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

Forum Index » Off-Topic

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

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][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…. )
[/quote]

Thanks!  I have been to Western Maryland.  The area around Hagerstown is part of the Great Valley and, not surprisingly, seems less Southern than places farther down I-81 (Harrisonburg, Stanton, Roanoke), but a bit more Southern than places farther north (Harrisburg).  That makes sense, since there was a migration from Pennsylvania down into the Shenandoah Valley, which is why it’s culturally different in some respects from the Piedmont area of Virginia—the Blue Ridge Mountains acted as a barrier between these two areas.

Far Western Maryland (Cumberland) is basically wedged between Pennsylvania and West Virginia.  That’s really more Appalachia than anything else.  (BTW—West Virginia is a state that’s hard for me to categorize.  Feels Southern yet it seceded from Virginia in the Civil War.  Not really Northern or Mid-Atlantic because it’s so culturally different from much of what we think of as the Northeast/Mid Atlantic.  And not really Midwestern, though it can feel that way along the Ohio River.)

The part of Maryland that feels most “Southern” to me is not the Eastern Shore but Southern Maryland.  Economically that area is tied to Washington/Annapolis/Baltimore, but has an agricultural history and, if I recall correctly, a tobacco heritage.  And I think the fact that Maryland is below the Pennsylvania-Maryland portion of the Mason-Dixon Line helps to give it some of its Southern influences, even if it is primarily a Northern state.

As for what makes something “Southern,” I think it’s a combination of things you identified—history, accents, food, etc.  Those things tend align more in the core areas of the South and may become misaligned on the periphery.  That’s why Northern Virginia may only check some of the boxes, and checks fewer boxes than other parts of Virginia.  But it does check at least some boxes and, for better or worse (depending on your perspective), is part of a larger Commonwealth—which means that even if it feels fairly “Northern,” its politics and economics are tied to the overall politics of the state it’s in.  And while Northern Virginia is largely responsible for Virginia’s Democratic tilt in the last 20 years, sometimes the rest of the state pulls NoVa back as happened in the 2021 statewide elections.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics