Quote:
Originally Posted by lio45
So when you go to the other area (trans-Ohio) of Pittsburgh, it feels like a foreign land?
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No, the Ohio River (actually, hydrologically speaking, the Allegheny River, since the Ohio River doesn't really exist but in name only like the Mississippi below the "Ohio River"... but that's another topic I've beaten to death) doesn't really divide Pittsburgh in the way I'm speaking of, but it is a significant barrier and certainly separates the metro. Greater Pittsburgh is very fractured because of 5 named rivers/valleys and 1 creek/valley (Allegheny, Monongahela, Ohio, Beaver, Youghiogheny, Chartiers)... people think there are only 3, but there are actually 6 significant river systems in the region.
But the Ohio River is not a state border in Pittsburgh... it's where the "Ohio River" starts and is entirely within Pennsylvania here. But yeah, there is a pretty steep cultural division (at least in national perception) between different sides of the Ohio once one gets into the Ohio Valley proper... Ohio vs. West Virginia or Kentucky, Indiana vs. Kentucky, Illinois vs. Kentucky... that's quite a difference in regional culture from a statewide perspective. It marks a true national transition area, North to South. Look at the comparison with opposite sides of the Mississippi: Missouri vs. Illinois, Illinois vs. Iowa, Wisconsin vs. Minnesota, Tennessee vs. Arkansas, Mississippi vs. Arkansas vs. Louisiana.
Get what I'm saying?
Quote:
Originally Posted by lio45
The Mason-Dixon Line or the Potomac would be even bigger cultural dividing lines, right?
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No, I don't think so... southern PA and Northern WV and northern Maryland are exactly the same. And Maryland and Virginia are pretty much the same on both sides of the Potomac.