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I pretty much agree. For me East Texas starts once I enter Diboll coming from Houston. Those towns like Huntsville/Conroe/Cleveland/ and even Livingston are like you said IMO that confluence of those areas. Funny I heard Houston news refer to Cleveland several times as a east texas town and I would sit there and say to myself, " Cleveland is East Texas since when?".
Honestly, I think I remember watching one of those exact same news stories last week...it was then that I was able to confirm that for whatever reason, Houstonians seem to consider east texas as being anything generally north/northeast of them, between Houston and Dallas...which was weird to me too...but I think with houstonians, east texas appears to just be another way of saying "some country little place to the north of here"...they make no distinction between the various areas of east texas
Honestly, I think I remember watching one of those exact same news stories last week...it was then that I was able to confirm that for whatever reason, Houstonians seem to consider east texas as being anything generally north/northeast of them, between Houston and Dallas...which was weird to me too...but I think with houstonians, east texas appears to just be another way of saying "some country little place to the north of here"...they make no distinction between the various areas of east texas
I've noticed this with most Texans period. Mainly those with no real ties to the region or who are simply unfamiliar with it altogether.
Many Houstonians, however, are unaware of our cultural and historical relation to East Texas, though. It's an affinity that exists within the city even today.
I always choose to look at East Texas as if were its own state with several parts: the north, the mid-section, the south, and the "different" big city. It's a similar situation to what you have with states like Georgia and Louisiana.
Through the campus of the (former) Lon Morris College in Jacksonville passes Sunset Street. Anyone lucky enough to have sat on the steps to the library and watched the sun set has truly experienced one of the beautiful views on this earth.
That alone proves that there's no solid definition of East Texas, since it obviously varies from person to person. Some people say it's everything east of 45, while others say it's wherever the pines start. Others don't include any part of Southeast Texas at all.
When I explain East Texas to people from out of state, the way I describe it is: generally everything from Texarkana to Galveston, broken down into North, Deep, and South-east Texas; the greenest, most southern, and most humid part of the state...but you have purists who only include the Piney Woods outside of metro Houston.
I think it mostly varies to people who are not from the region. But the notion of where the line is drawn as to where East Texas begins and ends doesn't vary that much amongst East Texans. Even if it isn't an official East Texas state line once you enter and leave the area. Like me and most people I grew up around consider East Texas anything in between or close to the 6 "major cities" in ETX. That's Tyler/Longview/Marshall/ Lufkin/ Nacogdoches/Texarkana(which would be on the edge of east texas). All the towns attached to these cities or nearby these cities or in between them would be consider East Texas.
Now I have heard of Huntsville being grouped in with East Texas when it comes to Sam Houston playing SFA in the battlefield of the Piney Woods. But very few people in those cities I mention group Huntsville in that same category. And anyone who really spends some time deep in the region will pick up on it too. I mean you see billboards with East Texas on them. You hear commercials with references to East Texas everyday. If you watch a local commercial in Huntsville or Conroe even Jasper you won't get that. You'll get southeast Texas but it's not the Piney Woods. Southeast Texas has it's own culture with closer ties to Southwest Louisiana and Cajun/Creole culture. That separates us from them because we don't have that same exact culture. Crawfish boils are not a common thing in the Piney Woods,lol. And if you happen to eat crawfish you refer to them as Mud Bugs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by soletaire
Honestly, I think I remember watching one of those exact same news stories last week...it was then that I was able to confirm that for whatever reason, Houstonians seem to consider east texas as being anything generally north/northeast of them, between Houston and Dallas...which was weird to me too...but I think with houstonians, east texas appears to just be another way of saying "some country little place to the north of here"...they make no distinction between the various areas of east texas
Yeah I think that's pretty much the basis of that inaccurate depiction of East Texas is "some country little place to the north of Here" for most Houstonians lol. I remember when me and some of my friends went to Conroe and they said were going up to East Texas. And I had to correct them like umm nope this is not MY East Texas, lol.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nairobi
I've noticed this with most Texans period. Mainly those with no real ties to the region or who are simply unfamiliar with it altogether.
Many Houstonians, however, are unaware of our cultural and historical relation to East Texas, though. It's an affinity that exists within the city even today.
I always choose to look at East Texas as if were its own state with several parts: the north, the mid-section, the south, and the "different" big city. It's a similar situation to what you have with states like Georgia and Louisiana.
I think Dallas residents are like that as well. Like I hear some Houstonians and Dallasites speak about older family members who migrated to these cities from East Texas yet might not acknowledge the contributions East Texas gave to these cities because it's still in Texas. In Houston they'll clearly recognize Louisiana contributions to they're culture and even in Dallas they might recognize Oklahoma for past contributions but since East Texas is still in Texas then you know how that goes.
I've noticed this with most Texans period. Mainly those with no real ties to the region or who are simply unfamiliar with it altogether.
Many Houstonians, however, are unaware of our cultural and historical relation to East Texas, though. It's an affinity that exists within the city even today.
I always choose to look at East Texas as if were its own state with several parts: the north, the mid-section, the south, and the "different" big city. It's a similar situation to what you have with states like Georgia and Louisiana.
Yeah...really, Houston is very strongly derivative of East Texas culture...I think alot of houstonians think that because it is now ethnically diverse, and that because it is situated near the gulf that its not a form of east texas...but to me, it has always been very much an offshoot of east texas culture...not technically IN east tex, but very much from similar stock that east tex is from
I pretty much agree. For me East Texas starts once I enter Diboll coming from Houston. Those towns like Huntsville/Conroe/Cleveland/ and even Livingston are like you said IMO that confluence of those areas. Funny I heard Houston news refer to Cleveland several times as a east texas town and I would sit there and say to myself, " Cleveland is East Texas since when?".
I consider Cleveland to be east tx. Its all relative I guess. Personally, ive always considered Beaumont to be THE "city" of East tx but on city-data it seems to take a backseat in discussions about east tx. The golden triangle defines east tx for me.
I think it mostly varies to people who are not from the region. But the notion of where the line is drawn as to where East Texas begins and ends doesn't vary that much amongst East Texans. Even if it isn't an official East Texas state line once you enter and leave the area. Like me and most people I grew up around consider East Texas anything in between or close to the 6 "major cities" in ETX. That's Tyler/Longview/Marshall/ Lufkin/ Nacogdoches/Texarkana(which would be on the edge of east texas). All the towns attached to these cities or nearby these cities or in between them would be consider East Texas.
Now I have heard of Huntsville being grouped in with East Texas when it comes to Sam Houston playing SFA in the battlefield of the Piney Woods. But very few people in those cities I mention group Huntsville in that same category. And anyone who really spends some time deep in the region will pick up on it too. I mean you see billboards with East Texas on them. You hear commercials with references to East Texas everyday. If you watch a local commercial in Huntsville or Conroe even Jasper you won't get that. You'll get southeast Texas but it's not the Piney Woods. Southeast Texas has it's own culture with closer ties to Southwest Louisiana and Cajun/Creole culture. That separates us from them because we don't have that same exact culture. Crawfish boils are not a common thing in the Piney Woods,lol. And if you happen to eat crawfish you refer to them as Mud Bugs.
Speaking as a native east texan, I noticed you have a tendency to make very good, accurate summations of the differences between the different parts of east texas...your observations East Texas are nearly identical to what i could attest to as someone who has traveled and lived throughout the east texas/ southeast texas regions...I too, had peeped that you dont ever hear mention of east texas in a cohesively cultural sense in huntsville, like you said, literally... except for that battle of the piney woods they do as you mentioned...and you're exactly right that the whole cajun creole thing was never our thing in upper east texas...I hadnt heard of boudin, and crawfish boils and zydeco or whatever until I got down to huntsville and on over into the cold springs/cleveland areas
Last edited by soletaire; 04-20-2014 at 11:49 PM..
While I feel like BMT is certainly a major city in Southeast Texas, it was never really considered a chief city in the part of east texas that im from...maybe it should have been, but it wasnt...but for me, there are different categories of east texas anyway, so no one city would probably represent the entire region..I feel like there is the arklatex, which usually comprises longview, texarkana, carthage, marshall, shreveport, and in loose definitions, Tyler, and Paris are sometimes included...
then there is Upper East Texas which while proximally close to the Ark La Tex isnt necessarily the same as the Ark La Tex...Upper east texas for me is the broader northeast texas portion of the state, Always to include towns like tyler, longview, kilgore, marshall, Nacogdoches, jacksonville, palestine, lindale, and lufkin generally...almost always places like canton, athens etc are also included in this definition unless it is defined by piney woods purists....but then, moving south, for me deep east texas begins, south of that which includes some overlap with upper east texas...by most definitions, I believe deep east texas is comprised of cities like diboll, jasper, lufkin, woodville, trinity, livingston, cold springs, cleveland, willis, and sometimes huntsville (which to me is really more of a big thicket east texas city, not necessarily deep east texas)...
beyond that southeast texas begins, which houston acts as the hub of and usually involves everything from conroe to huntsville, cleveland, humble, tomball, new waverly, liberty and points in between..after which begins the gulf coast region of the eastern part of the state which definitely includes bmt/pa, silsbee, orange, vidor and the rest of the golden triangle, but also includes galveston as well...
It should be a given that there is some overlap between the regions due to the fact that they DO share more in common with one another than they do with most other parts of the state..but thats honestly how I view all the regions that I consider to be somehow akin to the east texas that I know and recognize
Last edited by soletaire; 04-20-2014 at 11:57 PM..
I consider Cleveland to be east tx. Its all relative I guess. Personally, ive always considered Beaumont to be THE "city" of East tx but on city-data it seems to take a backseat in discussions about east tx. The golden triangle defines east tx for me.
My "two cents worth", maybe not that much; in my 68 years in East Texas, 25 in Houston, I've always heard in Houston and the Tyler area, that Beaumont was part of the Golden Triangle, never heard of Beaumont referred to in any other other way but back that, or as being in Southeast Texas. We rarely hear anything at all about Beaumont in the Tyler/Longview area and would bet Beaumont "folks" hear little about Longview or even Tyler in the Beaumont Area so maybe this explains a little about which city is "The City of East Texas"?
Oh, in Houston if people didn't know where Tyler was, I would tell them it is in North East Texas. I didn't explain, as opposed to Central East Texas or South East Texas, oh well.
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