How southern is the Richmond area?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Culturally pretty southern. My BFF and my nextdoor neighbor are both from Richmond. They both wear pearls, pastels / Lily Pulitzer, Jack Rogers or Tory Burch sandals, and generally exude a Southern sorority girl vibe. My neighbor dresses her kids in smocked, embroidered outfits for every holiday and has oil paintings of her kids - very similar to our family friends in North Carolina. They are ALL about things like baby showers, meal trains, and all the traditional homemaker / Pinterest things I associate with southern women, Mormons, and stay at home moms.

It sounds as though when you see "southern," you only hear "white southern."

I'm not saying you're the only one on this thread who does that, but it's pretty telling.

Southern doesn’t equal Mormon, at all.

Does your BFF know you think these things? Oh no, meal trains when someone is sick or dies?! Baby showers! How nasty?!

DP here. Actually Mormon wives and white Southern wives have a lot in common. Big emphasis on homemaking and being SAHM’s, having at least 3 kids, dressing them in matching or cutesy clothes, and in general just having their entire identify being motherhood and their children.

That does not describe the average Richmond mother, at all. GMAFB.

-Born and raised in Richmond

Well I was born and raised in Richmond too and that describes every wife/mother I know who still lives here. Sure a couple of them teach preschool 3 mornings a week or sell some sort of MLM, but the rest is absolutely accurate. Also post endless on social media about motherhood. 3 kids minimum.

This will change when NOVAite bring their high salaries and two salaries will be required to buy/maintain a nice home.

Maybe, but it will take a generation since all of the current crop already have their homes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Exburban Richmond is more southern than Richmond proper.

This really depends. The area around the Country Club of VA, St. Catherine’s and St, Christopher’s is about as southern as it gets.

^ This. West End folks who were born and raised in Richmond are definitely southern. My college roommate and her boyfriend were in these circles. They were as southern as the folks from Savannah, NC, or Atlanta.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Exburban Richmond is more southern than Richmond proper.

This really depends. The area around the Country Club of VA, St. Catherine’s and St, Christopher’s is about as southern as it gets.

^ This. West End folks who were born and raised in Richmond are definitely southern. My college roommate and her boyfriend were in these circles. They were as southern as the folks from Savannah, NC, or Atlanta.

Atlanta feels nothing remotely southern. it’s like DC, a transplant city that’s squished in between two southern states.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Culturally pretty southern. My BFF and my nextdoor neighbor are both from Richmond. They both wear pearls, pastels / Lily Pulitzer, Jack Rogers or Tory Burch sandals, and generally exude a Southern sorority girl vibe. My neighbor dresses her kids in smocked, embroidered outfits for every holiday and has oil paintings of her kids - very similar to our family friends in North Carolina. They are ALL about things like baby showers, meal trains, and all the traditional homemaker / Pinterest things I associate with southern women, Mormons, and stay at home moms.

It sounds as though when you see "southern," you only hear "white southern."

I'm not saying you're the only one on this thread who does that, but it's pretty telling.

Southern doesn’t equal Mormon, at all.

Does your BFF know you think these things? Oh no, meal trains when someone is sick or dies?! Baby showers! How nasty?!

DP here. Actually Mormon wives and white Southern wives have a lot in common. Big emphasis on homemaking and being SAHM’s, having at least 3 kids, dressing them in matching or cutesy clothes, and in general just having their entire identify being motherhood and their children.

That does not describe the average Richmond mother, at all. GMAFB.

-Born and raised in Richmond

Well I was born and raised in Richmond too and that describes every wife/mother I know who still lives here. Sure a couple of them teach preschool 3 mornings a week or sell some sort of MLM, but the rest is absolutely accurate. Also post endless on social media about motherhood. 3 kids minimum.

This will change when NOVAite bring their high salaries and two salaries will be required to buy/maintain a nice home.

If this is inevitable then you NOVA folks should just stay put.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Exburban Richmond is more southern than Richmond proper.

This really depends. The area around the Country Club of VA, St. Catherine’s and St, Christopher’s is about as southern as it gets.

^ This. West End folks who were born and raised in Richmond are definitely southern. My college roommate and her boyfriend were in these circles. They were as southern as the folks from Savannah, NC, or Atlanta.

Atlanta feels nothing remotely southern. it’s like DC, a transplant city that’s squished in between two southern states.

Again, totally depends upon WHERE in Atlanta.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Exburban Richmond is more southern than Richmond proper.

This really depends. The area around the Country Club of VA, St. Catherine’s and St, Christopher’s is about as southern as it gets.

^ This. West End folks who were born and raised in Richmond are definitely southern. My college roommate and her boyfriend were in these circles. They were as southern as the folks from Savannah, NC, or Atlanta.

Atlanta feels nothing remotely southern. it’s like DC, a transplant city that’s squished in between two southern states.

Again, totally depends upon WHERE in Atlanta.

Atlanta itself is like DC. Majority black, and largely de facto segregated. But the northern suburbs and exurbs of atlanta is largely comparable to northern virginia. the tech corridor here is like alpharetta, with places like south foresyth having a high indian population that work in tech jobs like loudoun. cobb and gwinnett are like fairfax and prince william. nonetheless if you leave 45 minutes outside either region you’re distinctly in the south (probably more noticeably in georgia for obvious reasons)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Culturally pretty southern. My BFF and my nextdoor neighbor are both from Richmond. They both wear pearls, pastels / Lily Pulitzer, Jack Rogers or Tory Burch sandals, and generally exude a Southern sorority girl vibe. My neighbor dresses her kids in smocked, embroidered outfits for every holiday and has oil paintings of her kids - very similar to our family friends in North Carolina. They are ALL about things like baby showers, meal trains, and all the traditional homemaker / Pinterest things I associate with southern women, Mormons, and stay at home moms.

It sounds as though when you see "southern," you only hear "white southern."

I'm not saying you're the only one on this thread who does that, but it's pretty telling.

Southern doesn’t equal Mormon, at all.

Does your BFF know you think these things? Oh no, meal trains when someone is sick or dies?! Baby showers! How nasty?!

DP here. Actually Mormon wives and white Southern wives have a lot in common. Big emphasis on homemaking and being SAHM’s, having at least 3 kids, dressing them in matching or cutesy clothes, and in general just having their entire identify being motherhood and their children.

That does not describe the average Richmond mother, at all. GMAFB.

-Born and raised in Richmond

Well I was born and raised in Richmond too and that describes every wife/mother I know who still lives here. Sure a couple of them teach preschool 3 mornings a week or sell some sort of MLM, but the rest is absolutely accurate. Also post endless on social media about motherhood. 3 kids minimum.

Sure. Every woman you know who still lives there is a SAHM? All of them?

Not the ones I know, or my siblings or my mother or my grandmother. So I guess we cancel each other out. I call troll.

I'm not a troll. Maybe your family isn't very well off? UMC married women in Richmond either don't work or have hobby jobs or work very part time. Especially the ones who come from families who have been there a very long time.

OK, I'm a new poster who lives here (as a transplant) and your 3 mom friends are irrelevant to the OP's question, as the OP will not hang out with this dying breed of people, who are probably inbred too. In Short Pump, most families are dual income and highly educated. In some neighborhoods, the HHI pushes 1 million, because you know that the South Asian MILs expect highly educated and working DILs for their surgeon sons. Capital One, VCU Health, Bon Secours, the gazillion of law firms, CarMax have tons of women in leadership positions. Altria Group (former Philip Morris) has 40% women and POC leadership. There is also a sizable Jewish community in RVA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Culturally pretty southern. My BFF and my nextdoor neighbor are both from Richmond. They both wear pearls, pastels / Lily Pulitzer, Jack Rogers or Tory Burch sandals, and generally exude a Southern sorority girl vibe. My neighbor dresses her kids in smocked, embroidered outfits for every holiday and has oil paintings of her kids - very similar to our family friends in North Carolina. They are ALL about things like baby showers, meal trains, and all the traditional homemaker / Pinterest things I associate with southern women, Mormons, and stay at home moms.

But that's a very specific area and circle in Richmond. These people send their kids to St Chris/Catherine's.

I accidentally sent my one year to preschool with these people. My child was the only one not wearing Lily Pulitzer frocks. The teacher gestured to her clothes and said with a frown, "I love her . . . leggings?" I said, yeah, they're from Target!

We sent her to the Montessori school after that, where it cost 3x as much but not one looked down on my Target duds. There were no nannies picking up the kids while mom played tennis at the Country Club of Virginia. Just parents swapping stories about how to cloth diaper, etc.

It's easy to hang out in one circle and think it represents all of a place. There are plenty of people who aren't white/conservative/frock wearing/church going/etc. But if your circle is all one thing, then that's all you know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Culturally pretty southern. My BFF and my nextdoor neighbor are both from Richmond. They both wear pearls, pastels / Lily Pulitzer, Jack Rogers or Tory Burch sandals, and generally exude a Southern sorority girl vibe. My neighbor dresses her kids in smocked, embroidered outfits for every holiday and has oil paintings of her kids - very similar to our family friends in North Carolina. They are ALL about things like baby showers, meal trains, and all the traditional homemaker / Pinterest things I associate with southern women, Mormons, and stay at home moms.

It sounds as though when you see "southern," you only hear "white southern."

I'm not saying you're the only one on this thread who does that, but it's pretty telling.

Southern doesn’t equal Mormon, at all.

Does your BFF know you think these things? Oh no, meal trains when someone is sick or dies?! Baby showers! How nasty?!

DP here. Actually Mormon wives and white Southern wives have a lot in common. Big emphasis on homemaking and being SAHM’s, having at least 3 kids, dressing them in matching or cutesy clothes, and in general just having their entire identify being motherhood and their children.

That does not describe the average Richmond mother, at all. GMAFB.

-Born and raised in Richmond

Well I was born and raised in Richmond too and that describes every wife/mother I know who still lives here. Sure a couple of them teach preschool 3 mornings a week or sell some sort of MLM, but the rest is absolutely accurate. Also post endless on social media about motherhood. 3 kids minimum.

Sure. Every woman you know who still lives there is a SAHM? All of them?

Not the ones I know, or my siblings or my mother or my grandmother. So I guess we cancel each other out. I call troll.

I'm not a troll. Maybe your family isn't very well off? UMC married women in Richmond either don't work or have hobby jobs or work very part time. Especially the ones who come from families who have been there a very long time.

You're definitely a troll.

Nope. But you are definitely not from Richmond.

13 yr senior of St C but ok.

None of my college friends or acquaintances from St. C have real jobs. Not one. Some have hobby jobs.

I know, look at all these losers selling candles on Facebook, especially Lt. Col. Lauren Wagner Palagi.

https://cms.fnal.gov/jennet-dickinson/

https://www.st.catherines.org/news-detail?pk=541868

https://www.rocketstem.org/2014/03/12/kimberly-lichtenberg-spends-her-days-sampling-martian-soil-and-rocks/

https://www.library.upenn.edu/detail/person/kaylin-blount

https://www.inta.org/perspectives/interviews/keeping-up-with-change-track-leader-monique-cheng-joe-on-innovation-and-the-future-of-ip/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Exburban Richmond is more southern than Richmond proper.

This really depends. The area around the Country Club of VA, St. Catherine’s and St, Christopher’s is about as southern as it gets.

^ This. West End folks who were born and raised in Richmond are definitely southern. My college roommate and her boyfriend were in these circles. They were as southern as the folks from Savannah, NC, or Atlanta.

Atlanta feels nothing remotely southern. it’s like DC, a transplant city that’s squished in between two southern states.

Again, totally depends upon WHERE in Atlanta.

Atlanta itself is like DC. Majority black, and largely de facto segregated. But the northern suburbs and exurbs of atlanta is largely comparable to northern virginia. the tech corridor here is like alpharetta, with places like south foresyth having a high indian population that work in tech jobs like loudoun. cobb and gwinnett are like fairfax and prince william. nonetheless if you leave 45 minutes outside either region you’re distinctly in the south (probably more noticeably in georgia for obvious reasons)

Atlanta is like Richmond in that it depends what part of town you’re in. Westminster is the ATL equivalent of St Christopher’s and St Catherine’s. Debutante balls at least when I went to college with these folks were still very much a thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Culturally pretty southern. My BFF and my nextdoor neighbor are both from Richmond. They both wear pearls, pastels / Lily Pulitzer, Jack Rogers or Tory Burch sandals, and generally exude a Southern sorority girl vibe. My neighbor dresses her kids in smocked, embroidered outfits for every holiday and has oil paintings of her kids - very similar to our family friends in North Carolina. They are ALL about things like baby showers, meal trains, and all the traditional homemaker / Pinterest things I associate with southern women, Mormons, and stay at home moms.

It sounds as though when you see "southern," you only hear "white southern."

I'm not saying you're the only one on this thread who does that, but it's pretty telling.

Southern doesn’t equal Mormon, at all.

Does your BFF know you think these things? Oh no, meal trains when someone is sick or dies?! Baby showers! How nasty?!

DP here. Actually Mormon wives and white Southern wives have a lot in common. Big emphasis on homemaking and being SAHM’s, having at least 3 kids, dressing them in matching or cutesy clothes, and in general just having their entire identify being motherhood and their children.

That does not describe the average Richmond mother, at all. GMAFB.

-Born and raised in Richmond

Well I was born and raised in Richmond too and that describes every wife/mother I know who still lives here. Sure a couple of them teach preschool 3 mornings a week or sell some sort of MLM, but the rest is absolutely accurate. Also post endless on social media about motherhood. 3 kids minimum.

Sure. Every woman you know who still lives there is a SAHM? All of them?

Not the ones I know, or my siblings or my mother or my grandmother. So I guess we cancel each other out. I call troll.

I'm not a troll. Maybe your family isn't very well off? UMC married women in Richmond either don't work or have hobby jobs or work very part time. Especially the ones who come from families who have been there a very long time.

You're definitely a troll.

Nope. But you are definitely not from Richmond.

13 yr senior of St C but ok.

None of my college friends or acquaintances from St. C have real jobs. Not one. Some have hobby jobs.

I know, look at all these losers selling candles on Facebook, especially Lt. Col. Lauren Wagner Palagi.

https://cms.fnal.gov/jennet-dickinson/

https://www.st.catherines.org/news-detail?pk=541868

https://www.rocketstem.org/2014/03/12/kimberly-lichtenberg-spends-her-days-sampling-martian-soil-and-rocks/

https://www.library.upenn.edu/detail/person/kaylin-blount

https://www.inta.org/perspectives/interviews/keeping-up-with-change-track-leader-monique-cheng-joe-on-innovation-and-the-future-of-ip/

NP here. I know Lauren (who is a bad@ss) and her sister (who is a biglaw attorney).

In my class at St. C, there are several lawyers, doctors, dentists, a minister, a google exec, some teachers (from PhD college profs to elementary school), an engineer, a policy wonk, lobbyists, a chief of staff at the Fed, a hedge fund executive, a dominion power executive, etc. I think out of our class of 45, I know of maybe 2 SAHM but it doesn’t matter because it’s not a crime to be a SAHM. Good for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was born and raised in Richmond and my entire extended family still lives there. IMO it is a wonderful place to love and raised a family. Great arts and cultural events scene, nice restaurants, great sports opportunities for kids, less than 90 min to beach, 2 hrs or less to DC, River activities in the summer, decent weather, great job opportunities. Very nice people.

I went to private schools, but from what I understand Chesterfield and western Henrico counties have the best public school systems. But unlike here, Richmond has a large number of private schools, many of which would be deemed “good deals” for DMV standards. Their parochial schools are also good. You get way more bang for your buck in their privates down there than here.

As for people asking what church you go to, almost everyone I know there is Episcopalian and we are definitely NOT evangelical or shoving religion down your throat. They’re very laid back and accepting.

Politically while it is a liberal leaning area they are more moderate than NOVA. I knew/predicted Youngkin was going to win after visiting my parents and seeing all the Youngkin signs vs hardly any here. But these aren’t Trumpsters.

Depending on where you live it can be quite insular. I’ve heard this from a lot of people but I’m a native so I don’t know what it’s like to be a nonnative. I will say almost ALL of my graduating class from my private has moved back and lives in Richmond, which is kind of crazy. Almost all.

This is my experience as well. Born and raised, went to private. I disagree there aren't Trumpers. There are not MAGA people going to Trump rallies, but plenty of my private school friends who stayed held their nose and voted for Trump. It is absolutely more conservative than N VA but agree that I would call it moderate and certainly not deep red.

Totally agree with you and at least one other poster talking about how insular it is. So many people who grow up stay there - and I have heard it can be hard to fit in, and I can tell from my facebook feed that my private school friends all still hang out with the same crowd. Nothing wrong with that, but I imagine it could make it tough to truly find your people if you are moving in from out of town.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Culturally pretty southern. My BFF and my nextdoor neighbor are both from Richmond. They both wear pearls, pastels / Lily Pulitzer, Jack Rogers or Tory Burch sandals, and generally exude a Southern sorority girl vibe. My neighbor dresses her kids in smocked, embroidered outfits for every holiday and has oil paintings of her kids - very similar to our family friends in North Carolina. They are ALL about things like baby showers, meal trains, and all the traditional homemaker / Pinterest things I associate with southern women, Mormons, and stay at home moms.

It sounds as though when you see "southern," you only hear "white southern."

I'm not saying you're the only one on this thread who does that, but it's pretty telling.

Southern doesn’t equal Mormon, at all.

Does your BFF know you think these things? Oh no, meal trains when someone is sick or dies?! Baby showers! How nasty?!

DP here. Actually Mormon wives and white Southern wives have a lot in common. Big emphasis on homemaking and being SAHM’s, having at least 3 kids, dressing them in matching or cutesy clothes, and in general just having their entire identify being motherhood and their children.

That does not describe the average Richmond mother, at all. GMAFB.

-Born and raised in Richmond

Well I was born and raised in Richmond too and that describes every wife/mother I know who still lives here. Sure a couple of them teach preschool 3 mornings a week or sell some sort of MLM, but the rest is absolutely accurate. Also post endless on social media about motherhood. 3 kids minimum.

Sure. Every woman you know who still lives there is a SAHM? All of them?

Not the ones I know, or my siblings or my mother or my grandmother. So I guess we cancel each other out. I call troll.

I'm not a troll. Maybe your family isn't very well off? UMC married women in Richmond either don't work or have hobby jobs or work very part time. Especially the ones who come from families who have been there a very long time.

You're definitely a troll.

Nope. But you are definitely not from Richmond.

13 yr senior of St C but ok.

None of my college friends or acquaintances from St. C have real jobs. Not one. Some have hobby jobs.

Total lie. Did you actually go to St. Catherine's? It sounds like you didn't. How many college friends or acquaintances do you know from St. Catherine's?

I went there, so did my sisters. The school seriously helped nurture me and help me get into a highly coveted university that is often discussed on DCUM . The school is hard core into professional networking for their alumnae, celebrating professional achievements of their many esteemed graduates. They have a networking app, regular events all over the world (not fundraising, but networking). They have helped me several times in my career and I have in turn helped younger alumnae. It is a phenomenal school for girls. I am very proud to be a graduate and you have some real weird agenda against it.

It also instilled in me a respect for people's choices. If someone wants to have a hobby job, so what. If someone is middle class, also so what. It's not against the law to be middle class or to be rich or to decide you would rather have a less stressful job or no job at all. You sound like a huge snob and bigot.

Here is their alumnae page (the photo at the top is from the most recent Career Day). I wish there was a school like this in DMV for my daughters or that St. Catherine's went back to accepting borders.

https://www.st.catherines.org/alumnae

[Anonymous]

The entire south is flyover country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The entire south is flyover country.

then why are all the fastest growing states all in the south (nc, ga, tx, fl)?