The Yankee Doesn't Think We're in New England Anymore

I've had several interesting conversations with a number of people from different parts of what is collectively know as the South. Most of them tell me that Northern Virginia, that part of the state by the District and Maryland, really isn't the South. From what I can gather the reason for this stems from its proximity to those two areas. The influence of the capitol far outweighs the native influence.

Coming from Southwestern Connecticut, that doesn't surprise me. There we people live in the shadow of New York City. On occasion I've run across people who think it's actually part of New York State. I was campaigning with our state representative who was running for Congress. At one of the train stations a commuter asked him how things were in Albany! Until the advent of cable television, it was easier for us to pick up the New York City ABC, CBS, and NBC affiliates than the New Haven or Hartford ones, even though New Haven is closer than the City New York City. When cable did become available, some companies didn't even offer the Connecticut stations to their Fairfield County customers. And even those folks who did have cable access to the Connecticut stations usually watched the New York ones instead.

When I went off to college in Minnesota my classmates didn't believe I came from New England because I didn't have a Boston or a Maine accent. They couldn't quite grasp the fact that regional accents often have relatively small regions where they are spoken. Friends who grew up in Rhode Island, much closer to Boston than Fairfield County, sound very different from friends who grew up in northern Connecticut, who sound different from those in New Hampshire, and so on. And they thought everyone from New York City would speak like Archie Bunker. In addition, neither of my parents were New Englanders, so my own speech pattern carries bits and pieces of New Jersey, Indiana, and Chicago.

Being just across the river from the District, Alexandria provides one place for people working in the District to live without living in the District. Just like Darien was one place people working in New York City live and commute in to their jobs. So many people aren't from around here originally, and many of them will move one after only a few years. But there are locals for whom this is very definitely the South. After all, Richmond, the capitol of Virginia and of the Confederacy, is less than  two hours away. Robert E. Lee grew up in the area and had a home just north of here. On the other hand, it's very different culturally from places like Alabama and Georgia.

For a transplanted New Englander it's very definitely the South.