Cities that could blend into another region

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by Docere

Kentucky has a larger Black population than West Virginia (albeit small for the south but not tiny like WV) and is more evangelical-dominated. I would definitely rank Kentucky ahead of WV.

It feels like a predominantly white region of the South to me. Also West Virginia was a slave state even after it broke away from Virginia during the Civil War.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by edale

To me, Louisville feels pretty southern. People speak with pretty thick southern accents, bourbon and horse culture dominates, with the Derby and all its over the top southern pageantry being the city's claim to fame. It seems to have fewer row houses and less brick than St. Louis or Cincy, and has a bit of a unique vernacular of shotgun style homes that look somewhat southern to me.

It does have northern influences, though. Louisville and Lexington are both pretty Catholic and have large German-American populations, which are both somewhat unique for Southern cities. It's pretty industrial and there's a big union presence. Its closest sister city is undoubtedly Cincinnati, and I think it's influenced by Cincy much more than Indianapolis or Nashville. If Cincinnati is a northern city with one foot in the south, Louisville is a southern city with one foot in the north. My take, at least.

This is a good summary. The one thing I'd add to this is Louisville is an old city by the standards of the South. Like, it had nearly 70,000 people in 1860, making it the 12th largest U.S. city, and the only "big city" in the South other than New Orleans (barring Baltimore, if you consider that southern).

There's one cool "Ohio Valley meets South" aspect of Louisville architecture - the rare but notable presence of brick shotgun houses!

[Docere]

WV is plurality-evangelical, but not as evangelical as other southern states:

West Virginia evangelical 39%, mainline Protestant 29%
Kentucky evangelical 49%, mainline Protestant 11%
Tennessee evangelical 52%, mainline Protestant 13%
Arkansas evangelical 46%, mainline Protestant 16%

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by Docere

WV is plurality-evangelical, but not as evangelical as other southern states:

West Virginia evangelical 39%, mainline Protestant 29%
Kentucky evangelical 49%, mainline Protestant 11%
Tennessee evangelical 52%, mainline Protestant 13%
Arkansas evangelical 46%, mainline Protestant 16%

You get very, very different answers on this question if you look at Church affiliation, and not the answers people give on a poll.

Most WV counties in the northern/eastern parts of the state are plurality Methodist rather than Baptist, which is typically considered to be a Mainline Protestant. Even most WV Baptists are not Southern Baptists, but members of the American Baptist Churches USA, which grew out of the old Northern Baptist Convention.



In addition, formal membership in a church is quite low in West Virginia compared to elsewhere in the South, so there are a lot of self-identified evangelicals who really are nominally connected to Christianity other than as some sort of identity signifier:

[Docere]

The source is the Pew religious landscape study. The map shows WV is really a semi-southern state.

[montréaliste]

Texas is stark in its North/South divide.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by Docere

The source is the Pew religious landscape study. The map shows WV is really a semi-southern state.

Yeah, I know. But IIRC Pew just asks people what their religious affiliation is, which is different from the other methodologies, which poll churches regarding their membership.

[BG918]

Originally Posted by montréaliste

Texas is stark in its North/South divide.

The influence of predominantly Catholic Hispanics closer to the border. As opposed to the continued influence of French Catholics in south Louisiana (with some minor spillage into SE TX)

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by BG918

The influence of predominantly Catholic Hispanics closer to the border. As opposed to the continued influence of French Catholics in south Louisiana (with some minor spillage into SE TX)

Indeed it does, interestingly enough.

From the most famous French Cajun song of them all:

Et je prends mon vieux ch’val, et j’attrape ma vieille selle
Et je selle mon vieux ch’val pour aller chercher ma belle.
Tu connais, c’est loin d’un grand bout d’là, de Saint-Antoine* à Beaumont
Mais le long du grand Texas, j’l’ai cherchée bien longtemps.


*Saint-Antoine = San Antonio

[Comrade]

If we're talking just geography, I'd say Salt Lake and Reno.

[cabasse]

i never realized basically all of the coastal counties in florida starting around central FL were so heavily catholic. also, dallas county, that's a shocker.

[dave8721]

Originally Posted by cabasse

i never realized basically all of the coastal counties in florida starting around central FL were so heavily catholic.

Italian American = all Catholic. Hispanic/Latin American = all Catholic, even Haitian is often Catholic. As opposed to the various numerous Protestant denominations.

[cabasse]

i grew up adjacent to tampa bay and my mother (and everyone on her side who was living down there) was catholic; i just thought that was mostly around south florida.

[BG918]

Interesting how the red counties (predominantly Southern Baptist) are almost a perfect outline of the Confederacy (C.S.A.)