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Maybe I'm biased because I'm from Virginia. Its very difficult for me to understand Richmond being considered southern and Alexandria, Dover, Baltimore, or even Wilmington being considered solidly Northern. I agree that the latter cities are all better connected to the Northeast, but the culture and people in those areas are all very similar to the culture and people found in Richmond. Alexandria may seem different because of the influence of many immigrants from different backgrounds but that does not mean that the culture developed in Alexandria over the last 300 years no longer exists. All of these cities were predominantly settled by the English and at one point in time enslaved and free African Americans. No to mention Richmond is within a 4 hour drive of most of these cities. The only city out of Virginia that can be reached from Richmond in the South in 4 hours is Raleigh which was a very small city up until the 1970s. Richmond has always been more connected to its neighboring cities to the North than anywhere in the South.
Maybe I'm biased because I'm from Virginia. Its very difficult for me to understand Richmond being considered southern and Alexandria, Dover, Baltimore, or even Wilmington being considered solidly Northern. I agree that the latter cities are all better connected to the Northeast, but the culture and people in those areas are all very similar to the culture and people found in Richmond. Alexandria may seem different because of the influence of many immigrants from different backgrounds but that does not mean that the culture developed in Alexandria over the last 300 years no longer exists. All of these cities were predominantly settled by the English and at one point in time enslaved and free African Americans. No to mention Richmond is within a 4 hour drive of most of these cities. The only city out of Virginia that can be reached from Richmond in the South in 4 hours is Raleigh which was a very small city up until the 1970s. Richmond has always been more connected to its neighboring cities to the North than anywhere in the South.
The architecture of Richmond, Alexandria, and Annapolis and parts of the Maryland and Virginia Eastern Shores sees a more Southern influence compared to Baltimore, Philadelphia, and points north. A lot of it is because both Maryland and Virginia were more Southern during the colonial and antebellum days. Now Maryland overall is clearly a northern state. Virginia is still culturally Southern outside of NOVA which is an extension of the Northeast. NOVA culturally is very similar to New Jersey and New York more so than anywhere else.
Richmond has had less transplants than the DC area. Remember that it was the capital of the Confederacy during the war and the historic areas have a classic antebellum feel especially Monument Avenue, at least the way it used to be before all this political correctness. People in Richmond also have more Southern accents and the cuisine is more Southern compared to in NOVA. Richmond is also a mostly conservative area outside the central city itself which is similar to the South. Baltimore is purple in its suburbs (there are still many white liberals like around Towson and Howard County), Pittsburgh and Cleveland are also purple in their suburbs while Washington DC, Philadelphia and NYC are very blue in their suburbs. The only northern cities with majority conservative suburbs I think are Midwestern like Cincinnati, Kansas City, Omaha, Indianapolis and Columbus. Even these are not as conservative as the South. I literally know FIVE white people in Louisiana who admitted to voting for Biden and 3 of them are in the same family.
Most majority-white Southern suburbs are deep red except areas like the NC Triangle, Atlanta, Houston, and DFW where you have a lot of northern and West Coast transplants bringing their liberal politics with them. Baton Rouge's suburbs are solidly Republican. New Orleans is a liberal city but ALL its white suburbs are solidly Red (Metairie, Slidell, Covington, etc.) Politically Virginia is as conservative as Louisiana outside of NOVA. In fact, areas like Lynchburg are more Bible Belt culturally than some of South Louisiana where drinking and casino gambling is more acceptable than there. For example Lynchburg is one of the most Bible Belt cities in the nation because of the influence of Liberty University. and the Christian lifestyles native to that area. Virginia is blue because of NOVA and its dominance of the state, kind of how Atlanta in Georgia now.
Also I disagree that Raleigh is the closest "clearly Southern" city to Richmond because I consider Hampton Roads, Lynchburg, and Roanoke to be Southern as well. They're not Deep South, but are still Southern. Also Charleston WV and areas of West Virginia bordering Virginia is also culturally more Southern than Northern. Southwest Virginia is also very Southern/Appalachian.
Baltimore and Philadelphia are Northern in a Rust Belt kind of way, in their townhouse architecture, their colder climates and their ethnic white immigration. New Orleans is probably the most Southern city that saw a large influx of Irish, Italian, and German immigrants in the late 1800s and early 1900s along with the Northeast and Upper Midwest. Most of the South saw very little immigration until the late 20th century with immigrants mostly from Latin American and Asian countries.
Last edited by Tom Lennox 70; 01-10-2022 at 09:42 PM..
Cincinnati is not Southern at all, and in fact I also exclude the Cincinnati suburbs of Northern Kentucky as culturally Southern, kind of how I exclude Northern Virginia. But the Indiana suburbs of Louisville are Southern influenced along with parts of southern Ohio bordering Huntington WV and Ashland KY.
Maybe I'm biased because I'm from Virginia. Its very difficult for me to understand Richmond being considered southern and Alexandria, Dover, Baltimore, or even Wilmington being considered solidly Northern. I agree that the latter cities are all better connected to the Northeast, but the culture and people in those areas are all very similar to the culture and people found in Richmond. Alexandria may seem different because of the influence of many immigrants from different backgrounds but that does not mean that the culture developed in Alexandria over the last 300 years no longer exists. All of these cities were predominantly settled by the English and at one point in time enslaved and free African Americans. No to mention Richmond is within a 4 hour drive of most of these cities. The only city out of Virginia that can be reached from Richmond in the South in 4 hours is Raleigh which was a very small city up until the 1970s. Richmond has always been more connected to its neighboring cities to the North than anywhere in the South.
You can reach Charlotte from Richmond in 4 hours. You can also reach Wilmington, Winston-Salem/Greensboro, Fayetteville. You can also get to Florence, SC in 4 hours. Philly is the only Northern city that you'll reach within 4 hours of Richmond.
You can reach Charlotte from Richmond in 4 hours. You can also reach Wilmington, Winston-Salem/Greensboro, Fayetteville. You can also get to Florence, SC in 4 hours. Philly is the only Northern city that you'll reach within 4 hours of Richmond.
Obviously that's not true. LOL, you're not going to get to Charlotte from Richmond in 4 or under unless you're going 90+ and want to get pulled over several times. And Florence, SC is even further away.
And if going by your definitions, where you’re excluding Maryland, Delaware, and DC from the north, you’ll still reach Lancaster, Harrisburg, York, Gettysburg in just about 3 hours or under and Reading, PA and Camden NJ in under 4 and even Trenton and Princeton NJ before you’d reach Charlotte from Richmond. There is much more between Richmond and points north than the city and points south. I'm not even sure what driving distance proves anyway. Historically, Richmond's southern business class was always more concerned with what was happening up north and as that poster mentioned, from a historical standpoint, the real city you wanted to get to south from Richmond was Charleston, which you had to travel to by boat.
Richmond is the most culturally Southern mid-tier metro in the U.S. and the country boys in their flannel that surround the city will remind you of that in case you ever forget. It is country out here. Step outside the city for once -- where transplants have moved to -- and head to the suburbs or rural areas outside to see for yourselves.
You can reach Charlotte from Richmond in 4 hours. You can also reach Wilmington, Winston-Salem/Greensboro, Fayetteville. You can also get to Florence, SC in 4 hours. Philly is the only Northern city that you'll reach within 4 hours of Richmond.
Winston/Greenboro is 3 to 3 1/2 hours.
Charlotte is 4 1/2 or a bit more depending where in Charlotte.
Live in Richmond and drive to these two areas constantly as my family is still in the triad and I used to live in Charlotte.
Influenced by the Midwestern and Southern cultures, Louisville is often referred to as the northern and southern city and the southernmost city of the United States.
I think people have to remember that being like Philly does not mean it lacks Southern characteristics. Philly was deeply impacted by migration from the South a generation or two before VA and MD were altered by in migration to DC. Some of what we see of Philadelphia as ingrained characteristics originate from the South.
In addition Philly gets like 12 inches of snow a year it’s one of those cities that gets shut down by any significant snowfall, and Hockey isn’t native to the region. PA only got it’s first college hockey team in like 2015 for example, way out in State College.
Why do people use distances to cities as some metric of a place's geographic identity?
Charlotte and the Triad are not the most culturally southern parts of NC, not even close.
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Richmond is closest to the most culturally southern parts of Virginia -- Central and Southside -- and rural Eastern North Carolina. Even Southern Maryland.
For centuries, Richmond was known as the agricultural capital of the southeast. Where county and rural folk went to trade their goods.
Why else do you think Southern States, an agricultural farm products company, was founded and headquartered in Richmond?
Richmond and Petersburg were the go-to places for rural Central & Southsiders and Eastern North Carolinians. It was never a place that people from Philadelphia and points north cared to travel to much other than to look down on.
This newfangled obsession with tying Richmond to the cosmopolitan cities of the north is ludicrous and revisionism. Sounds more like an inferiority complex that transplanted Yankees have with living here.
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