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Yep. Delaware is even more funny to me. Delaware to a Texan is one of those tiny northern states that you can't place on a map. It might as well by Vermont or New Hampshire.
Southern Delaware doesn't look much different than areas of rural Virginia, mostly pine forest plantations.
Yep. Delaware is even more funny to me. Delaware to a Texan is one of those tiny northern states that you can't place on a map. It might as well by Vermont or New Hampshire.
Yep. And dc is lumped in with Philly, Boston and Nyc. And I’ve sensed the same sentiments when I was in Denver, Seattle and OC
Yep. Delaware is even more funny to me. Delaware to a Texan is one of those tiny northern states that you can't place on a map. It might as well by Vermont or New Hampshire.
For Virginia, I definitely would call it the south, though again, NOVA is not very southern and it's hard to classify an entire state, as you said.
But, waaay back in the day, I was watchign Remember the Titans with my football buddies and in one scene, an AA player said to a white player "this is Virginia, the south. We don't say things like that here" Universally we said "virginia is the south?"
Southern Delaware doesn't look much different than areas of rural Virginia, mostly pine forest plantations.
To me, MD is a the textbook border state and this is a transitioning area which can't be changed. VA, MD and even tiny DE (though I can't say too much as MD is quite little as well), depending on where you are can make a big difference in perception as all 3 have traits of both regions..
I live in the part of MD we call the "eastern Shore. Or DelMarVa. Lower DE, Eastern shore of MD and Eastern shore of VA in God's country's flat land of salt marshes, cypress swamps, Loblolly pines, corn fields, small towns, chicken farms, hunting and fishing bordered by the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean.
Right in the middle is a major resort and a few miles inward is what would be our "capital", Salisbury, which judging by its surroundings is probably the east coasts most northern, southern town.
About 2 hours south, across the Bay Bridge tunnel, you have VA Beach which is a purely southern area. Cross that bridge into God's country and you still have the magnolias, baptist churches, extreme poverty, trailers, old motels closed for years and other remnants of the poor part of the coastal south. Historically, this has always been so close yet so remote due to the Chesapeake! No, that is not the description of the whole south but this part of VA never got the tourism, industry, and anything because of its remoteness. It wouldn't get the ones stopping at the motels on their road trips as I'm sure it was still to soon after anyone would have left from their home in Jersey or NY for there trip southbound, and VA beach/NC's OBX weren't much farther.
Cross the MD border and that part still remains, continueing through "Slower Lower" DE. The architecture of the old small towns is pretty much the same in the whole area from clean and pricey to long dead ghost towns. Lots of brick ranchers just like in much of MD, VA, DE. Still trailers, trailer dealers, etc. Drive around the small towns and everybody waves with that bit little signal with your hand on the wheel. Not that "number 1" sign so popular up north! And if going to get something at a deli or store, don't be in a hurry as they might just be having a conversation with the one in front of you in line.
Now cross over the C & D canal in DE above Dover (officially leaving DelMarVa) and you have the nasty views of Jersey and the industrial feeling while crossing that bridge in Wilmington (2 hours in the other direction from Salisbury) and feeling the brunt of the true Northeast. Or, if you had any doubts about actually being in the North (I have no idea why one would as the architecture and layout is considerably different than the rest of DelMarVa) while vacationing in Rehoboth and getting on the ferry north, all questioning will be gone upon arriving in Cape May.
To me, that is a very visual transition zone from North to South or vice versa. Too even add to it, the sable palm can live in the southern end but by the northern end there ain't no way. There can also be a solid 10 degree temp change from north to south. And sweet tea is readily available from everywhere in VA, to nowhere in the upper reaches of DE.
I think the same can be said about other states such as VA, WV, MO and KY.
Yep. Delaware is even more funny to me. Delaware to a Texan is one of those tiny northern states that you can't place on a map. It might as well by Vermont or New Hampshire.
I live right south of the DE/MD border and I sometimes think the same thing! But then again you probably don't know where we are either!
We're in that little red pocket right in the center of the coast, east of the Chesapeake. That little blue sliver is part of VA.
But, waaay back in the day, I was watchign Remember the Titans with my football buddies and in one scene, an AA player said to a white player "this is Virginia, the south. We don't say things like that here" Universally we said "virginia is the south?"
I lived in DC/NoVA for a long time and that movie was all Disney. The school IRL was already integrated when it opened in '65, it didn't all happen in '71 like the movie said. They then layered on a heavy dose of overcooked Southern accents, which I had never heard around there, even among older NoVA lifelongers born in the 50s. That Foghorn Leghorn nonsense was too much, even for only being "based on a true story".
The Appalachians stretch from Alabama to Maine…….so the answer is it depends on what part of Appalachia. North Georgia, East Tennessee, Western North Carolina are absolutely southern. West Virginia? Questionable. Maryland and other points north? Absolutely not.
Appalachia does not have a unified culture. Southern Appalachia is nothing like upstate New York. The presence of rolling green mountains is about the only thing they have in common
Delaware is firmly located in the North-to-South transitional zone, in my opinion.
By Mid-Atlantic standards, people in southern Delaware are quite friendly and polite. In most of southern Delaware, especially in the coastal communities, people are generally happy and positive, which is customary for areas that are clean, safe and upscale and have beautiful scenery. In the heavily industrialized areas of the Midwest and Northeast, people are not particularly friendly, happy and/or positive (for the past 30 years, at least).
The foliage of Sussex County is quite similar to that found in Virginia and other states further south, complete with loblolly pine and, in select areas, bald cypress trees. Coupled with the very flat terrain, it is evident that natural environment of Sussex County is more closely aligned with the coastal South than the coastal North.
To my surprise, hunting is very popular in rural Delaware, and there seems to be a high number of gun shops (for a geographically small, low-population state). Of course, Delaware does not impose a sales tax, so that fact could (partially) explain all the gun shops.
Away from the large, upscale housing developments, you will observe lots of single-wide and double-wide mobile homes in southern Delaware, which is where many of the natives live (I presume). You only see manufactured/mobile homes in the ruralest areas of the Midwest and Northeast, and even there, they are not all that common.
Sussex County seems less religious and more socially liberal than any rural county in the true South. Rehoboth Beach has historically been a very popular resort town for LGBT folks. Also, there are relatively few churches in Sussex County, and the churches that do exist in that county are mostly non-Baptist.
And for what it is worth, Hardee’s restaurants are rather common in Delaware, but nowhere to be found in most, if not all, of the Northeast.
Last edited by Outer_Bluegrass; 01-21-2023 at 11:16 AM..
Sussex County seems less religious and more socially liberal than any rural county in the true South. Rehoboth Beach has historically been a very popular resort town for LGBT folks. Also, there are relatively few churches in Sussex County, and the churches that do exist in that county are mostly non-Baptist.
Sussex County is also known as "Slower Lower" Delaware. It doesn't feel very Southern at the beach during the summer when it's taken over by visitors from the DC area, but away from the beaches and off season around the chicken farms it might pass the Southern test. One big difference vs. the traditional South is that it doesn't have a large African-American population.
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But then again you probably don't know where we are either!
