Quick US Geography Opinion ( pad your post count )

In My Humble Opinion
61

As a Marylander who’s lived all over the state here’s my opinion… (for the record: Sandy Hook–just across from West Virginia, and you all know about West Virginia. Sharpsburg–site of the battle of Antietam in the War of Northern Agression :slight_smile: . And Baltimore)

Maryland is now more on the northern side of the issue, albeit with some strong southern leanings in numerous areas. However, the politics is predominantly liberal Democrat (I believe the last Republican Governor was Spiro T Agnew, and the Republican candidates for Baltimore mayor are pretty much ognored).
That said, during the Civil War era, MD was predominantly Southern. There were bits that were mostly Northern supporters, but they were in the minority. There was a rather infamous case of Union soldiers being stoned as their train came through Baltimore.
Also, if you go up to Federal Hill, you will see cannons pointed AT the city, NOT defending it. The basic idea was, “sure you can leave the Union, we dare you”. I also am fairly sure that the mayor was imprisoned in Ft McHenry so as not to cause trouble.
There is also a rather large statue of Robert E Lee and Stonewall Jackson (B-more people: am I right on who it is–haven’t been that way for a while) in the city. This used to annoy my (Massachusettes-raised) mother to no end, which in turn amused me.

So after all of that, my basic conclusion is that MD is essentially a Southern state except for the two urban centers (I don’t count the DC suburbs as part of MD–let DC have em), which are much more Northern, and tend to dominate the state.

Of course, it’s nice to play it both ways–you don’t have to be the redneck Southerner except when you want to be (i.e. you want a good explanation to give to your NY friends about the thrills off taking a BB gun to newly-emptied Miller High Life). On the other hand, you still get to stereotype the rest of the South. Best of both worlds, non?

62

Thanks for the replies people.

And Myrr21, I came to this thread from a Civil War thread. Let’s not start yet another argument about the War of Southern Regression.

63

I grew up in NJ, but lived in both Virginia and South Carolina. Now I’m in Washington state.

I’ve always considered Maryland to be a northern state, but you have to keep your eye on 'em, 'cause they’re shifty that way. They wanna secede, they don’t wanna secede. The next thing you know they’re part of France or something.

And stop calling them Mid-Atlantic! It’s exactly what they want us to do.

64

Not sure about the statues, but there is Robert E. Lee park.
We do have the ONLY memorial to William Wallace (Braveheart) in Druid Hill Park.

I think the DC suburbs are made up of all the congressmen and senators and lobbyists and whatnot from other states, so that can’t count at all into MD’s territory.

Nothing is the same since they stopped making Natty Boh…
:slight_smile:

65

I grew up in Texas, but both of my parents were born and raised in West Virginia. We visited relatives in Fairmont/Morgantown in my youth, and usually flew into Pittsburgh to get there. Coming from Texas, that sure felt like “north.” From Morgantown, WV, you just head due east to get to Maryland, so I considered it “northern”, as well.

Boy, was I shocked in grade school to find that both West Virginia and Maryland are south of the Mason-Dixon line. It snows with some regularity in West Virginia, and that seemed like enough to make it northern by definition… :slight_smile:

66

I would have to say that Maryland is that part of the country which is known as “Maryland,” and bordered by Virgina to the West and South, and New York to the North.

67

So, would that include Pennsylvania, too?