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Virginia isn't southern, huh? Well where I'm from in Virginia we have...pig pickins, cotton fields, plantations, cypress swamps, very little snow, lots of good fried food, football is huge, and we deer hunt with dogs. If that doesn't qualify as southern...I don't know what does.
Virginia isn't southern, huh? Well where I'm from in Virginia we have...pig pickins, cotton fields, plantations, cypress swamps, very little snow, lots of good fried food, football is huge, and we deer hunt with dogs. If that doesn't qualify as southern...I don't know what does.
I'd say anything from Richmond - SOUTH. I lived in the capital of the confederacy and even though Virginia is somewhere in the middle geographically speaking, Richmond is definately SOUTH.
Here's my proposal--these count as the South:
-Tennessee (more than 20 minutes south of Kentucky)
-North Carolina (in towns and rural areas with fewer than 75,000 people)
-Florida (north of I-10 then the Gulf Coast west of Panama City)
-Arkansas (south of I-30/I-40 east of Little Rock)
-South Carolina
-Georgia
-Alabama
-Mississippi
-Louisiana
Do not count:
-Texas: it's so great, it's its own region and country. It's like eight states in one with ten different cultures and types of topography.
-Virginia: It is now a mid-Atlantic state.
-West Virginia: hillbilly and country doesn't mean southern. And, they say "pop." More industrial in history, like the northeast and upper midwest.
-Kentucky: They say "pop," don't know what grits and sweet tea are, and it doesn't have a great deal of that Southern hospitality. Ever been to Louisville, Lexington, and Owensboro?
-Arkansas: western Arkansas is more like Oklahoma and east Texas.
-Florida: south of I-10, it's now New York South
Man, you're good! I wouldn't have said it any differently. I put the same caveats on those states. Well done.
Well here is a repost to reaffirm my stance that Kentucky and Louisville are Southern!
I love these kinds of debates And I'm just eating up all the maps. I love maps.
Sorry to beat a dead horse, but...
If you've read my posts on the "What makes the South 'Southern'" and "Do people in Maryland consider themselves North, South or in between?" threads then y'all probably know my opinion on my home state. But I have to buy into the Wikipedia map. I take a more inclusive definition - everything that has some red in it is in the South, with the red striped states partially so The only state I might not include is Delaware. True, membership in the CSA is a key factor, but US states that sent men to fight with the Confederate army can't be completely thrown out, at least on an historical basis. That's why I hesitate to include Delaware - out of all the Border States, it was the only state where support for the Confederate cause was lukewarm at best. The Mason-Dixon line also, technically, divides Maryland (and West Virginia) not only from Pennsylvania but Delaware as well (oh boy, another map!):
Interesting history of the M-D Line: it was meant to settle land disputes between the Penn family and the family of Lord Baltimore. Frankly, I think Maryland got stiffed, but I would think that, wouldn't I?
Another map to add to the discussion, the US Census Dept's official map of US regions. Apart from Missouri, which many posters I have read vociferously insist is Midwest, now if not always, it's pretty inclusive:
Finally I offer up one last map, which I have seen drawn slightly differently. It slices states up by cultural lines instead of just lumping whole states together in a region:
This was from a book written by Joel Garreau called The Nine Nations of North America (1981). It argued for specific regions that cut across state and national borders, carving up Texas into at least three pieces, lumping it in with the South, Southwest and Midwest (or as they call them, Dixie, Mexamerica and the Breadbasket). I've seen even more particular versions of this map, just to make it even more confusing. Has anyone seen this last map? I'm curious.
I love these kinds of debates And I'm just eating up all the maps. I love maps.
This was from a book written by Joel Garreau called The Nine Nations of North America (1981). It argued for specific regions that cut across state and national borders, carving up Texas into at least three pieces, lumping it in with the South, Southwest and Midwest (or as they call them, Dixie, Mexamerica and the Breadbasket). I've seen even more particular versions of this map, just to make it even more confusing. Has anyone seen this last map? I'm curious.
LOL So do I, JB! Yes, I have seen this one before, and the biggest single issue I have with it is the idea that what is labeled the "Breadbasket" is a "cultural region." It is essentially what is known as the "Great Plains" and it is NOT a cultural region. I cannot emphasize enough that the parts of Texas so labeled (other than perhaps the VERY upper parts of the Panhandle) has nothing in common with Kansas or any state north.. Not in terms of history, settlement, dialect, politics, traditions, etc. Any similarity ends with the landscape.
The BEST map I have ever seen is one that appeared in the book written by Raymond Gastil, titled " Cultural Regions of the United States". I am trying to find again and order it. Within it, most of the part of Texas labeled "Breadbasket" is really a unique sub-region of the "Greater South" labeled "Western South."
ummm as a Southern, all that are under the Mason Dixon line. But culturally, all below Richmond Virginia and above Orlando Florida. Below MO. and east of New Mexico
Actually; southern Indiana, parts of Pennsylvania, etc. are also culturally are closer to the traditional 'South' than Indianapolis and Philadelphia.
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Why Kentucky is a Southern state
