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No I don't see it either. People's primary claim to this is "look at the Atlanta and Nova suburbs", as if this wipes away the rest of each state, and even the suburbs of the two have a distinction in feel. The rest of Virginia's colonial feel and older looking small towns give it a much different feel than much GA. Like I said the better question would be is VA more North Carolina or PA. I also think VA has significantly more variance across the state from corner to corner than GA does. I'm not saying there is 0 similarity in the two, but I certainly don't think a foreigner or outsider would mistake one for the other.
Virginia throughtout its history has been a byproduct of it's own mid Atlantic sub region. The water ways and tributaries there come from the mid-Atlantic states surrounding it. Agreed that one isn't thinking of VA/NJ in the same sentence, as it's certainly not a carbon copy, but there's other similarities there both with large beach cities, and their costal climate not being too far off.
This comparison is a bit odd to me only because VA while southern, it's such a clearly middle ground state, that honestly could be like 3 states of it's own. Virginia is the originally settled colonial space of the East Coast. It has it's own feel honestly, as I think some places may feel like it, rather than it (VA) feeling like anywhere else. Old Virginia doesn't feel like old Georgia or NJ IMO. Like I said Pennsylvania is a far better comparison than either. GA and NJ are both strongly entrenched to either the Deep South or Northeast and mostly feel like states they either border, or are very close to.
North Georgia, Piedmont Georgia, Georgia coast and Southwest Georgia. are very different.
Outside of Southwest Georgia, maybe northwest Georgia, GA in general would have more in common with NC and VA then it does with Alabama or Mississippi. but a lot of people would look on a map and line GA up with AL and MS and ignore Georgia is an East Coast state.
Greater Atlanta is like Northwest central Georgia located. And it dominated like 1/5 of the state area this would obliviously stands out as a more progressive and cosmopolitan area. But because of it's location it's like a cultural wall.
Making most of Georgia population outside of Atlanta actually being, North, East, North east, South east of Atlanta. For Example Augusta, Savanah Georgia second and third largest metros borders SG and are both colonial cities to the East. Most culturally connected cities to Alabama would be like Columbus and Albany.
But as far as diversity the Georgia coast isn't remotely like the Georgia Mountains. New jersey doesn't even have a vast mountain area. While Same Mountains chain VA goes down to GA.
As far NoVA and Atlanta suburbs having similar vibes that's true.
With the exception of Florida there a huge differance between western and Eastern Sunbelt cities.
Western Sunbelt cities, Most Metros beyond the 13 conolonies are grids. so if look at an ariel you will noticed how many roads are going North-South and East-West at great distance across there metro area in a grid.
DC and Atlanta aren't like that. DC metro area pretty much has grown like a Sunbelt city. Atlanta would be closer to the NC but in terms of size DC ironically is the most similar to Greater Atlanta.
When I created this post I thought it would provide some good food for thought and was hoping for some good + interesting comments and you all have certainly NOT disappointed. Lots of great takes. And as somebody who's lived in all 3 for significant periods of time, VA really does kinda ride the middle line in this equation with ties both to the south and the northeast corridor states.
My personal take is with NOVA region being very much a part of the northeast corridor, is built up & dense, the diversity and related leans that region towards NJ. The rest of the state (and VA on the whole) leans more GA but not by a ton. Some reasons I would point would include :
Abundance of Southern Baptist churches/ not in the Catholic zone of the NJ and northeast at large.
Higher % of African American population, albeit less than GA's
Agriculture ... VA producing crops like peanuts, tobacco and even some cotton
Southern accents away from transplant impacted population centers, even some in the pop centers too
Housing stock ... lots of neighborhoods in tidewater with houses that look like suburban ATL, not NJ style
Food/drink .. sweet tea, BBQ (VA & GA both claim to be origin of brunswick stew), biscuits, etc in VA. And do not have the local pizza joints, deli's, bagels etc like in NJ ..
Outside the population centers, rural with small towns which are largely southern in culture
Last edited by EastcoastDoug; 06-21-2023 at 07:41 AM..
When I created this post I thought it would provide some good food for thought and was hoping for some good + interesting comments and you all have certainly NOT disappointed. Lots of great takes. And as somebody who's lived in all 3 for significant periods of time, VA really does kinda ride the middle line in this equation with ties both to the south and the northeast corridor states.
My personal take is with NOVA region being very much a part of the northeast corridor, is built up & dense, the diversity and related leans that region towards NJ. The rest of the state (and VA on the whole)on the whole leans more GA but not by a ton. Some reasons I would point towards would include :
Abundance of Southern Baptist churches/ not in the Catholic zone of the NJ and northeast at large.
Higher % of African American population, albeit less than GA's
Agriculture ... VA producing crops like peanuts, tobacco and even some cotton
Southern accents away from transplant impacted population centers, even some in the pop centers too
Housing stock ... lots of neighborhoods in tidewater with houses that look like suburban ATL, not NJ style
Food/drink .. sweet tea, BBQ (VA & GA both claim to be origin of brunswick stew), biscuits, etc in VA. And do not have the local pizza joints, deli's, bagels etc like in NJ .. Outside the population centers, rural with small towns which are largely southern in culture
This is a big piece of why I chose GA pretty easily. There's just very little in common between rural Virginia and rural New Jersey. It's a different world. There are certainly major differences between rural GA and rural VA (especially when you break down coastal, Piedmont, mountains, etc.), but there's far more physical and cultural overlap between the two states.
And while you could certainly argue that urban and suburban VA (particularly NOVA) has a lot in common with NJ, you could also make the case that NOVA, Richmond, Hampton Roads, etc. share a lot in common with urban and suburban Georgia as well.
I just don’t see Virginia having much in common with Georgia at all. By every metric (health, education, gun ownership, wealth, poverty rate, religious adherence..) Virginia is MUCH closer to New Jersey.
I don’t think of NJ when I think of places like VA (because of old stereotypes of both places) but on paper Virginia is more similar to New Jersey than Georgia. New Jersey is much closer to Virginia too, especially to/from the population centers of the commonwealth.
Gun-ownership rates are similar between VA and NJ...really?
If you tell one lie, I bet there are other lies being told going unnoticed.
NJ literally has the lowest gun-ownership rate in the entire country - at 14.7%.
Virginia, on the other hand, has a gun-ownership rate of 44.6% and is home to some of the largest County-supported, state militias in the nation. Georgia is at 49.2%, so a lot closer to Virginia in terms of legal gun ownership.
The NRA is headquartered in Virginia as is the Gun Owners of America (GOA). Virginia also has the Citizens Defense League, a state-affiliated gun rights advocacy group. Virginia is a 2A bastion.
Can neither be an option? Virginia is really like 4 different states, depending on where you are at. Virginia is part Maryland, part Pennsylvania, part West Virginia and part North Carolina. A small part of Tennessee also in the southwest corner.
NJ native who lived in VA. There’s little in common between VA and NJ outside of some surface level similarities.
100% agreed (I've also lived in both). Even optically, they look very different, and I'd say NOVA seems more like the Atlanta area (i.e. new suburban) and the interior mountains aesthetically feels more like far northern GA. NJ is more densely populated and looks older (and actually is older in the populated areas). It also feels more industrial, though not sure if that is actually true or not.
I suppose I could make an argument that the port and naval areas of Tidewater could be similar to Elizabeth, but that's a bit of a stretch.
Location: That star on your map in the middle of the East Coast, DMV
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mpier015
Can neither be an option? Virginia is really like 4 different states, depending on where you are at. Virginia is part Maryland, part Pennsylvania, part West Virginia and part North Carolina. A small part of Tennessee also in the southwest corner.
This is my synopsis as well. I think Virginia literally has a piece of each of those places more so than either GA or NJ, but smaller scale comparisons could be made to those states.
Outside of Southwest Georgia, maybe northwest Georgia, GA in general would have more in common with NC and VA then it does with Alabama or Mississippi. but a lot of people would look on a map and line GA up with AL and MS and ignore Georgia is an East Coast state.
Greater Atlanta is like Northwest central Georgia located. And it dominated like 1/5 of the state area this would obliviously stands out as a more progressive and cosmopolitan area. But because of it's location it's like a cultural wall.
Making most of Georgia population outside of Atlanta actually being, North, East, North east, South east of Atlanta. For Example Augusta, Savanah Georgia second and third largest metros borders SG and are both colonial cities to the East. Most culturally connected cities to Alabama would be like Columbus and Albany.
But as far as diversity the Georgia coast isn't remotely like the Georgia Mountains. New jersey doesn't even have a vast mountain area. While Same Mountains chain VA goes down to GA.
As far NoVA and Atlanta suburbs having similar vibes that's true.
With the exception of Florida there a huge differance between western and Eastern Sunbelt cities.
Western Sunbelt cities, Most Metros beyond the 13 conolonies are grids. so if look at an ariel you will noticed how many roads are going North-South and East-West at great distance across there metro area in a grid.
DC and Atlanta aren't like that. DC metro area pretty much has grown like a Sunbelt city. Atlanta would be closer to the NC but in terms of size DC ironically is the most similar to Greater Atlanta.
Even DC edge cities a common Sun belt feature this would be similar to Atlanta's Cumberland and perimeter center.
As far as is VA more like GA and NJ I would say slightly Georgia. but is very much in between.
I'm really speaking on the entirety of the states not just a couple areas. But most of this is only half true, because even with postwar sprawl suburbs that could identify as similar, there's inner beltway suburbs of DC that are more NJ like than Atlanta suburbs. The pace of the NOVA suburbs and diversity are a lot greater, and you feel like you're in the mid-Atlantic/NE corridor when there. I don't feel that in Dunwoody, GA.
Savannah does not remind me of Virginia IMO. It's arguably better than most cities in Virginia, but it still gives me a south coastal Atlantic feel. At best maybe a mix of Charleston, New Orleans, and (possibly) Richmond, but to me parts of Richmond proper remind me more of Pittsburgh, than they do Savannah. Like I said VA is in the middle of everything. So you'll have a greater chance of saying that "place A" is more like it (VA), than VA is like "place B".
I agree with the points on topography and mountains, but VA has more of it, with better coastal shoreline therefore more variance. It's more like NJ on the coast. Again I don't think VA is a good comparison for either when it comes down to it though. PA, MD and NC are it's close siblings or 1st cousins.
I'm really speaking on the entirety of the states not just a couple areas. But most of this is only half true, because even with postwar sprawl suburbs that could identify as similar, there's inner beltway suburbs of DC that are more NJ like than Atlanta suburbs. The pace of the NOVA suburbs and diversity are a lot greater, and you feel like you're in the mid-Atlantic/NE corridor when there. I don't feel that in Dunwoody, GA.
Savannah does not remind me of Virginia IMO. It's arguably better than most cities in Virginia, but it still gives me a south coastal Atlantic feel. At best maybe a mix of Charleston, New Orleans, and (possibly) Richmond, but to me parts of Richmond proper remind me more of Pittsburgh, than they do Savannah. Like I said VA is in the middle of everything. So you'll have a greater chance of saying that "place A" is more like it (VA), than VA is like "place B".
I agree with the points on topography and mountains, but VA has more of it, with better coastal shoreline therefore more variance. It's more like NJ on the coast. Again I don't think VA is a good comparison for either when it comes down to it though. PA, MD and NC are it's close siblings or 1st cousins.
Savannah is beautiful, very walkable with great architecture and awesome Spanish moss on the trees.
Georgia also has a bit of Florida in the swampland:
You can find a bit of each of the surrounding states in Georgia.
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