Maryland, My Maryland - State Heritage? (Baltimore, Annapolis: houses, vs., statistics)

[Merlander]

Great map WSB. I think it demonstrates so well what has been said numerous times in these north/south debates - that MD has a "split identity" as you point out, and that the parts that are the most "southern" are southern MD and the eastern shore.

Here's another link to a map, which I've posted previously:

http://www.census.gov/prod/2004pubs/c2kbr-35.pdf

The map on pg. 8 is from the 2000 census, and shows the largest ancestry in each county, nationwide. Like WSB's map, it shows southern MD and the eastern shore as being more similar to the "south" proper, while the rest of the state looks more like PA, OH, western NY, etc.

[vivo]

I don't really understand how Western MD can be all that southern. or is this another situation of confusing "country" for southern?
sure the accent may sound backwoods but that does not constitute southern. and we're talking about the only bonafide union backing md regioon during the civil war.

[vivo]

though the eastern shore/so md seems to lack the large scots-irish population of the south which is probably provides for a large culture gap.

[westsideboy]

Western Maryland was settled largely along the yeoman farmer, small industrial town, trading post format of SW PA. Slavery was legal, but the number of slaves was always very low. The region was strongly pro-union in the Civil War, although a sizeable Confederate sympathizing minority existed.

As for the accent, it is normally considered a "midland" accent, similar to the accent in northern WV, SW PA, and Appalachian OH. Still pretty twangy, but not normally classified as Southern.

[KeyserSoze]

The 2000 Census states that the highest reported ancestry in Maryland is African-American. Additionally, there's a concentration of rural blacks within the state, specifically in Southern Maryland and the Lower Eastern Shore.

I was surprised to see that so many counties were light blue(German), considering the Calvert and so many other influential families and colonists came from British ancestry, which is also what I assume the ancestry is for those whom answered "American". You have to consider that some counties have a large number of people with German ancestry, and others may be neck and neck with those who share Irish ancestry, etc.

[westsideboy]

Northern and Western Maryland were initially populated largely by Germans coming down from PA, hence their more Northern leaning culture.

"American" ancestry is most often a euphamism for Scots-Irish. I think the ancestors of those people moved around alot, from northern Britain, to lowland Scotland, to Ireland, and then to Appalachia, and thus don't really identify with a "ethnic culture" as such.

Irish is large component of the population in the Baltimore region and in the urban areas of Western Maryland. I think in Cumberland the ranking is German, Irish, American.

[cpterp]

Originally Posted by NYMTman

washingtonpost.com (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/19/AR2010031900210.html - broken link)

Montana has more in common with the south than Maryland.

Thanks for that link. I read in the Post last year that MD would switch, but wasn't sure if it had been carried out or not.

Here's a great article from the Baltimore Sun link on the issue: It's Time For Marylanders To Look Away From Dixieland - Baltimore Sun


As for the rest of the discussion, I said my piece on why Maryland was [more] Northern a few pages back, and this topic has been debated ad nauseum on about half of the threads on the MD board.

I think one thing everyone can all agree on though is that Maryland is a split state, and neither fully Northern nor Southern. That's why half the time, it's labelled "Mid-Atlantic." The real question is which set of traits in the state are dominant: North[east]ern or South[east]ern?

As I've said before, nearly all the evidence of Maryland's "southerness" is found in relics or pre-Civil War history. In the present day there is virtually no hard, objective, statistic (in areas such as wealth, politics, density, education, religion, transit use etc.) that would tie Maryland (at large) to the South. The only one that does is probably the state's relatively high percentage of African-Americans (something shared with Delaware), since they have a substantial presence in all corners of the state except W. Md. However, at the same time, Maryland has a much higher proportion of some other "Northeastern" ethinicities, such as Italian, than any other Southern state (except maybe FL, which has it's own unique culture).

So, Maryland is Maryland just as DC is DC, neither fish nor fowl. If it must be Northern or Southern though, well I'll reiterate my stance that it's Northern. It's like determining whether fuschia is red (Northern) or blue (Southern).

[$mk8795]

Originally Posted by vivo

I don't really understand how Western MD can be all that southern. or is this another situation of confusing "country" for southern?
sure the accent may sound backwoods but that does not constitute southern. and we're talking about the only bonafide union backing md regioon during the civil war.

Irregardless Maryland is a Southern State......

[$mk8795]

Originally Posted by vivo

though the eastern shore/so md seems to lack the large scots-irish population of the south which is probably provides for a large culture gap.

I heard that there is a good size German population in the South. Maybe thats why BMW has a plant in South Carolina......

[KeyserSoze]

Well a lot of Pennsylvania Dutch settled the Appalachians of Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina.