Kentucky and Tennesee

JayJay · May 30, 2010

I'm from the South and have always considered Tennessee to be southern and Kentucky along with West Virginia to be Appalachian.

dusty · May 30, 2010

I'm from eastern Kentucky, we are Appalachian.

jpeirpont · May 30, 2010

Originally Posted by StephenHero

The bizarre lower half of Missouri needs to be included with Kentucky and Tennessee in the "not quite south, not quite north."

Black people from St. Louis are remarkably Southern.

odoreater · May 30, 2010

What about Florida? For some reason, I find people who are from Florida and refer to themselves as "southerners" or refer to Florida as "the south" as a bit silly.

StephenHero · May 30, 2010

Originally Posted by odoreater

What about Florida? For some reason, I find people who are from Florida and refer to themselves as "southerners" or refer to Florida as "the south" as a bit silly.

A trip to Daytona will reverse that opinion.

jpeirpont · May 30, 2010

Originally Posted by odoreater

What about Florida? For some reason, I find people who are from Florida and refer to themselves as "southerners" or refer to Florida as "the south" as a bit silly.

Miami isn't very Southern, I suppose Southern Florida overall isn't. Central and Northern Florida are as Southern as Alabama.

ConcernedParent · May 30, 2010

Originally Posted by dexterhaven

Humperdink and Frodo have stated pretty well KY and TN's relation to the deep south. I'm from Mississippi, and most people there consider the two states to be southern, especially TN, although they certainly don't consider either state to be part of the deep south (except for maybe Memphis). But why do you think Appalachia and the south are mutually exclusive? I've always thought of the first as a subcategory of the second.

The way an ignorant Californian sees it is, using stereotypes to distinguish one from the other... southerners= those that historically supported the secession. Appalachia to me is W. VA, East Kentucky, East Tennessee and West Penn.

Frodo · May 30, 2010

Originally Posted by dusty

I'm from eastern Kentucky, we are Appalachian.

Precisely. Appalachia is a mountain region stretching from Maine all the way down to Georgia. It isn't necessarily southern. Stereotypes and Hollywood have taught us that hillbillies are southern but some of the most backward country I've seen has been in PA and WV.

It's partly that Tennessee has traded on it's hillbilly stereotype through music, culture, even amusement parks. Everyone assumes the Clampetts were from TN, but nowhere in the Beverly Hillbillies did they say they were. (I grew up thinking they were from Arkansas.) Tennessee's seen as the hick capital of the world, for no real reason.

crazyquik · May 30, 2010

It isn't called the Volunteer State for nothing . . .

Tennessee was a part of the Confederacy, Memphis is as important to the blues as the Delta, Nashville was once known as the Athens of the South for it's (relatively) high culture, degrees of education, opera, etc. Of course Nashville is now the seat of power for country music (highly associated with the South), and the entire eastern part of the state is pure Appalachia. Vanderbilt and Tennessee play in the S.E.C.

Kentucky is a closer call for a number of reasons.

West Virginia is just . . . weird. Perhaps because it's oddly shaped and was the bastard child of the Civil War.

Originally Posted by Senator Robert Byrd

I suppose that if the more than one million mountains in West Virginia were leveled flat, the state would reach all the way to Texas. In any event, its boundaries extend farther north than Pittsburgh, farther south than Richmond the capital of the Old Confederacy, as far east as Buffalo, New York, and as far west as Columbus, Ohio. It is the most southern of the northern and the most northern of the southern; the most eastern of the western and the most western of the eastern.

crazyquik · May 30, 2010

Originally Posted by Frodo

It's partly that Tennessee has traded on it's hillbilly stereotype through music, culture, even amusement parks. Everyone assumes the Clampetts were from TN, but nowhere in the Beverly Hillbillies did they say they were. (I grew up thinking they were from Arkansas.) Tennessee's seen as the hick capital of the world, for no real reason.

I also always thought they were from eastern TN. In fact, they were from low-lands/swampland in the Ozarks. Which is geographically more correct for striking oil while hunting, I suppose.

FLMountainMan · May 30, 2010

Originally Posted by MrG

I've always considered Tennessee Southern, and I didn't think there was any question about it. Kentucky, on the other hand, is more complicated. If we're talking states that formally seceded and joined the CSA, Kentucky doesn't make the cut, but there are some strong Southern influences. To me it's Southern enough that I wouldn't begrudge someone from Kentucky calling themselves a "Southerner," but I think people from some regions of the state would shun the notion that they're Southern."

Having spent a lot of time in both, this is perfectly put. Exactly right.

FLMountainMan · May 30, 2010

Originally Posted by odoreater

What about Florida? For some reason, I find people who are from Florida and refer to themselves as "southerners" or refer to Florida as "the south" as a bit silly.

This is like saying everyone from New Jersey is a guido. Or every Californian is a surfer brah. You're basing your opinion on limited experience. Have you ever been outside the big cities? The panhandle is very Southern and most of central Florida is as well. Arcadia, Pahokee, Bartow, etc.
The Bellamy Brothers, Bo Diddley, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Chad Morton, Ray Charles - all Southerners, all Floridiots.

crazyquik · May 30, 2010

Originally Posted by odoreater

What about Florida? For some reason, I find people who are from Florida and refer to themselves as "southerners" or refer to Florida as "the south" as a bit silly.
Depends on what part of the state. Florida's culture is the inverse of its geography. The further north you are in Florida, the more like 'the South' that is it (the parts near Alabama and Georgia). The farther south you go in Florida, the further you get from the former Confederacy and the closer you get to retirees from the northeast or Latin America. Daytona Beach is, arguably, the birthplace of NASCAR (shared with North Carolina); weighs strongly towards Southern bona fides. The mean streets of Boca Raton . . . not so much.

MrG · May 30, 2010

Originally Posted by FLMountainMan

This is like saying everyone from New Jersey is a guido. Or every Californian is a surfer brah. You're basing your opinion on limited experience. Have you ever been outside the big cities? The panhandle is very Southern and most of central Florida is as well. Arcadia, Pahokee, Bartow, etc. The Bellamy Brothers, Bo Diddley, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Chad Morton, Ray Charles - all Southerners, all Floridiots.
+1 to all of this. I would add John Anderson and Tom Petty to the list. Also, I had no idea The Bellamy Brothers were from Pasco County. Florida is weird, both because of the geographic north-south being the opposite of the cultural North-South phenomenon, and because there are a lot of places that were very Southern 20-25 years ago that have become less so as time has passed. This happened in the county where FLMM and I lived. When my family moved down there in the early 80s it was still very Southern and somewhat rural; I can still point out where the cattle farm and orange groves were, but now they're suburbs. Even with that growth, though, you don't have to look very hard to find people who still consider themselves very Southern.

FLMountainMan · May 30, 2010

Originally Posted by MrG

This happened in the county where FLMM and I lived. When my family moved down there in the early 80s it was still very Southern and somewhat rural; I can still point out where the cattle farm and orange groves were, but now they're suburbs. Even with that growth, though, you don't have to look very hard to find people who still consider themselves very Southern.

Gateway Mall (now a shopping center, on 78th Ave & 9th in St. Pete, where Target and Publix are) was built on my great-granddad's dairy farm. The financial details of that transaction are

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