Is This An Accurate Map of Virginia's Regions? (Chesapeake, Richmond: 2013, tax)

[manitopiaaa]

So I got a little bored and decided to make a map of regions for Virginia. I guessed a bit on some of these but, in general, these are how I see the regional splits of Virginia.

What would you change?



Northern Virginia: Some would say it ends at Prince William County. Others go down to Fredericksburg. In choosing what to add, I basically took the Media Market, took out Westmoreland (which is clearly Northern Neck) and then added Greene and Madison Counties to make the shape a little nicer. I think Greene is probably more in Charlottesville's sphere of influence while Madison is kind of a no man's land. But since Culpeper and Rappahannock were added to Washington's MSA in 2013, I think Madison's days of being outside the metro area are numbered.

Chesapeake: Rural, large black population, with little pull from either Richmond or Washington.

Hampton Roads: The easiest area to define. I was torn on whether to include Southampton County and Franklin, but opted against it. I think Williamsburg is also in the Hampton Roads extended area, but I see it distinct from the area, personally, since it traces its history to the 1600s, not to the naval expansion of military power during the late 19th, early 20th century.

Crownlands: Okay, I consider this area the hearth of Virginia. So this would include Jamestown, Williamsburg, Petersburg, Richmond and the vast majority of plantations during the early phase of Virginia's colonial history. I separate this from Hampton Roads because the regions have distinctively different histories. Crownlands traces its history to the Colonial Era where tobacco and indigo were king. This region is increasingly becoming 'The Richmond Metro', however, so a better name might just be 'Capital Region' or 'Greater Richmond.' I went with Crownlands because it sounds nicer.

Piedmont: Rural, lots of small towns, with sporadic medium-sized cities like Charlottesville, Lynchburg and Danville.

Shenandoah: The part of Appalachia that is still growing. This includes Blacksburg, Roanoke and Harrisonburg which have done rather well in recent years. Therefore, this area has a different feel from SW Virginia.

Appalachia: The part of Appalachia that is dying. This area has traditionally felt much more different than the rest of Virginia. And the culture is distinctively different from that of Roanoke.

[Peninsula Man]

This map is not accurate. The Hampton Roads cities don't look like that. Also, where is the eastern shore? Did you make the actual map or was that from an exciting map? VA looks like this:

[Peninsula Man]

Sorry, but that map is very hard to distinguish between the cities.

(edit: Okay after looking at it for a while I see what happened you didn't go for land/water type map. You went for a territory type map. In that case yes the Hampton Roads looks sort of right. You do know you can look at Wikipedia and they tell you what is in the Hampton roads MSA)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hampton_Roads#In_Virginia

[LM117]

Originally Posted by Peninsula Man

Also, where is the eastern shore?

Lol, I have relatives from the Shore and the running joke there is Virginia remembers the Shore exists only during November elections and tax season. Any other time, Northampton and Accomack counties might as well be part of Maryland.

[badger74]

Never heard any area called Piedmont. Usually Central Va or Heart of Va.

[lammius]

Not a bad effort, but I'd change a lot if I were creating my own map.

I'd shift the Shenandoah region north to include Winchester/Frederick Co, Clarke, Page, Shenandoah, and Warren counties. Those counties are not Nova, but are in the Shenandoah Valley.
I'd take those southern Shenandoah counties (Botetourt, Craig, Montgomery, Floyd, Roanoke, Pulaski, Giles, maybe Allegany, and add them to your Appalachia region and call it SW Virginia or something similar. Those counties are not in the Shenandoah Valley.
I'd add James City County (incl Williamsburg city) and Gloucester County to Hampton Roads, maybe Mathews, Surry, and Southampton (incl Franklin city) too.
I'd add Culpeper, Rappahannock, Orange, Madison, Greene counties to Piedmont. They're not Nova.
I'd probably take a bunch of the south-central counties away from Piedmont and "Crownlands" and create a Southside region that includes Emporia and Greensville Co over Patrick Co., up to Lynchburg. I suppose this would just leave metro Richmond + Louisa as the "Crownlands."
Maybe shift King George to the Chesapeake region?

[VA Yankee]

Piedmont is a phrase you hear when describing North Carolina. Crown lands is referred to as Central Virginia. South side are the counties along the NC boarder starting west of Suffolk (Hampton Roads).

[Pink Jazz]

Williamsburg/JCC is definitely part of the Hampton Roads area, not the Richmond area. Economic and political ties are closer to Hampton Roads, which is why they are part of the Hampton Roads MSA.

[spencgr]

You have about 10 too many counties listed for NoVA.

[Serious Conversation]

I definitely think the southwest VA is accurate. Somewhere like Buchanan County is a complete backwater compared to Roanoke.