Lexington: Southern or Midwestern? (Louisville, Owensboro: transplants, live, areas)

[mrfgsn]

People are fiercely arguing that Louisville is Midwestern in the General U.S. form. If that's the case, what does this make Lexington?

[Crazee Cat Lady]

Oh no! Not this again!
Lexington and the Bluegrass region of Kentucky definitely have a Southern feel.

Kentucky is just South of the Mason Dixon line (Louisville is right on the line across the river from Indiana, and so you get a bit of Midwestern vibe going there)

[tamaralj]

That settles the issue!!! Great post, love the maps.

[EricOldTime]

This is typical of folks who've never lived in Kentucky. Kentucky is, and always will be firmly a southern state. However, it does have influences from the lower midwest due to it's proximity to that region, yet it's still the south. The southern region of the U.S. has a northern border and for the most part I'd say that's the Ohio river where it forms Kentucky's northern border.

Now is Kentucky southern in the sense of the "antibellum" south or "deep south?" Obviously not, no need to argue that however it is part of the interior or "upland south central US" in my opinion.

We have to realize that the south in itself has many distinct sub-regions and trying to generalise and lump the whole region together as a whole is not seeing the bigger picture. Even so the whole region does have many aspects of accent, dialect and general culture that ties the whole region and Kentucky definately fits most if not all of that criteria.

My family all from the Owensboro area of western Kentucky considers themselves southerners in every sense of the word.

I have my own map here of where I think the border between the upland south and lower midwest exists...

[Wildcat15]

Lexington is in the Midwest geographically, though there are some aspects of southern culture here.

[censusdata]

I view it this way...

Cincinnati is stone cold Midwestern with a lot of Southern transplants

Lexington is stone cold Mid South with a lot of Northern transplants
(Lexington is actually an old Indian word meaning "Land of displaced Ohioans")

If you put Cincy and Lexington in a blender the result is Louisville: a mix of Southern and Midwestern.

Lexington, like all cities, is more standard American and has a lot of transplants from out the region and across the state. The surrounding counties feel totally Southern to me.

[censusdata]

Oh yeah... I'm not a big fan of generalized maps that go only by state boundaries, especially based on slavery. The areas of Southern Indiana near Louisville have much more Southern culture than the northern panhandle of West Virginia or most of Maryland.

[EricOldTime]

Originally Posted by censusdata

Oh yeah... I'm not a big fan of generalized maps that go only by state boundaries, especially based on slavery. The areas of Southern Indiana near Louisville have much more Southern culture than the northern panhandle of West Virginia or most of Maryland.

You dont like my map showing where the upper south begins/ends and the deep south begins/ends?

[Isleofpalms85]

Originally Posted by mrfgsn

People are fiercely arguing that Louisville is Midwestern in the General U.S. form. If that's the case, what does this make Lexington?

First and foremost, I do not consider Louisville midwestern at all! Secondly, everybody I know considers Louisville to be a southeastern u.s. city. Case closed. For further input, I really consider anything roughly from Bloomington southwards in indiana to be the upland south and not actually midwestern.

[Isleofpalms85]

Originally Posted by G8RCAT

Lexington is in the Midwest geographically, though there are some aspects of southern culture here.

THEN SO IS LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY, SUPPOSEDLY THE GATEWAY TO THE SOUTH; THIS THREAD IS JUST Ludicrous!