Even the VA Beach and Norfolk area is significantly different than the average southern stereotype. It has a medley of cultures, mostly due to the massive military presence there.

That said, I'm surprised the comments are so cordial. I agree with the analysis that the fact that it's mostly UVa alums/students and interested parties commenting contributes to the higher level of discourse.

I grew up in the DC area (Virginia side), and myself and others there never considred it "the South." I always thought of it as the dividing line between North and South. This always seemed natural to me, since Virginia seceded in the Civil War, and Maryland did not.

Dirty little secret time - me too. I have moved around a bunch since then, and thats the case at every major metro "in the south." Norfolk considers itself the dividing line with the "real" south (which obviously starts in North Carolina), and guess how people feel about Raleigh? Even by the time that you get to Charlotte or as far as Atlanta, there is a feeling among most people that one is outside of "the south."

Know what? They are.

I would encourage you to compare any east coast city against any other. Then I would encourage you to compare an underpopulated area in Maine against an underpopulated area in Tennessee.

I live in NY now, in Westchester. I know what you mean about the difference between small towns and major cities. But the small towns up here are still different from the small towns I know from Virginia. I lived in Williamsburg for three years, and Blacksburg for a total of eight and a half years. Both times, I did think of myself as living in the South.

The difference between the DC area and all of the other cities in the South is that the DC area was actually the dividing line between the Union and the Confederacy.

NY is different from VA, that's true. But I think part of that is that you're never that far from a seriously major metro (even upstate). Have you been to Maine?

No, I haven't. But did you ever encounter people in Maine who felt kinship with the Confederacy?

Do you mean people who are overly zealous about the history of their state, people who are bigoted, or both? Because yes. Everywhere. Not just Maine.

Given the distant and not-so-distant history of the South, my personal experience is that attitudes are different there than elsewhere. But, of course, that's anecdote, not data.