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Can't say much for further east as I don't have a lot of experience out there, but I'm sure I'd probably make minor extensions there too.
The original map is based solely on clusters of counties, but your alteration includes the southern portions of many of the Finger lakes counties. I'm curious why you feel these fragments of counties (but not the whole counties) should be included as Appalachia...
Charlotte is Piedmont. Technically that's appalachia.
Nope. While the Piedmont is part of the Great Appalachian Valley, that is strictly a geographic reference. However "Appalachia" is a cultural term centered on the actual mountains with certain defining traits relating to the economy, racial/ethnic background, accent/dialect, cuisine, religion, etc. While it's obvious that there will be some shared traits to some extent between Appalachia and the Piedmont due to proximity, there will also be significant differences and that's due to the Piedmont's proximity to and influences from the coastal plain region. That distinguishes the Piedmont from Appalachia as a related, but completely separate region.
Location: Appalachian New York, Formerly Louisiana
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ben Around
The original map is based solely on clusters of counties, but your alteration includes the southern portions of many of the Finger lakes counties. I'm curious why you feel these fragments of counties (but not the whole counties) should be included as Appalachia...
Those are areas also strongly affiliated with the greater southern tier, which the finger lakes region overlaps with.
As a brief example, Yates county as a whole is part of the southern tier library system.
Those fragments are also geographically and geologically correct being on the Allegheny plateau.
Interesting maps. There are a few regions that come to mind for me, personally.
1. Western North Carolina (Asheville) and a few counties in east Tennessee. The Great Smokies at the southern end, and the High Country (Boone, Blowing Rock) at the northern end. These areas are fairly rugged and the elevation is high, especially in Boone.
2. North Georgia, the westernmost portion of South Carolina, and a few counties in northeastern Alabama, possibly "Deep South Appalachia." This is where Deliverance was filmed.
3. The valleys of east Tennessee and western Virginia. Knoxville, Johnson City, Kingsport, Bristol, Blacksburg, Roanoke, Lexington, etc. Bristol, the birthplace of country music, sits on the border between Tennessee and Virginia.
4. Southern West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, and a few counties in southwest Virginia. This area is famous for coal and the Hatfield-McCoy feud.
5. Northern West Virginia (Wheeling), western Pennsylvania, and southern Ohio. This is where Appalachia meets the Rust Belt, stretching from the Pittsburgh area all the way to Cincinnati. Not exactly "mountainous" but hilly.
(I won't comment on northern areas such as upstate New York, Vermont, etc. I've never been there.)
Last edited by costellopresley82; 11-26-2020 at 08:30 AM..
5. Northern West Virginia (Wheeling), western Pennsylvania, and southern Ohio. This is where Appalachia meets the Rust Belt, stretching from the Pittsburgh area all the way to Cincinnati. Not exactly "mountainous" but hilly.
Charlotte isn't in Appalachia at all. In the South, I'd be inclined to say Birmingham, which, incidentally, was historically called the Pittsburgh of the South.
It's Pittsburgh in the north and Knoxville in the South. Culturally, Birmingham is more Deep South than Appalachian, and the mountains quickly become foothills to the south and west. Outside of Birmingham, Knoxville is the largest metropolitan area wholly in the southern Appalachians, located on the doorstep of both the Great Smoky Mountains and the central Appalachian coalfields. Culturally, it's much more Appalachian than Birmingham. Dolly Parton was born not too far away, and "Rocky Top" is heard at every sporting event attended by the University of Tennessee marching band.
Interesting maps. There are a few regions that come to mind for me, personally.
1. Western North Carolina (Asheville) and a few counties in east Tennessee. The Great Smokies at the southern end, and the High Country (Boone, Blowing Rock) at the northern end. These areas are fairly rugged and the elevation is high, especially in Boone.
2. North Georgia, the westernmost portion of South Carolina, and a few counties in northeastern Alabama, possibly "Deep South Appalachia." This is where Deliverance was filmed.
3. The valleys of east Tennessee and western Virginia. Knoxville, Johnson City, Kingsport, Bristol, Blacksburg, Roanoke, Lexington, etc. Bristol, the birthplace of country music, sits on the border between Tennessee and Virginia.
4. Southern West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, and a few counties in southwest Virginia. This area is famous for coal and the Hatfield-McCoy feud.
5. Northern West Virginia (Wheeling), western Pennsylvania, and southern Ohio. This is where Appalachia meets the Rust Belt, stretching from the Pittsburgh area all the way to Cincinnati. Not exactly "mountainous" but hilly.
(I won't comment on northern areas such as upstate New York, Vermont, etc. I've never been there.)
A few corrections I'd make:
1. Southern Ohio is actually more in line with southern West Virginia, eastern Kentucky and extreme western Virginia than it is with western Pennsylvania or northern West Virginia.
2. Western Maryland and extreme eastern Ohio should be included with western Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia.
3. Northern Pennsylvania and southern upstate New York are often called the "Twin Tiers" due to the cultural and economic ties between them.
4. The Pocono Mountains in northeastern Pennsylvania and the Catskill Mountains in southeastern New York can probably be a region of their own since they're popular getaways for people in the Northeastern megalopolis.
5. Extreme western North Carolina is more in line with upstate South Carolina, northeast Georgia, and extreme southeastern Tennessee.
6. Northwest Georgia and west Georgia are more in line with northern Alabama and most of southeastern Tennessee.
What fundamentally & culturally separates the Smokies from the adjacent Appalachian regions?
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