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Oddly enough North Carolina seems to be a more of a sister state with Virginia than South Carolina. Guess SC has Georgia? Have never been to those two much.
Actually, SC and Alabama would be sister states before SC and GA. Georgia really doesn't have a sister state and if it did it would be NC before SC.
Actually, SC and Alabama would be sister states before SC and GA. Georgia really doesn't have a sister state and if it did it would be NC before SC.
I think SC and GA are about just as close as SC and AL, but I think the SC/GA pairing is a little more fitting. When it comes to SC and GA, the two states share common ties in the Augusta/Aiken and Savannah/Hilton Head areas. The closest thing to a twin that Augusta and Savannah have are Columbia and Charleston, respectively. Both have important military installations in their Sandhills regions which cross the central areas of both states. The capitals are also the largest cities, both share the distinct Gullah/Geechee culture, and the two college football rivals are a SEC team (UGA, USC) and an ACC team (GT, Clemson). Pretty much all of GA's largest cities were built on rivers (Atlanta is an exception, but a river still runs through it) while practically none of NC's were. SC's three largest (Columbia, Charleston, Greenville) are also built along rivers. Both SC and GA are known for peaches and SC actually produces more than GA (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/28/us/28peaches.html). Civil War histories in SC and GA are a bit more similar, with the capitals of both states being burned to the ground, the war starting in Charleston, and Sherman's March to the Sea (Savannah). Both SC and GA have independent state medical colleges (GRU in Augusta, MUSC in Charleston) and senior military colleges (North Georgia and the Citadel). Politically, SC and GA are more similar than SC/AL or GA/NC. And you can find mustard-based BBQ in both SC and GA; NC would rather fall off the face of the earth before adopting that style of BBQ, LOL.
GA and NC are more alike in terms of population, GDP, F500 companies, and geographical divisions, but I find more alike between SC/GA than NC/GA. It's probably because both SC and GA are Deep South states while NC is overall an Upper South state, although eastern NC in particular exhibits a lot of Deep South characteristics.
Winston Salems historic urban fabric is like Richmonds? Well, they do both have a Broad St. so theres that. I'll just have to disagree.
Winston, Durham & Richmond are all very, very similar.
I would really like to see anyone argue against this. I'm from Durham and I've always felt strong kinship with people from either Winston or Richmond, more so than anywhere else in the country. (Including Raleigh, Cary, or Chapel Hill). And I've got a lot of love for both cities because they remind me of home.
Winston, Durham & Richmond are all very, very similar.
I would really like to see anyone argue against this. I'm from Durham and I've always felt strong kinship with people from either Winston or Richmond, more so than anywhere else in the country. (Including Raleigh, Cary, or Chapel Hill). And I've got a lot of love for both cities because they remind me of home.
I think it's the strong tobacco legacy in all of those cities that give them that feel. They were also all very industrial cities earlier in their histories with an urban fabric that still attests to that, and it's interesting that both Durham and Richmond were home to a "Black Wall Street" (Parrish St in Durham and Jackson Ward in Richmond). And of course, they are all Piedmont cities.
I think it's the strong tobacco legacy in all of those cities that give them that feel. They were also all very industrial cities earlier in their histories with an urban fabric that still attests to that, and it's interesting that both Durham and Richmond were home to a "Black Wall Street" (Parrish St in Durham and Jackson Ward in Richmond). And of course, they are all Piedmont cities.
Yes sir.
Tobacco + large, historic black communities (and HBCU's) + college towns in some sense, but not dominated like Chapel Hill etc + planned, grid layout in the historic city sections + Southeast/Piedmont culture + I-40/85/95 connection
They also all fell on hard times after tobacco left in the 80's but have seen a lot of growth within the last decade or so.
The tobacco industry is the main tie between Winston-Salem, Durham, and Richmond. I'm not as familiar with Richmond, but Winston-Salem and Durham are very similar. The populations of both are nearly identical, and both are adjacent to a larger city (Greensboro for Winston and Raleigh for Durham). They are home to prestigious universities, Duke in Durham and Wake Forest in Winston-Salem. All three are solidly Upper South cities, and I've heard people say Winston is like a mini Richmond and it's hard for me to argue against that. The biggest difference between all three has to be Richmond's architecture, row-houses aren't common in Winston-Salem, Durham, or NC cities in general. Richmond is also more historic than the others, but overall, the three definitely have similarities.
I have to say that although I've never been to Winston, but I've been to Durham many times. And while I understand the metrics for comparison given in this thread (tobacco, universities, largely black), the similarities between Durham and Richmond kind of end there. There is BOTH an urban - ness and a historic air that permeate Richmond that isn't present in Durham. Linguistically, the accent heard in Central NC, while it does exist in Central VA, is an accent in the extreme minority of Richmond, which is Tidewater meets DC meets old Virginia. The architecture is different, as has been noted, the downtown of Richmond is MUCH more lively than Durham's, (Durham has nothing to compare to Broad Street), and as I said, the historic nature of some Richmond neighborhoods trumps the like in Durham. The suburbs of Richmond are much more Northern - suburban (Chester can remind of Frederick, MD), and Richmond isn't really Piedmont, though it could be if one stretches the definition. Richmond is a focal city of 1.3 million, while Durham and Winston are secondary and only contribute 6-700k to their metros. I can name more differences than similarities between Durham and Richmond....
However, I can definitely understand how North Carolina and Virginia can be called sister states. Although Piedmont Virginia is more so Southside VA, Southside and Central NC (Triangle, Triad) are nearly homogenous in culture. Extreme NE NC is is similar to Hampton Roads, most definitely, and even as far south as Greenville can be compared as a satellite HR city, in terms of urban sense, culture, linguistics, etc. As mentioned earlier in thevthread, Southwest VA and Western Carolina are essentially the same region as well. The major cities of both states are where the similarities end, as there is an urban it in such Virginia cities that is opposite of such NC cities. And obviously, the contrast of Northern VA to anything in NC. So there are some differences...
There are definitely similarities with Maryland as well, which have been noted---coastal (Chesapeake) culture, DC suburbs of both states, etc. I also think Virginia is 'more' like NC, but Maryland isn't a distant second; it's close enough to thoroughly define. But I'm more familiar with VA and NC than any other two states....
South Carolina is a state that is more unique to the definition of sister states, which is weird, yet awesome. The areas bordering Georgia are similar to Georgia, but only in about a 15-20 mile radius or so, and that quickly ends. There exists a "Carolina" culture that is identifiable to both Carolinas that permeates both states, but I'm too tired of writing to elaborate lol. That is what ties NC and SC, yet those two states have plenty of differences. SC is kind of in its own boat and yoy can find things/places to remind you of other states, yet SC is its own vibe...
NY and PA are most similar to each other, although much of Maryland can be compared to Southern/Western PA....GA and NC arguably have just as much in common as VA and NC...Tennessee and Alabama are comparable....Delta Arkansas and Delta Mississippi share the same culture...California is a bit on its own in the same vein of South Carolina, as there really are no bordering states too similar....so on and so forth...
I think the bottom line of this thread should show that no two states are exactly alike because all 50 states pull from surrounding states. So maybe there are very few states that can be considered "sisters", in context...
I have to say that although I've never been to Winston, but I've been to Durham many times. And while I understand the metrics for comparison given in this thread (tobacco, universities, largely black), the similarities between Durham and Richmond kind of end there. There is BOTH an urban - ness and a historic air that permeate Richmond that isn't present in Durham. Linguistically, the accent heard in Central NC, while it does exist in Central VA, is an accent in the extreme minority of Richmond, which is Tidewater meets DC meets old Virginia. The architecture is different, as has been noted, the downtown of Richmond is MUCH more lively than Durham's, (Durham has nothing to compare to Broad Street), and as I said, the historic nature of some Richmond neighborhoods trumps the like in Durham. The suburbs of Richmond are much more Northern - suburban (Chester can remind of Frederick, MD), and Richmond isn't really Piedmont, though it could be if one stretches the definition. Richmond is a focal city of 1.3 million, while Durham and Winston are secondary and only contribute 6-700k to their metros. I can name more differences than similarities between Durham and Richmond....
I think Winston-Salem and Richmond are more alike and I call Winston a mini-Richmond of sorts. Both are historic Piedmont centers of tobacco production, as has already been stated, with well-preserved evidences of their industrial histories within their urban cores; this gives both cities very nice contrasts of old and new (check out this photo thread which shows how Winston-Salem demonstrates this; very similar to Richmond in that regard). Also, both have large corporate bases given their sizes and were founded not too far apart from each other (Winston-Salem: 1766, Richmond: 1737). Richmond has a few colonial-era historic districts, and Winston-Salem has Old Salem and Historic Bethabara. Both have a similar number of institutions of higher learning, including arts schools (NC School of the Arts in Winston-Salem and VCU in Richmond), and were once the largest cities in their respective states.
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South Carolina is a state that is more unique to the definition of sister states, which is weird, yet awesome. The areas bordering Georgia are similar to Georgia, but only in about a 15-20 mile radius or so, and that quickly ends.
Hmmm...not so sure it ends that quickly. I think the Lowcountry culture spans a good bit of the coastal areas of both states, from Georgetown, SC down through the Sea Islands and maybe a little past that. Columbia and Augusta feel alike in some respects. I think the western half of the coastal plain area of SC feels more like the eastern half of the same region in GA; once you start getting into the Pee Dee region of SC, things feel a little different. I think the Piedmont region along I-85 is pretty much a continuous region through the Carolinas and Georgia.
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Guess SC has Georgia? Have never been to those two much.
