Reply to Where does Virginia begin to feel ‘Southern’?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The South is not defined by bright lines—it’s a spectrum of cultural, geographic, and historical factors.  I think of Virginia as a Southern state with strong northern influences—and the farther north you go in Virginia, the stronger those Northern influences are and the weaker the Southern influences are.  (Conversely, I think of Maryland as a Northern state with strong Southern influences.). Northern Virginia feels much less “Southern” than places like Lynchburg, Danville, Emporia, and Richmond.  But remember that, until just a few years ago, there was a Jeff Davis Highway and a Lee Highway in Arlington; there is still a Lee-Jackson Highway in Fairfax (though that is about to be changed); all of Virginia used to celebrate Lee-Jackson-King day; there is a neighborhood in the City of Fairfax where all the street names were Confederacy-related (though that is also about to change or has recently changed); there’s Sully Planation in Fairfax—I could go on.  For someone coming from the North (as I did nearly 30 years ago), these Southern aspects of Northern Virginia stand out.  And for someone coming from the Deep South, I’m sure that Northern Virginia’s more “Northern” influences make it feel less Southern than where they’re from—but the Southern roots are still there.

By the way, I don’t buy that just because a place is a college town (like Charlottesville) or is wealthy and diverse (like Northern Virginia) means that the place is not Southern.  There are many progressive college towns scattered throughout the South, as well as large, diverse metro areas.  Atlanta is the heart of the South, but much of suburban Atlanta looks and feels like Northern Virginia.  Sure, it’s not connected to the Northeast Corridor like Northern Virginia, but demographically there are many similarities.  Some would say that Atlanta is no longer “Southern” for that reason, but that’s relies on a small-and unfairly stereotypical view of the South.[/quote]

This is a wonderfully written and thoughtful comment! I’m curious: Have you been to Western MD and the Eastern Shore?  And if so, how did that influence your sense of Maryland as a “Northern state with strong Southern influences?”  I’d like to get a better sense of some of the distinctions that you might be making.  (History, accents, food, values, politics, identity…. )
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