Poll: What is the most "typical, average American" place in Maryland (Baltimore: transplants, condos)

[dkf747]

Originally Posted by Tom Lennox 70

If you think America today is about the burbs, chain stores, sprawl, and endless subdivisions, then Hunt Valley and Arundel Mills and White Marsh would definitely be the prototype. But I hope most of America is not like this. These developments just seem very plastic and soulless.

Places like the Eastern Shore, Carroll County, Western Maryland and southern Maryland still have their own charm and are on a more down to Earth, human scale. That kind of charm can also be seen closer to the big cities like Arbutus and Dundalk in Baltimore County and Poolesville/Damascus in Montgomery County.

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I was kind of joking. The question asked in this thread is silly and deserved a silly response. However, urban sprawl is a reality all over the US. A large percentage of Americans live in the burbs. It would not be a stretch to say what I did.

[westsideboy]

I don't think there ever has been a Middle America. From the beginning our country has been populated by widely different groups. Early America was English the sons of privilege living on country estates or running shipping businesses, Scots-Irish exploring the frontier, Tidy Germans clearing land and setting up family farms, and so many more groups.

The Middle America idea is a myth. I don't know who started it, maybe Jefferson, but it is still used today as a marketing tool to sell country music CDs and by the RNC to attract voters to the party line. For what it is worth, I also think the liberal MTV/DNC myth of America looking and acting like the 1990's Burger King Kids Club (or the cast of High School Musical for the younger generation) is faulty as well. The reality is more complicated.

[bowian]

Originally Posted by westsideboy

I don't think there ever has been a Middle America. From the beginning our country has been populated by widely different groups. Early America was English the sons of privilege living on country estates or running shipping businesses, Scots-Irish exploring the frontier, Tidy Germans clearing land and setting up family farms, and so many more groups.

The Middle America idea is a myth. I don't know who started it, maybe Jefferson, but it is still used today as a marketing tool to sell country music CDs and by the RNC to attract voters to the party line. For what it is worth, I also think the liberal MTV/DNC myth of America looking and acting like the 1990's Burger King Kids Club (or the cast of High School Musical for the younger generation) is faulty as well. The reality is more complicated.

You said that better than I could. Plus, most of those places listed in the poll are historically not very welcoming to diversity. Frankly, some of the so-called "plastic" cities, in all their "plasticity," seem more welcoming of diversity, from what I've seen.

[vivo]

what about harford co?
cecil co?
weather is better than western md because of bay proximity.
harford is somewhat close to bmore.

[westsideboy]

I don't want my comments to be interpreted as being negative towards the small towns listed in the poll. My point is that the idea of "middle America" is not, and never really was, representative of the country as a whole.

It is a mistake to assume that overwhelming white areas are that way because of some vocal or hidden agenda to keep others out. Economic realities are more responsible for demographic change. The rural areas of Western and Northern Maryland are populated largely by the descendants of yeoman farmers, miners from the British Isles, Irish railroad workers, and other white people. The plantation based agriculture, post WWII industrial expansion, modern construction boom, and swelling of the federal government, that are responsible for the diverse populations in other parts of the state didn't take place in Western and Northern Maryland. Are we to blame for that?

I am proud of the people that live in my community. We are directly connected to our ancestors and our home in a way that may be difficult for people raised in plastic America to understand. We still live on the land, attend the churches and schools, and are neighbors with the descendants of those that founded our mountain home. I try my best to encourage people of all races, creeds, and codes that are interested in joining what we have to take a look at our area.

[bowian]

Originally Posted by westsideboy

I don't want my comments to be interpreted as being negative towards the small towns listed in the poll. My point is that the idea of "middle America" is not, and never really was, representative of the country as a whole.

It is a mistake to assume that overwhelming white areas are that way because of some vocal or hidden agenda to keep others out. Economic realities are more responsible for demographic change. The rural areas of Western and Northern Maryland are populated largely by the descendants of yeoman farmers, miners from the British Isles, Irish railroad workers, and other white people. The plantation based agriculture, post WWII industrial expansion, modern construction boom, and swelling of the federal government, that are responsible for the diverse populations in other parts of the state didn't take place in Western and Northern Maryland. Are we to blame for that?

I am proud of the people that live in my community. We are directly connected to our ancestors and our home in a way that may be difficult for people raised in plastic America to understand. We still live on the land, attend the churches and schools, and are neighbors with the descendants of those that founded our mountain home. I try my best to encourage people of all races, creeds, and codes that are interested in joining what we have to take a look at our area.

I don't know who's to blame, and I personally am not assuming anything. But based on my experience and the experience of others, a lot of those places (for whatever reason) have not been known to welcome diversity. I won't get into the reasons why. Nor do I believe I used the word "white." In addition to expressing my opinion about those places, I was agreeing that Middle America does not necessarily exist. At least it is not mean the same for everyone. That is why I used the word "plus."

My father lives on his family's land, which my grandfather purchased. My father's family feels very connected to that land. I also don't see the area in which he lives (in northern NC) to be very welcoming of diversity. There are blacks there and whites, but not much of anyone else. Diversity is more than just black and white.

Most communities have something to offer, even the so-called plastic ones.

[westsideboy]

Bowian, good point about diversity being more than black and white. Sorry if I pigeon-holed your statement.

Plastic America must have something to offer or else so people wouldn't be moving there. I think that dictomy has existed for a long time as well. For every son or daughter that stayed in the place they were born, there was another that picked up and moved somewhere else. I guess you can say the 'burbs are the new frontier of America. A place were people can pick up and move to with the hopes of finding something different for themselves and their families that were lacking back home.

[bowian]

Originally Posted by westsideboy

Bowian, good point about diversity being more than black and white. Sorry if I pigeon-holed your statement.

Plastic America must have something to offer or else so people wouldn't be moving there. I think that dictomy has existed for a long time as well. For every son or daughter that stayed in the place they were born, there was another that picked up and moved somewhere else. I guess you can say the 'burbs are the new frontier of America. A place were people can pick up and move to with the hopes of finding something different for themselves and their families that were lacking back home.

Again, well put.

[TXRyan23]

Originally Posted by westsideboy

I think the "typical" America is a mix of old and new, modern and historic, rural, urban, and suburban, mostly well off but with some poverty.

I thought " typical " America was mostly in poverty with some well off...

[Outlook]

I lived in Central Maryland for 45 years. Visited most of the state over that time. Here are a few items:

Maryland is sometimes called America in miniature. There are Ocean beaches, coastal plain, rolling plateau, natural Forrest, rolling hills, and very old worn down mountains. It has the world's largest estuary (nether salt water, nor fresh) in the Chesapeake Bay.

Maryland's official nickname is The Old Line State. Not the Free State, although it is referred to many times by "outsiders" as the Free State. (This newer unofficial came from the Civil War era). Maryland was a officially a Union state during the Civil War - even though many of the Marylanders at that time would have probably considered themselves to be Confederate sympathizers. The Union decided that Washington was too important to risk and basically took control of the state. This may have saved Maryland much blood shed, but ironically the battle of Antietam in Western Maryland was historically the single worse day of the war for casualties.

Most of the people who live in Maryland have moved there from somewhere else. I know that seems like a silly statement (since everyone in America came from somewhere else - not counting Native Americans)
but most of the folks living there can be traced back to either factory jobs during WWII, or just recently (the past 10 years or so) where there has been tremendous growth ( I believe Maryland has just passed New Jersey for the highest median family income in the US) over the last decade.

So, you can think anything you want about Maryland, but please be careful what you say as you never know when you maybe talking in ear shot of a "native" who may very well tell you "if you don't like it here, why don't you go back to where you originally came from, as it must be such a better place than here?"

Cheers
Out