Which state has the most in common with Tennessee? (purchase, assessment)
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This whole paragraph is just wrong. Kentucky was part of Virginia and Appalachian culture emerged in the Virginia mountains, from Scots-Irish settlers moving down from Pennsylvania, Eastern Kentucky and Southern West Virginia and Southwest Virginia are definitely significantly more culturally Appalachian in the stereotypical ways than than Eastern Tennessee is. The vast majority of hillbilly clan feuds occurred in EKY/SoWV, its coal mining country, its where bluegrass and country music originated, and the term Appalachian as an ethnonym was first used in a Kentucky college to describe that area, in comparison ETN had almost zero clan feuds, almost zero coal mining and in general is a wide ridge and valley region where more traditional agricultural culture rather than hard-scrabble mountain culture could develop and thrive.
Kentucky is Southern and not the least bit Midwestern. Have known plenty of people from both and every Kentuckian I meet seems to have a thicker southern accent than every Tennesseean I meet. Kentucky and Tennessee are definitely different, but their differences mostly lie in the fact that Kentucky is more rural, less homogenized, more obsessed with horse racing and basketball, but North Carolina is a basketball state too, and more traditional than Tennessee is in most ways. Sweet tea is very easy to find in Kentucky by the way, even right on the Ohio River, so you're definitely wrong about that. These days Tennessee is mostly just Nashville commodifying everything for cash, Kentucky has retained its down-home charm in a way that Tennessee hasn't.
Well said. Great overview.
I agree with it all.
One thing I would add is that Tennessee has found a way to tap into many different groups of people looking to relocate to their state: retirees, folks from the midwest, folks from out west (California), folks up from Florida, and some from the northeast. Tennessee has been able to draw from its natural beauty, its friendly country people and its less expensive housing costs to contribute to a huge development and population boom.
The zero state income tax certainly helps, but Tennessee has been able to successfully brand itself well.
Allowing it to separate itself from the pack of south central border states like Kentucky, Alabama, Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi, etc, to join North Carolina, Virginia and Georgia as a similar fast-growth state.
In some ways KY and TN are mirror images, but TN has more mid size cities and in that way is similar to NC.
I think what I am saying is you can turn the mirror either way.
That's probably the one thing they have in common but overall I think it's more similar to KY than NC, for one simple fact that they are both landlocked. Hence NC and VA mirror each other more.
If I'm not mistaken, Tennessee borders more states than any other. Which state do you believe is the most similar to Tennessee? In terms of culture, any connections/relationships with other states, migration patters/growth, aspects of the major metros, etc.
I would say that Arkansas is probably the mirror image of Tennessee, with the Mississippi River right down at the dividing point. Along the Mississippi River, around Memphis for example, you have the flat lowlands of the Delta, many parts of west TN are similar to the Mississippi Delta in geography and culture, and the Arkansas Delta is also very similar. Both have a more Deep South feel, with a history of antebellum planters and cotton cultivation.
Further from the river, as you get into East Tennessee or into the Ouachitas and Ozarks, you see upland South, mountain cultures that are also quite similar to one another in many ways. The Ozark and Appalachian cultures are not the same but have many parallels, and geographically they are similar, same with the Ouachitas, down to the major reservoirs that are similiar to the ones built by the Tennessee Valley Authority. The physical appearance of Hot Springs, Arkansas for example is in many ways similar to Gatlinburg or Chattanooga.
Nashville and Little Rock are where the lowland Delta and the upland mountain cultures come together in a mix. This is why of all of Tennessee's neighbors, Arkansas is the most similar one.
Now clearly western North Carolina is similar to East Tennessee, but the entire third of North Carolina that's the coastal plain, Outer Banks, etc has no parallel in Tennessee. Mississippi and Alabama are predominantly Deep South cultures with relatively flat land and the influence of the Gulf Coast with the French Creole history and Spanish history as well. East Tennessee is also somewhat like southern West Virginia (though more touristy) but northern West Virginia has a very northern culture more similar to Pennsylvania and Ohio.)
There isn't an answer to this question. Western Tenn is more like Arkansas or Mississippi than it is North Carolina and the same is true that Eastern Tenn is like NC and Georgia more than it is Arkansas.
The Ouachitas and Ozarks in Arkansas are very similar to East Tennessee.
East Tennessee is only like Western NC, a major part of NC consists of the coastal plain and the beaches, nothing in Tennessee like the Outer Banks or Wilmington. I find North Carolina to be most similar to Virginia except there are more northern transplants in NOVA than in Charlotte and Raleigh.
Yeah, seems people on city-data underestimate just how Southern Kentucky really is, I've been to places right on the Ohio River that are more sweet tea and Baptist than places in North Carolina, Kentucky definitely isn't the Deep South, its the Upper South, but its Southern to the bone. The Cinci Metro area is the only place where that doesn't hold true, and that's a very small portion of the northern half of three tiny counties, so its basically irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.
Kentucky is also Southern Appalachian, however, which adds a distinct flavor that places like Georgia or Alabama lack for the most part, though Tennessee also has that going on, I think KY, TN, NC, VA form their own little subregion of the South.
Appalachia goes into Georgia, and Alabama.
In fact there's more higher peaks in Northern Metro Atlanta than The Pittsburgh area actually, and there still about 1/4 of the state North of Metro Atlanta where is start get really mountainous.
Northeast Georgia is the Blue Ridge that associate with Carolina. While the Northwest Georgia is The ridge and Valley That's associated with more with TN and AL.
A little history North Carolina and Georgia were home to first and second gold rushes. So there are historic abounded Gold mines and ghosts' towns in both states in there mountain regions. Southern Appalachia GA, NC, TN, KY history of illegal moonshine during prohibition played a large role of creating nascar
Seriously Chattanooga TN is on the Georgia border.
To answer OP question that difficult because The way TN is shape it share a lot with all its neighbors depending on where you at.
That's probably the one thing they have in common but overall I think it's more similar to KY than NC, for one simple fact that they are both landlocked. Hence NC and VA mirror each other more.
You got a point KY does seem like the best answer.
Land Lock, Mountains. city founded on important rivers.
People bring up the Mountains. of East TN and West NC, but the same range is going though WV, KY, VA, SC, GA and AL as well.
I associated VA to GA more. Not just only because of the mountain's regions, but the piedmont cities, Fault line cities, coastal plains, and colonial town.
But KY biggest city Louisville is on the Ohio river. while Memphis on the Mississippi. Nashville on the Cumberland.
Meanwhile GA and NC large cities didn't form because of rivers they are on the piedmont above the fault line where the rivers aren't navigable.
This whole paragraph is just wrong. Kentucky was part of Virginia and Appalachian culture emerged in the Virginia mountains, from Scots-Irish settlers moving down from Pennsylvania, Eastern Kentucky and Southern West Virginia and Southwest Virginia are definitely significantly more culturally Appalachian in the stereotypical ways than than Eastern Tennessee is. The vast majority of hillbilly clan feuds occurred in EKY/SoWV, its coal mining country, its where bluegrass and country music originated, and the term Appalachian as an ethnonym was first used in a Kentucky college to describe that area, in comparison ETN had almost zero clan feuds, almost zero coal mining and in general is a wide ridge and valley region where more traditional agricultural culture rather than hard-scrabble mountain culture could develop and thrive.
Kentucky is Southern and not the least bit Midwestern. Have known plenty of people from both and every Kentuckian I meet seems to have a thicker southern accent than every Tennesseean I meet. Kentucky and Tennessee are definitely different, but their differences mostly lie in the fact that Kentucky is more rural, less homogenized, more obsessed with horse racing and basketball, but North Carolina is a basketball state too, and more traditional than Tennessee is in most ways. Sweet tea is very easy to find in Kentucky by the way, even right on the Ohio River, so you're definitely wrong about that. These days Tennessee is mostly just Nashville commodifying everything for cash, Kentucky has retained its down-home charm in a way that Tennessee hasn't.
Yes, exactly correct. I don't know where people get these misconceptions about KY unless they've never been outside of Louisville.
I live in KY on the Ohio River about halfway between Cincinnati and West Virginia. This is not the Midwest. People here have Southern accents and some are indeed very thick accents. Sweet tea is served in every restaurant in town and I had a fried green tomato sandwich just the other day at a local mom and pop place. People here identify as Southern, not Midwestern even with Ohio being a stone's throw away. I've even heard a person or two refer to New Yorkers as "carpet baggers", LOL.
The answer is easily KY both geographically and culturally. KY, might even be the most Southern state left culturally outside of the deep South.
Last edited by marino760; 03-15-2024 at 06:12 PM..
Yes, exactly correct. I don't know where people get these misconceptions about KY unless they've never been outside of Louisville.
I live in KY on the Ohio River about halfway between Cincinnati and West Virginia. This is not the Midwest. People here have Southern accents and some are indeed very thick accents. Sweet tea is served in every restaurant in town and I had a fried green tomato sandwich just the other day at a local mom and pop place. People here identify as Southern, not Midwestern even with Ohio being a stone's throw away. I've even heard a person or two refer to New Yorkers as "carpet baggers", LOL.
The answer is easily KY both geographically and culturally. KY, might even be the most Southern state left culturally outside of the deep South.
Yeah, people have a lot of misconceptions about Kentucky, particularly on this site. I've been up and down the Ohio River counties of Kentucky and its as you said; sweet tea at every restaurant, Southern food, overwhelmingly Baptist, Southern accents and slang, the people either identify as Southern or Appalachian, I've never met a single Kentuckian even from the river counties that says they're Midwestern, even Louisville is more like 75% Upper Southern with only a minor Midwestern influence, its native dialect is Southern, its actually majority Baptist despite its reputation as being a Catholic town.
Would agree with you about KY being one of the more culturally Southern of the Upper South states, this is largely due to KY not being as urbanized as Virginia or North Carolina, and rural areas tend to retain local culture longer than metropolitan areas do for many reasons. Kentucky and Tennessee are ultimately very similar, they have differences but overall I'd rank them as the most similar states in the South.
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