Is NOVA part of the southeastern or northeastern U.S. culturally? (Richmond: home, moving)

[BigCityDreamer]

Most people will probably agree that the DC area, including NOVA, is in a transitional region between the northeast and south.

But if you had to choose, then which region do you think NOVA actually fits in socially and culturally?

[Fern435]

I voted for NoVA being closely associated with the southeast due to the history of the area. The Northeast has a much different atmosphere/culture.

[michgc]

Definitely Northeast/Mid-Atlantic.

[JD984]

Eh...it's a trick question. You can get sweet tea and a bagel here. And people here can use the words "y'all" and "kvetch" and/or "shtick" in the same sentence.

[FindingZen]

Originally Posted by JEB77

Eh...it's a trick question. You can get sweet tea and a bagel here. And people here can use the words "y'all" and "kvetch" and/or "shtick" in the same sentence.

This isn't the first time y'all have been kvetching about the same shtick.

[smarterguy]

I love these questions and people's perception of an area.

I'm from NJ and feel at home more or less, but there ARE some southern things here that stick out. Before moving down here, I could count on one hand the number of people from the deep south that I know. They're EVERYWHERE in DC/Nova, both black and white. With that, comes their culture and their way of doing things. I don't know if the locals around here notice it but I sure do.

[Fern435]

Guess I should have expected to be the only one who thinks NoVA is more southeastern in culture/lifestyle.

[BigCityDreamer]

Originally Posted by Fern435

Guess I should have expected to be the only one who thinks NoVA is more southeastern in culture/lifestyle.

To someone from Maine, it may feel that way. But it seems there's not enough of a southeastern influence in NOVA to make that transition completely.

[tysonsengineer]

Absolutely Northeast, we are still within the eastern seaboard megalopolis if viewed from space. I would say Richmond (as the seat of the south) is clearly southeast. But NOVA has more in common with DC than it does with Richmond and one of our counties (Arlington) with a significant population of this area used to be part of DC before retro-cession.

[saganista]

I've been in the area since 1969. At that time, "inside the beltway" was a tiny island unto itself. There really isn't anything left around here that I can think of that would be a proper exemplar of the culture that ruled everywhere else. So I would say that we've become at least FAR more northeastern than we were not really very long ago.