Do North Carolinians view D.C. or Atlanta as their closest major city? (Charlotte: living, things to do)

[Tarheelhombre]

Originally Posted by SGMI

Atlanta's has more economic and cultural reach into N.C. than DC. People that grow up here would sense that Atlanta is "a major southern city" while DC is part of the northeast, it starts off the "BoshWash".

Atlanta is likely somewhere you might likely change planes or busses as a child, traveling to another place. People know that they must plan how to navigate through it, or around it. DC is kind of "off to the side" and you can travel north without encountering it.

I strongly suspect you could find more N.C. natives that have never been to DC, than those who have never been to Atlanta.

No, your view is very southernNC/Charlotte-centric. It’s not true for The Triangle, northern NC, Outer Banks, or Northeast NC.

[NC Observer]

Originally Posted by HatchChile

But, not always. I remember reading some guy's post here who wasn't only ashamed but truly disgusted that he had a slight Southern accent. He was telling this other person who was planning to move here to not to, because {shock!!} their kids would end up having a southern accent. Being a gay person, I do understand what internalized shame means -- every gay person experiences it, you can't change the world, because whether you like it or not, you being who you are is not the way the world works by default. But, anyway, I have never thought there could be an internalized shame for being a Southerner. I found it completely shocking and sad. There is nothing you can do about it.

I’ve never heard of this, but it’s a fact that people with a southern accent are mocked by many people from the northeast or west coast. Even today. It’s happened to me many times over the years (mine is very slight). There is still the thought that many “southerners” are like the people on The Dukes of Hazzard.

[Charlotte485]

Originally Posted by HatchChile

I am not surprised. In this forum alone people couldn't believe that Atlanta could go for Biden, or win two run off elections. I have noticed that many people in this forum look up to VA but look down to SC and GA. Tons of threads about whether or not NC is true South, or if it is or isn't close to VA or SC culture just shows that people have weird feeling about the place they live in. It could just be the transplants. They may want to feel good about the choices they have made. I dunno.

You can add NC to the list some also look down upon which again is crazy considering, well. That’s the state their beloved area is in.


Raleigh actually felt more stereotypical southern to me than Charlotte growing up. Biscuits, BBQ and way more bluegrass that I experienced first hand. The good cuisine usually is southern. I had step family growing up that lived in Wake so that shaped a lot of my perceptions. As an adult, obviously as an atheist I don’t do that and I actually don’t like southern or fried food (not tea, I just tried BBQ for the first time 5 years ago.)


Charlotte, growing up, I was around more black culture. The center urban part of Charlotte always felt African-American influenced to me (ignoring Ballantyne and all that because that’s pretty much it’s own suburb, really.) I was more used to suburbs, black leaders, black people being heavily involved in the community. Charlotte just seems to become more and more diverse. It seems the African American population is becoming wealthier than when I was growing up too.


My point to it is. Raleigh is completely southern. As southern as it comes. Just like Charlotte and Atlanta. Raleigh culturally is way more like Charlotte and Atlanta than it is DC or anywhere north of it (I’m not too familiar with Richmond and Norfolk but they seem more resemblant of the Bos/Wash corridor than it is to Raleigh down 85 to ATL. I just don’t understand this constant need to keep pretending somehow, Raleigh isn’t southern and comparing it to a city it’s really not that similar to. At all. Maybe some of the exurbs??


Southern doesn’t mean redneck...and for some people sneering at bejng labeled as southern. I guarantee you, everyone else is labeling Raleigh, North Carolina as southern no matter how hard people wanna randomly pretend otherwise.

[NC Observer]

Originally Posted by Charlotte485

My point to it is. Raleigh is completely southern. As southern as it comes. Just like Charlotte and Atlanta. Raleigh culturally is way more like Charlotte and Atlanta than it is DC or anywhere north of it (I’m not too familiar with Richmond and Norfolk but they seem more resemblant of the Bos/Wash corridor than it is to Raleigh down 85 to ATL. I just don’t understand this constant need to keep pretending somehow, Raleigh isn’t southern and comparing it to a city it’s really not that similar to. At all. Maybe some of the exurbs??

Did someone make a post stating that Raleigh wasn't southern ? What in the world does this have to do with the subject of this thread ? I agree that Raleigh is way more like Charlotte and Atlanta versus D.C. , but did anyone claim otherwise ?

Do you think that Cary, NC is "as southern as it comes" ?

If your comments are directed at me, this is what I said (Post #8):
In terms of influence and cultural amenities offered, it’s Washington, DC without a doubt. Atlanta has absolutely no “influence” on North Carolina (whatever that means) and it is also a cultural backwater compared to DC.

I said nothing about Raleigh being non-southern. I was simply comparing Washington DC to Atlanta, based upon my opinion.

Yes, compared to Washington, DC, Raleigh is most certainly a cultural backwater.

[builder24car]

Between Atlanta or DC, for me it is Atlanta without question.
I love Atlanta and if I never set foot in DC again it will be too soon!

[Charlotte485]

Originally Posted by NC Observer

Did someone make a post stating that Raleigh wasn't southern ? What in the world does this have to do with the subject of this thread ? I agree that Raleigh is way more like Charlotte and Atlanta versus D.C. , but did anyone claim otherwise ?

Do you think that Cary, NC is "as southern as it comes" ?

If your comments are directed at me, this is what I said (Post #8):
In terms of influence and cultural amenities offered, it’s Washington, DC without a doubt. Atlanta has absolutely no “influence” on North Carolina (whatever that means) and it is also a cultural backwater compared to DC.

I said nothing about Raleigh being non-southern. I was simply comparing Washington DC to Atlanta, based upon my opinion.

Yes, compared to Washington, DC, Raleigh is most certainly a cultural backwater.

I wasn’t responding to you nor did I mention you.

I was responding to the quoted poster who was talking about posters in the forum looking up to VA and down at SC & GA. Which I have noticed some Raleigh posters do it quite often (but I think it’s the same couple people with new accounts because they keep getting banned. - and I’m not insinuating you are one of those posters).

[LM117]

When I growing up in eastern NC, the general consensus was Raleigh (still is, as far as I know). DC or Atlanta were hardly mentioned, and the only time I've ever heard anyone bring up Charlotte is when somebody scored tickets to a Panthers game.

[Vatnos]

Originally Posted by Charlotte485

Raleigh actually felt more stereotypical southern to me than Charlotte growing up. Biscuits, BBQ and way more bluegrass that I experienced first hand. The good cuisine usually is southern.

I don't perceive a southern tilt to Raleigh's cuisine. That's quite baffling. It's fairly cosmopolitan. Mediterranean and Indian tend to be the strongest representations imo. There is good southern food though. I lived in Raleigh in the 90s fwiw, not rural Wake County, which was basically country back then.

My point to it is. Raleigh is completely southern. As southern as it comes. Just like Charlotte and Atlanta. Raleigh culturally is way more like Charlotte and Atlanta than it is DC or anywhere north of it (I’m not too familiar with Richmond and Norfolk but they seem more resemblant of the Bos/Wash corridor than it is to Raleigh down 85 to ATL

I would agree that it is much more like Charlotte and Atlanta than DC or Baltimore, and that it is southern. No one has accents though, and the majority of people living there came there after the 1950s, so it is an extremely different kind of southern than actual "as southern as it gets" cities like Savannah or New Orleans, and the same could be said for Charlotte or Atlanta, which are also diluted. I think all major cities in the country are sort of converging on a common culture, due to the internet and migration.

I am familiar with Richmond and Norfolk. Both are more southern than not. Norfolk resembles NC metros with its multiple small cores in a sea of fairly recent sprawl. It would easily fit right at home in the state. We'd probably call it the quadrangle or the pentad or something silly, in that universe. Richmond doesn't resemble NC much, with its many neighborhoods of historic row houses. At the same time Richmond had more of its growth in the 19th and early 20th century than NC cities did, so more of its original southern character is retained, arguably.

[Tarheelhombre]

Raleigh is southern, but it’s very far from “southern as it gets.”

[NC Observer]

Originally Posted by Vatnos

I don't perceive a southern tilt to Raleigh's cuisine. That's quite baffling. It's fairly cosmopolitan. Mediterranean and Indian tend to be the strongest representations imo. There is good southern food though. I lived in Raleigh in the 90s fwiw, not rural Wake County, which was basically country back then.

A Raleigh chef won the national James Beard award in 2019. Raleigh actually has/had (pre-covid) a very robust nationally recognized restaurant scene.