Charlotte vs the Triangle vs the Triad, more southern? (Raleigh: buy, restaurant)
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I would say Charlotte is very southern today. Sitting on my son's back porch, in the heat with breezes blowing, sipping iced tea and watching the grandchildren play.
I went through the Charlotte Airport recently and found a place that did not serve sweet tea, so it's a small thing, but I would vote for the Triangle as being more southern. I can always get sweet tea there.
Yeah but the Charlotte airport has white rocking chairs all over the place.
I vote neither has much of a 'southern feel', which has zero affect on my pleasure of living here!
I love the Southern feel in the historical parts. I think Charlotte has Southern charm (not sure about Raleigh) and I love it (and I say that as a super liberal, gay millenial who hates guns rednecks, confederate flags and the tea party and son of Europeans). There is a difference between "Southern" and "Redneck"
Raleigh has a decent allotment of historic structures inside the beltline, and it certainly has character, but it's not a particularly southern place. It's southern in the sense that DC is "southern".
You could be right, but Raleigh (and Charlotte to a larger extent) are also a bit southern the same way the Atlanta metro is. All three metro areas are growing, populated by a ton of transplants, and meet the "New South" criteria. Many people compare the Triangle to NOVA, but I see more similarities with the Atlanta metro. However, this is only based from my experiences in both areas, I could be the only one.
I agree with the post about NASCAR contributing to the Southern influence of Charlotte. I think that attracts a more decidedly Southern fan base than some of the sporting events in the Triangle that center around basketball.
The level of Southern feel is almost a tossup between Charlotte and the Triangle and as far as percentages of the population who has a Southern vibe, I'd give a slight edge to Charlotte feeling more southern due to NASCAR and perhaps its proximity to South Carolina. The edge to Charlotte is just an opinion based on antetcdotal observation though.
With that said, even though the percentage of Southerners in Raleigh feels like it's less than Charlotte, the Southerners there give off more of a cultural vibe and accent of the deep South, probably because of its proximity to parts of rural and agricultural eastern North Carolina where natives pronounce the state "Know-eth Kay-uh-Line-uh". Many old school politicians and Raleigh natives living inside the beltline seem to have that accent. The Southerners in Charlotte (and much of the western Piedmont of NC) have less of the deep south accent and mannerisms and more of a hint of a Southern Appalachian accent and culture just because of Charlotte's proximity to the mountains.
I agree with the post about NASCAR contributing to the Southern influence of Charlotte. I think that attracts a more decidedly Southern fan base than some of the sporting events in the Triangle that center around basketball.
The level of Southern feel is almost a tossup between Charlotte and the Triangle and as far as percentages of the population who has a Southern vibe, I'd give a slight edge to Charlotte feeling more southern due to NASCAR and perhaps its proximity to South Carolina. The edge to Charlotte is just an opinion based on antetcdotal observation though.
With that said, even though the percentage of Southerners in Raleigh feels like it's less than Charlotte, the Southerners there give off more of a cultural vibe and accent of the deep South, probably because of its proximity to parts of rural and agricultural eastern North Carolina where natives pronounce the state "Know-eth Kay-uh-Line-uh". Many old school politicians and Raleigh natives living inside the beltline seem to have that accent. The Southerners in Charlotte (and much of the western Piedmont of NC) have less of the deep south accent and mannerisms and more of a hint of a Southern Appalachian accent and culture just because of Charlotte's proximity to the mountains.
Every time I went to Raleigh and also my step family in Raleigh, I've noticed that accent. They're from Angier & Fuquay-Varina area.
Conversely my family and friends family in law from rural counties in Metrolina (Lincoln & Cleveland) have - to me - the normal southern accent. *Sort of * like a much more watered down version of Larry the Cable Guy (horrible example but it's the only way I can think to describe it)
I never really think of NASCAR when I think of Charlotte. Concord, Mooresville, Cornelius & Davidson come to mind though. I do believe NASCAR is a huge asset though because I meet people allll the time weekly from out of town (usually Canada which is weird, then mostly California & New England). Yesterday at the lake I ran across a couple visiting from California and they loved the area, they loved the lake. I have them a list of places to go and eat. They were here for Nascar
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Originally Posted by Jowel
I agree with the post about NASCAR contributing to the Southern influence of Charlotte. I think that attracts a more decidedly Southern fan base than some of the sporting events in the Triangle that center around basketball.
The level of Southern feel is almost a tossup between Charlotte and the Triangle and as far as percentages of the population who has a Southern vibe, I'd give a slight edge to Charlotte feeling more southern due to NASCAR and perhaps its proximity to South Carolina. The edge to Charlotte is just an opinion based on antetcdotal observation though.
With that said, even though the percentage of Southerners in Raleigh feels like it's less than Charlotte, the Southerners there give off more of a cultural vibe and accent of the deep South, probably because of its proximity to parts of rural and agricultural eastern North Carolina where natives pronounce the state "Know-eth Kay-uh-Line-uh". Many old school politicians and Raleigh natives living inside the beltline seem to have that accent. The Southerners in Charlotte (and much of the western Piedmont of NC) have less of the deep south accent and mannerisms and more of a hint of a Southern Appalachian accent and culture just because of Charlotte's proximity to the mountains.
Why would NASCAR play into it? There are NASCAR tracks all over the country.
If you want to use NASCAR, try thinking about this. Philadelphia is between Pocono & Dover. That doesn't make Philly Southern. It's MidAtlantic.
When we first visited the Triangle and Charlotte in 2005, Charlotte seemed a bit more southern to me. Couldn't really tell you why but that was our initial impression of the two areas.
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