Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Southern Appalachia seems more like the South, though, maybe not Northern Appalachia. Is Pittsburgh itself really Appalachian though?
Pittsburgh is a dichotomy of East Coast megalopolitan and Appalachian culture. This dichotomy is basically what makes the northern Appalachians different from the central and southern Appalachians. Appalachian culture is unique in both the North and the South. You can find hillbillies from Alabama all the way up to Maine. Northern New England is just as hillbilly as rural western Pennsylvania is.
I figured Mississippi was flat with the delta and coastal plai and all, but at less than 300 feet prominence for Woodall mountain, that is approaching Florida flatness.
The South is the South and the North is the North, but there are threads of Appalachian culture that defy such simple categorization. Scots-Irish people who settled in the hills brought and developed a culture to both sides of the Mason-Dixon line. Whether on one side or the other, there were differing influences, but there is a common strand of culture between them.
For this reason I cannot say that Appalachian culture is a subset of Southern culture because that would have to put a large swath of Pennsylvania and even a part of New York under the rubric of Southern culture.
That said, I would say that a lot of what we call Southern culture is actually Appalchian culture rather than the other way around. Southerners across the region appreciated and readily apropriated the music and ways of their Appalachian brethren.
For this reason I cannot say that Appalachian culture is a subset of Southern culture because that would have to put a large swath of Pennsylvania and even a part of New York under the rubric of Southern culture..
The culture you find around the Appalachians in Pittsburgh, and especially NYS, is completely different than what you will find in isolated areas of Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee.
Pittsburgh is a dichotomy of East Coast megalopolitan and Appalachian culture. This dichotomy is basically what makes the northern Appalachians different from the central and southern Appalachians. Appalachian culture is unique in both the North and the South. You can find hillbillies from Alabama all the way up to Maine. Northern New England is just as hillbilly as rural western Pennsylvania is.
Appalachia doesn't have the black influence that much of the South does. Many of those counties in Appalachia voted against secession leading up to the Civil War. Lots of folks from Appalachia left the area for work in the factory towns of the Midwest and Rust belt and they brought their culture with them and it flourishes to this day.
The Northern Industrialists wanted the flow of immigrants to continue ad infinitum as they were averse to hiring any Southerners, whether they be Black or "Hillbillies". But when the Gov't finally put the brakes on immigration, they had no choice but to accept these "undesirables" from the South, many of which settled in industrial Ohio. Why Ohio for the Appalachian crowd? They wanted to be as close as possible, for weekend trips, back to their beloved mountains/mountain culture.
I recall reading that, during the 50's, in Cincinnati there would be signs posted outside restaurants and rooming houses: No Blacks or Hillbillies
They weren't always easy to identify until they opened their mouths and spoke, and that's when they gave themselves away. There were a few "Hillbillies" who went to speech therapists to try and rid themselves of their southern drawls.
I will always view the Appalachian district as a foreign country, well-marked with lawlessness.
I recall reading a True Crime Book about a large Appalachian family that had moved to Ohio in the 60's, book called House of Secrets, where the father was arrested for incest, having sex with his daughters and impregnating them. In the book, it stated: 7 out of 10 families, at that time, practiced incest in the Appalachian district, so what a surprise to move to Ohio and be arrested for it!
I recall Eric Rudolph, the abortion clinic bomber, who, when sought by the FBI, hightailed it to the Appalachian district, with a $1 million finder's fee, and he hid out there in those mountains for well over a year, the FBI souring the region, to no avail. Recall, it's a spelunker's paradise, with 1300 some caves in that area, lots of places to hide out. And, knowing the anti-abortion Appalachian crowd, they may have been harboring him, at some point in time, uninterested in the $1 million, and hailing him as a hero!
The rates of incest are actually pretty level across the United States. It didn't help when comic strips like Lil Abner depicted the region as a backward third country filled with incest and writers purposely exaggerated living conditions. The stereotype just kind of stuck and probably will never die. There's no denying that the region suffers many problems, but denigrating the people only makes it worse.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
