as the capital of the "New South" its Charlotte. I have photos I took of downtown Charlotte back in the '70s. A few tall buildings strung along Trade and Tryon Streets and it seemed nothing but surface parking lots everywhere else. Boy has Charlotte changed since then! Very tall skyscrapers abound along with a huge football stadium for the Carolina Panthers and a light rail system to boot. Other than being the last Capital of the Confederacy, there is really nothing about Charlotte that strikes me as particularly "Southern". Instead I see it as a progressive, forward looking AMERICAN city that has a tremendous future.
RALEIGH
When I think of Raleigh I think of a small southern capital city of 65,000 souls (1950 census). It's hard to believe that today Raleigh spreads out over 145 square miles; is home to 460,000 people and is in one of the fastest growing metro areas in the country. Raleigh shares the spotlight in its region with Durham and it didn't look or feel to me like a big city. However, it is one of the 20 finalists Amazon chose for it 2nd headquarters. The reason I think it was selected (and Charlotte wasn't) is the nearby location of three great universities (N.C. State, UNC, and Duke). That plus the Research Triangle Park. Like Charlotte, Raleigh doesn't strike me as especially southern--other than its location in North Carolina.
RICHMOND
Of all the cities in question, Richmond strikes me as the most "Southern". Unlike Atlanta, Charlotte, and Raleigh, it is not a boomtown but it does have growth that is steady and solid. Richmond will forever be tied to its history--especially the Civil War era when it was capital of the Confederacy. Everywhere you look there a monuments to that past--it's the city's glory and its curse. Although its natives speak with a gentle southern drawl, Richmond has a very different vibe than the other cities. First off--its natural setting is dramatic--on seven hills overlooking the falls of the James River. Also there are many square miles of dense Victorian-era row house neighborhoods.
Of all these cities, Richmond is by far my favorite. I loved it when I lived there, and I love it still.
Excellent! I love the south and you have a lot of knowledge of it.
Popular culture of the last 100 years has really made the South and southerness seem monolithic. It isn’t. That being said, let me make a bunch of generalizations lol
Richmond was the most industrial city in the South (well, Baltimore was but...) at the time of the Civil War and for a very long time thereafter. Richmond’s aristocrats were by-in-large industrialists. Petersburg and Richmond had large ports and were the centers of banking and exchanges (coffee and tobacco). The slave trade made quite a few Richmonders wealthy but by the 1800’s the land in Virginia was largely decimated (tobacco is hard on the soil and crop rotation wasn’t practiced until it was too late) so the planting class wasn’t as significant. Virginia’s plantation houses don’t even look like plantation houses (not in the Hollywood style). They are 18th and early 19th century Georgian mansions (brick with Flemish bond).
Google “Carter’s Grove” “Berkeley” “Shirley” “Monticello” “Oak Lawn” “Montpelier”
The Tri-cities area of Richmond feels about as southern as any place (company housing, shotgun houses, bungalows, pine trees, swamps) but the city of Richmond, western Chesterfield, Henrico and Hanover don’t, at least not to me.
Atlanta seems Southern to me (big hair, bigger churches), Raleigh feels about the same as Richmond but the landscape and architectural styles look “down South”. Clothing styles worn in Richmond are a bit more urban and with darker hues in general. This doesn’t hold true the further out from the core. The West End and Midlothian are more similar to Atlanta and Raleigh.
Richmond feels like it should be farther south. Raleigh feels like it should be farther north. they aren't "about the same" at all as far as feels.
First time I went it to Richmond, it felt unmistakably and unapologetically old, historic southern. Only a few, specific areas of Raleigh still retain that, and for those areas that do, there's still no comparison to Richmond.
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