# What or who is your state known for? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 11, 2015, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-or-who-is-your-state-known-for/727518 "2015-08-11T03:21:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-or-who-is-your-state-known-for/727518/61 "2015-08-11T22:37:52Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > The home state of Indiana! > As for famous people? Bob Knight is the first one I think of. Maybe Michael Jackson (although Gary just pretends it’s Chicago and, frankly, they can have it), also maybe Johnny Appleseed since he’s buried in Ft. Wayne. John Mellencamp, James Dean, Benjamin Harrison, Larry Bird, David Letterman, Jane Pauley, Orville Reddenbacher, Dan Quayle… ---
**Author:** ![SaharaTea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SaharaTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaharaTea)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-or-who-is-your-state-known-for/727518/62 "2015-08-11T22:38:41Z")
Wyoming checking in. Known for Yellowstone, the Grand Tetons, Devil’s Tower, and more antelope than people. Famous people: Dick Cheney, Curt Gowdy, Senator Alan Simpson. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-or-who-is-your-state-known-for/727518/63 "2015-08-11T22:44:47Z")
> [@August\_West](#): > > I’m from Wisconsin. > > I’d prefer for the rest of you to tell me what we’re known for, other than cheese. A really good college fight song? How about the Green Bay Packers? ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-or-who-is-your-state-known-for/727518/64 "2015-08-11T23:26:35Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Funny, as an outsider, I’d say Philly, Pitt, and not much else. Maybe William Penn and Quaker Oats. And in what ways has the Keystone State ended up at the center of history in the past couple of centuries? The Articles of Confederation - the first time the country was called “The United States of America” - was signed in York, Pennsylvania. As was the treaty with the French that pretty much guaranteed we’d win the war. History-minded folks will probably think of the Johnstown Flood. > [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#): > > Also from Ohio. Presidents is good. I would have said flight and [astronauts](http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/oastronauts/). ::cough, cough, Cuyahoga catching fire/Cleveland as the archetypical depressed impoverished hellhole, cough:: Hey, I’m a native of the city, and I don’t like it either, but it’s what people still think about Ohio. Although maybe nowadays they think of Detroit as the American Beruit. > [@Chefguy](#): > > Oregon: > > People: River Phoenix, Matt Groening, Beverly Cleary, Tonya Harding > > Places: Oregon Coast, Crater Lake, Columbia River Gorge And lately, Portland, wouldn’t you say? ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-or-who-is-your-state-known-for/727518/65 "2015-08-11T23:39:12Z")
> [@SaharaTea](#): > > Wyoming checking in. Known for Yellowstone, the Grand Tetons, Devil’s Tower, and more antelope than people. Famous people: Dick Cheney, Curt Gowdy, Senator Alan Simpson. And Rulon Gardner. > [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > Actually, Georgia based movies/TV shows are generally set in one of 4 scenarios: > \*Atlanta, as you already mentioned (Ant Man, Insurgent, Captain America Civil War) > \*the Appalachian mountains (Deliverance, I’d Climb the Highest Mountain) > \*quiant small towns (My Cousin Vinny, Sweet Home Alabama, In the Heat of the Night) > \*the beach (Magic Mike XXL, Cape Fear, Dirty Grandpa) > > To the list of famous people I’d add many, many musicians - too many to [list](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Georgia_(U.S._state)) here. Atlanta is becoming the epicenter of hip hop and Athens has always had a burgeoning rock/indie music scene. Of course, country music iss well represented as well. > > Also peaches, pecans and peanuts. Can’t forget the peanuts! > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Were those movies set in Georgia or just filmed there? Mostly just filmed here. I just saw _Ant Man_ last weekend, and saw no indication that it was set in Atlanta. Although parts of it were filmed here. Thanks to the busiest airport in the US, non-union labor, a generous tax incentive, and enough variety to find pretty much any type of setting, from urban decay to suburbia to small-town to mountain wilderness, within two hours of the city, [dozens of movies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Films_shot_in_Atlanta,_Georgia) have been shot in Atlanta. Most are not set here. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-or-who-is-your-state-known-for/727518/66 "2015-08-12T04:44:05Z")
Ohio: Amish Cedar Point THE Ohio State University 7 Presidents Wright Brothers Astronauts Thomas A. Edison LeBron James Paul Newman Steven Spielberg Halle Berry ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-or-who-is-your-state-known-for/727518/67 "2015-08-12T06:01:53Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > And lately, Portland, wouldn’t you say? What is Portland famous for? As far as I can tell, it is little more than a Podunk stage-stop along the way. Now, [Pendleton](http://www.pendleton-usa.com), that is what you call famous. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-or-who-is-your-state-known-for/727518/68 "2015-08-12T06:04:43Z")
> [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](#): > > I’m in Alabama (not from there, but my paycheck is here and I’m rather fond of that paycheck…). > > Yeah. I’ve got nothing. (Except that we are not Mississippi; Alabamans take great pride in that…;)😛 > > As for people; Rosa Parks, Harper Lee, Hugo Black \*Alabamians Hank Aaron, Hank Williams, Paul “Bear” Bryant (lots more, like Truman Capote, but I picked these three in addition to those mentioned above) Birmingham Civil Rights Institute U.S. Space and Rocket Center (Huntsville) Gulf Coast beaches ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-or-who-is-your-state-known-for/727518/69 "2015-08-12T07:27:57Z")
Indiana is proud of her sons: John Dillinger Jim Jones (People’s Temple; source of the literal ‘Drink the Kool-Aid’\*) Charles Manson I moved. - yes, I know it was actually the much cheaper [Flavor-aid](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonestown). Stuff it. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-or-who-is-your-state-known-for/727518/70 "2015-08-12T12:41:36Z")
What I’m finding interesting about these posts is what residents think their state is known for, as opposed to what I as an outsider think their state is known for (or assume a majority of other outsiders would generally know.) Some of these lists impress me as a little long. I read them and generally think, “Oh yeah,” but they aren’t things I would have come up with on my own. I’m also finding it curious to trace the sources of my perceptions. I think my first impressions are geographic, big cities, major universities, followed by major historical events/personalities. To what extent are they impacted by what I learned in school, my personal travels, travels of friends and relatives, what I’ve read in books/seen in movies, or references in the news? I could probably come up with a list of 5 or so solid facts/anecdotes about most states, but for some - like Rhode Island, Delaware or Connecticut - I’d have a hard time getting beyond “It’s that little teeny place out there along the coast in between the REAL states.” In my mind, there is a bit of a difference between “What do people know about your state” vs “What is your state known for?” Pick any state and I could likely tell you the capital, a major geographic feature or 2, a couple of cultural/historical factoids, the major college… But I couldn’t say a state like Nebraska or Kansas really means much to me other than a shape on a map., and a general impression “plains, a whole lotta nothing, college sports.” I also find it curious how many states I think of as a group. Just yesterday I was trying to remind myself which of Kentucky or Tennessee was to the north. Of course I knew, and I think of the 2 states differently, but in some respect they are essentially conjoined in my mind. Mississippi and Alabama? Aren’t they really mirror images of each other? Same for New Hampshire and Vermont? Which is which? All those hot dry states in the SW w/ straight edge borders? Is there really a difference between N and S Dakota - and Montana? Washington and Oregon? I’d imagine non-Midwesterners would think of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Wisconsin as one big cornfield. The only thing that makes Illinois stand out is Chicago, O’Hare, and corruption. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-or-who-is-your-state-known-for/727518/71 "2015-08-12T12:45:52Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Were those movies set in Georgia or just filmed there? Filmed there, mostly, using the settings described. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-or-who-is-your-state-known-for/727518/72 "2015-08-12T13:28:13Z")
> [@tangelag](#): > > **Space Shuttle** Maybe I’m missing something, but I doubt one person in a hundred (outside New Mexico) would associate New Mexico with the shuttle. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-or-who-is-your-state-known-for/727518/73 "2015-08-12T15:18:47Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > People actually from Northern California think of SF as being in Southern California, I’ve lived in Northern California my whole life. I don’t know anyone who thinks of San Francisco as being in Southern California. ---
**Author:** ![Cold\_Dish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce7236/32.png) [@Cold\_Dish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cold_Dish)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-or-who-is-your-state-known-for/727518/74 "2015-08-12T15:23:55Z")
Missouri films - Gone Girl, Winter’s Bone ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-or-who-is-your-state-known-for/727518/75 "2015-08-12T15:30:51Z")
> [@Cold\_Dish](#): > > Missouri films - Gone Girl, Winter’s Bone Establishing shot - The Arch. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-or-who-is-your-state-known-for/727518/76 "2015-08-12T17:01:28Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > ::cough, cough, Cuyahoga catching fire/Cleveland as the archetypical depressed impoverished hellhole, cough:: > > Hey, I’m a native of the city, and I don’t like it either, but it’s what people still think about Ohio. Although maybe nowadays they think of Detroit as the American Beruit. Yeah, people think that about Cleveland, but not about all of Ohio. If anything, the recent success of the football team in Columbus is probably more on people’s minds than the depression of Clevelanders. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-or-who-is-your-state-known-for/727518/77 "2015-08-12T17:44:08Z")
I think about all of Ohio that way. Impoverished cities slowly dying off following the death of the US manufacturing economy. Except Oxford. Miami University was gorgeous and bizarrely full of hot chicks, even in the middle of summer. And that’s coming from somebody who lives in Florida. ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-or-who-is-your-state-known-for/727518/78 "2015-08-12T18:31:36Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Is there really a difference between N and S Dakota - and Montana? Surprisingly, there is a big difference between N and S Dakota. In fact, that is the reason the two were separated. S Dakota is all about growing corn, whereas the climate in N Dakota favors the growing of wheat. If you happen to do any traveling along the border between the two states, the difference is visually evident. Where Eastern Montana meets Western N Dakota, you go from the severe flatness of the great plains to the rolling beginnings of the Rockies. So while this border isn’t as marked as that between N and S Dakota, it definitely marks a change. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-or-who-is-your-state-known-for/727518/79 "2015-08-12T18:51:56Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Michigan > > Mass production > Cars > General Custer > Mackinac Bridge > Yoopers and Trolls > Madonna > Jack Kevorkian and Geoffrey Feiger > Gerry Ford > Earvin Johnson > Cherries and Asparagus > MSU and U-M Detroit itself is hard to ignore when Michigan comes up. A good part of that is Motown music. A bad part is Kid Rock. Another bad part is ex-mayor (and federal prisoner) Kwame Kilpatrick, who was in the news incessantly until his federal conviction just a couple of years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-or-who-is-your-state-known-for/727518/80 "2015-08-12T18:56:16Z")
Colorado seems to be almost entirely mountains in the public mind. Not counting the pancake-flat eastern half, of course. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-or-who-is-your-state-known-for/727518.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-or-who-is-your-state-known-for/727518.md?page=5)