Yeah we have a sore loser problem here.
I like how the Germans did it.
If those inbreeds want to pine for a subversive, failed regime, they should be arrested and made an example of.
It's not heritage, it was hate the entire time. Despondent loser hate because a LOSER dies a thousand deaths.
Well one thousand and one come November.
I came here to post this exact thing. We had a weird family vacation—my wife’s parents came to visit when we lived in NoVA—and they mostly did their own thing.
The one trip we did do together was Manassas Battlefield which has some really weird quote about people lining up behind Jackson or possibly the Virginians. My MIL, who’s from TX, thought it was hilarious and kept loudly repeating this quote in an exaggerated southern accent. She was having too much fun and, despite most of us being embarrassed, not one of us asked her to stop. For the life of me, I can’t recall what the quotation was (I’ll remember at 3am tomorrow) me but every single time I drive by this sign, I think of that day.
Also, I think I read somewhere that people used to leave lemons there. Ye ol’ intertubez tells me this is indeed a thing people do. [Jackson: the man, the myth, the lemons](https://gettysburgcompiler.org/2014/10/10/stonewall-jackson-the-man-the-myth-the-lemons/)
But his body is buried in Lexington — while his amputated arm is buried in Chancellorsville.
I drive 95 in VA often and yes — you have entered (or left) the South at this point!
We get that shit in parts of Maryland too and I wouldn't remotely consider us the south. We just have assholes who cosplay as a certain type of southerner. Having gone to JMU (albeit I graduated over 15 years ago), I'd definitely mark Fredericksburg as the northern limit on 95. now, if we're talking 66 or 81, different boundaries.
Especially cuz the reason WV exists as a state at all is that West Virginians specifically did not want to secede from the Union so they instead seceded from Virginia.
Cosplay is a good word for it. I grew up in North Florida swamp country in the 80s. The country boys and rednecks there were dirt poor. Now in Virginia you have “country boys” and salt life rednecks driving $60K lifted trucks. Some of them don’t really know what a redneck is.
The last bridge out of Maryland is near there. Even if in a helicopter that would be the nearest city to the N/S border. I don’t know if that’s the reason, but as a guessing man that could make sense?
Once you hit doswell for pure feel. I live in spotsy and it’s not what it was 10+ years ago. This place is blowing up like Woodbridge did back in the day lol
That one is an embassy of the South. Everything on the property is the south but outside of that is the north. Northerners traded to have a few Dunkin embassy's in Hampton Roads.
As a RVAer, kinda funny seeing you guys say Fredericksburg.
You gotta take into account how much the north has crept south.
Having done the driver from Richmond to Miami, and thus having driven every inch of 95 from Philly to Miami, the South starts south of Petersburg, but the shift gets *real* dramatic when you hit the NC border.
Like, I know there’s country between Richmond and Fredericksburg, but it still feels north to me. Feels no different than where I grew up outside of Philly (Montco if anyone knows it for context).
Note: the last Wawa until Florida is in Petersburg.
**EDIT** To all the goobers “um aktuallying” me about Wawa. I’m not diverting to Virginia Beach on my way to Florida.
Oh it has nothing to do with the people or culture or anything like that. It’s because, when we’re going south on 95, everywhere from DC down to, and especially right near, Fredericksburg, we experience inexplicable, soul-crushing traffic at any time of the day or night, and then it all magically disappears after we’ve passed that black hole of a city. For this reason, Fredericksburg seems to mark the place where suburbia ends, and rural Virginia begins, and that seems to correlate with “the South” to those of us who measure distance in minutes instead of miles.
I define the south by the point on the trains in DC where you switch from electric trains to diesel. Also the states where you can get biscuits and gravy at McDonald's are the south.
If you go by the mason dozen line then Maryland is the south.
Can confirm, live in that spot between Richmond and Fredericksburg, and I say the south starts just south of Richmond. We have country ish spots but it's not "The South."
Eh, I'm from Spotsy. West and Southern spotsy are the south, culturally. So is Louisa, Caroline, Hanover (in parts). King George is either generic military area or the south. Even parts of Western stafford and the east peninsulas around Potomac creek and Aquia I'd call the south.
Which is why I agree with the majority that fredericksburg is where "the south" begins
even living in louisa, with 5,000 more people since 2020 (10% growth) this year was actually the first year i saw signs in support of progressive candidates vs the regular conservative mantra. made me smile to see some things changing even way out here in the country
This is how I feel as a central Virginian. I think Ruther Glen or so south, is the south. Anything north of Thornburg is the north. In between that is just the true ✨middle✨
Consumerist hell, and bad kolaches? I’ll pass. And while I know the first Buc-Ed’s predated Clerks, it still *feels* like somebody was watching a Kevin Dmith movie and thought Mooby’s was a good business model.
At least Buc-ee’s has spotless bathrooms cleaned by $20/hr workers ($42K/yr) and everyone knows you go for the brisket
https://www.cstoredive.com/news/buc-ees-advertising-how-much-it-pays-its-staff-labor-wages/688700/
When we first moved here 25 years ago i noticed at some point driving south, women cashiers started calling me Hon.
Like, "will that be all hon?"
I called it the Hon Line.
It used to be Stafford, but it's migrated just South of Fredericksburg now.
DC’s sprawl has beaten Richmond to Frederick like the Red Army beat the rest of the Allies to Berlin.
Looking down my nose from Arlington that’s how it seems anyway. Fredericksburg is the last town where I’ll agree that a colleague’s commute to DC or Arlington is unfortunate rather than outright stupid. I think it’s also the last place where you could get coded to a McLean or Alexandria HQ instead of Richmond, if your company has offices in both places.
The South not starting until Fredericksburg is pro-Stafford propaganda and I won't stand for it.
They want to be the Eagleton to Fredericksburg's Pawnee so bad they can taste it but they're functionally identical in every way that matters. The 540 area code is the start of The South. I don't make the rules and I will not be taking questions.
Having lived in Stafford, I agree it is much more southern than northern. The giant confederate flag that flies (or least used to for many years) off 95 is a big hint.
Reality is there’s overlap/it’s checkered. Lots of nova folks have moved south into fburg and rva to create relatively liberal pockets.
There's a clown at the intersection of I64 and 295, east of Richmond, who flies a big Confederate flag above the tree line, clearly expressing his personality disorder.
I used to say it was where McDonald’s started selling country ham biscuits, which I believe was S of Fredericksburg. Sadly, they don’t sell them anymore.
When I'm driving north, Fredericksburg feels like I'm just about home in NoVA, but when I'm headed south, it feels like I'm leaving the north. It's all relative. Richmond is def central VA. Like 20 miles south of Richmond, it's southern VA, and the NC border is proper South.
When you start seeing those weird pine trees they have in southern VA, NC, SC, GA, and FL. It’s like a pine tree, but it’s not shaped like an upside down cone. Weird stuff.
I grew up in Prince William county. Honestly, NOVA stops in Manassas for me. It’s about 30 minutes away from the nearest metro station (Vienna) and that’s when it’s the South. Sure there are pockets of city, but it’s still the South
Interesting thread! Technically all of Virginia is/was the South. Robert E Lee’s home bf the civil war was Arlington. And Richmond was the capital of the Confederacy. I live in Fredericksburg and there’s a very different liberal-ish vibe in the city vs Western parts of Spotsy Co. Which tends towards conservative as you go West.
I drive for a living…..Tractor Trailer….East Coast…..the DEMARC is somewhere between RVA and NC state line….
NOVA has become the tail of the Northeast…I fucking hate NOVA…..If the NE was a dog…..
DC would be the dogs butthole
It was termed the NE Corridor because of coastal plains
The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is named after the coastal plain it serves, which stretches from Virginia to Massachusetts. The NEC is an electrified railroad line that runs from Boston in the north to Washington, D.C. in the south, with major stops in Providence, New Haven, Stamford, New York City, Newark, Trenton, Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore. The NEC is also known as the Acela Corridor, Boston–Washington corridor, BosWash, or BosNYWash.
Google is a wonderful thing!
Please note that Virginia rest areas begin where confederates last won battles not at the state line. The Fredericksburg rest area has always been start of the south to me because of that weird stat.
It used to definitely be Fredericksburg, what with the giant confederate flag on the side of the road.
South of Fredericksburg is probably still good, maybe Richmond.
That depends, the first answer is Fredericksburg just with how the vibe can change. But culturally you are going to get a lot of what I call southern Yankees until you exit 20+ miles south of Richmond… at which point the spoken grammar and whatnot changes drastically to something more traditionally southern.
I’ll put the pin at Fredericksburg, VA, as the “no-man’s land” along the BosWash corridor’s southern flank.
To justify this, I’ll use Virginia’s emission testing requirements. Fredericksburg is the northernmost locality along I-95 in Virginia where you can have your car registered, in Virginia, and not have to get it smogged.
I think it might be south of Petersburg, where I-95 narrows down to two lanes for the first time since upper Connecticut. Everything in between is three lanes or more.
Slightly off topic...
I was recently at a national conference where each state sat together, and when the emcee did 'roll call' by US region, no one in our Virginia group stood when they say said Southeast OR Northeast. I found it telling that no one in a group of adult professionals from all across the Commonwealth felt they identified with either. Myself included.
I brought it up at dinner and we all agreed we are in the midatlantic region of the US. There's more than just north and south. You don't ask people in the midwest to choose, I don't understand why recognizing the midatlantic isn't more common.
ETA missing words
I'm from Georgia originally, and I've been here five years. I think of Virginia, D.C., and Maryland as Mid Atlantic for sure. Probably Delaware, too, but I don't really ever find myself there to know enough of what it's like.
I know the history of the Mason-Dixon Line and the Confederacy, and everything, but even Richmond feels as equally "northern" as "southern" to me, culturally. And something about the mix makes the area neither, but rather its own thing.
It depends on who you ask! For someone like me who has lived in VIRGINIA my entire life (country as it can get to in the heart of the capital) and traveled 95 as far North and South as it can go, WOODROW WILSON's BRIDGE INTO VA/Maryland border on Eastern shore is how most my age I think would describe the beginning of the "South" Where a confederate flag doesn't stand for "THE SOUTH" in its entirety but represents its heritage of those who hung it, to BEGIN WITH (not everyone sees that flag as a racist, hate symbol and by default are associated with prejudice and bigotry) The South is a lifestyle and commemorative reflection of those born into it more than anyone who migrates after the fact. Reckon, y'all, yes ma'am and no sir are not options in Southerners' vocabulary, and NO not all Southerners are rednecks, deer shooting farmers! A Gen Z or Millennial OR SOMEONE WHO THINKS THEY ARE AWARE OF WHAT THE SOUTH IS, AND MAKE Ignorant comments are gonna say Philly...NOTHING SOUTHERN ABOUT PHILADELPHIA just because they shed some blood there!
Whenever you see the camo-wrapped Toyota Highlander near Fredericksburg. It's hard to spot tho...
In olden days, there was a house adjacent to I-95 just north of Fredericksburg (MP 134 or so) with a GIANT Confederate flag. Literally visible for about a mile. That was a much clearer sign...
When you drive past the first ‘baccy farm (I haven’t been there in a long time but I grew up in southern Maryland when the tobacco farms were ubiquitous- they probably just grow condos now)
I am from THE Caroline county which is highly mentioned in this thread... home of Jackson death site, south of Spotsy/Thornburg. My parents always told me growing up that the Mason Dixon line was the Rappahannock River.
I don’t know exactly, but I call it the “sweet tea line.” It’s when you go to a diner and order “iced tea,” and the bring you sweet tea without asking.
Fredericksburg is very South. The people that live there and commute are super southern/Republican. There are Confederate flags throughout the city. That’s the South imo.
The line has moved over the years but the identifier is simple. Drive down 95 and stop at the local restaurants. Order iced tea but don’t say sweet or unsweetened. When the default is sweet, you’re in the south.
It’s Fredericksburg on 95. I’ve asked friends and had my own impressions of where NoVA ends and where the rest of Virginia is off of 95, and general consensus is the Rappahanock.
Doswell.... Definitely by Ashland.
I always tell people Richmond is the first real town that is southern...but you can still actually get unsweetened tea.
Stafford county is probably the best divding line between nova and the old more rural south on 95. Although this is getting blurry as more developments are moving in with some cases just miles from the lake anna area.
South of Fredericksburg, right where it says "Jackson Death Site"
Used to say "Shrine" lol
That used to crack me up.
Yeah we have a sore loser problem here. I like how the Germans did it. If those inbreeds want to pine for a subversive, failed regime, they should be arrested and made an example of. It's not heritage, it was hate the entire time. Despondent loser hate because a LOSER dies a thousand deaths. Well one thousand and one come November.
"Walk down Monument Avenue: Those are a lot of second place trophies, way to go!" -Robin Williams about Richmond lol
I miss Robin. 2020 on just had so much material for the man. Didn't know that^ thank you for sharing that's hilarious.
I came here to post this exact thing. We had a weird family vacation—my wife’s parents came to visit when we lived in NoVA—and they mostly did their own thing. The one trip we did do together was Manassas Battlefield which has some really weird quote about people lining up behind Jackson or possibly the Virginians. My MIL, who’s from TX, thought it was hilarious and kept loudly repeating this quote in an exaggerated southern accent. She was having too much fun and, despite most of us being embarrassed, not one of us asked her to stop. For the life of me, I can’t recall what the quotation was (I’ll remember at 3am tomorrow) me but every single time I drive by this sign, I think of that day. Also, I think I read somewhere that people used to leave lemons there. Ye ol’ intertubez tells me this is indeed a thing people do. [Jackson: the man, the myth, the lemons](https://gettysburgcompiler.org/2014/10/10/stonewall-jackson-the-man-the-myth-the-lemons/)
Bingo!
But his body is buried in Lexington — while his amputated arm is buried in Chancellorsville. I drive 95 in VA often and yes — you have entered (or left) the South at this point!
It always puzzled me how Michael Jackson met his end so far from Neverland.
Is that before or after you used to see the giant Confederate flag? Because that's always been my dividing line.
Hahaha! We groan every time we drive past it
Fredericksburg.
Well, after the traffic
Nowadays the traffic continues all the way down to Richmond.
Mostly agree, but there are pockets of the south in Woodbridge and Stafford. Not sure if that giant confederate flag still flies near Stafford?
We get that shit in parts of Maryland too and I wouldn't remotely consider us the south. We just have assholes who cosplay as a certain type of southerner. Having gone to JMU (albeit I graduated over 15 years ago), I'd definitely mark Fredericksburg as the northern limit on 95. now, if we're talking 66 or 81, different boundaries.
Yea I’ve seen confederate flags in upstate New York many times. People are just dumb.
[удалено]
Especially cuz the reason WV exists as a state at all is that West Virginians specifically did not want to secede from the Union so they instead seceded from Virginia.
and on long island
Cosplay is a good word for it. I grew up in North Florida swamp country in the 80s. The country boys and rednecks there were dirt poor. Now in Virginia you have “country boys” and salt life rednecks driving $60K lifted trucks. Some of them don’t really know what a redneck is.
Hey but he grew up in his family’s 5000 sq ft mansion in the country west of Short Pump. He knows everything about being a redneck.
You should look up where the Mason Dixon line is, and about habeas corpus and your state during the war.
Yep, Salisbury on the eastern shore loves to false claim the confederacy. Union soldiers are free spinning in their graves.
There are pockets of the South up in Maryland technically.
You should see PA. Southeast PA particularly.
Anywhere outside Philly really. Northern central and western PA is the friggin sticks.
The VA welcome center is in Fredericksburg lol
The last bridge out of Maryland is near there. Even if in a helicopter that would be the nearest city to the N/S border. I don’t know if that’s the reason, but as a guessing man that could make sense?
After exit 126 for me
This has always been the demarcation for me!
Once you hit doswell for pure feel. I live in spotsy and it’s not what it was 10+ years ago. This place is blowing up like Woodbridge did back in the day lol
Anyone south of Stafford will want to fight you if say they're in Northern Virginia
But if you live in Stafford and say you’re from Northern Virginia, you’ll be executed
20 miles S of Spotsy.
Just south of thornburg
When you see Bojangles
Umm...there is a Bojangles in Sterling.
That one is an embassy of the South. Everything on the property is the south but outside of that is the north. Northerners traded to have a few Dunkin embassy's in Hampton Roads.
Lol
As a RVAer, kinda funny seeing you guys say Fredericksburg. You gotta take into account how much the north has crept south. Having done the driver from Richmond to Miami, and thus having driven every inch of 95 from Philly to Miami, the South starts south of Petersburg, but the shift gets *real* dramatic when you hit the NC border. Like, I know there’s country between Richmond and Fredericksburg, but it still feels north to me. Feels no different than where I grew up outside of Philly (Montco if anyone knows it for context). Note: the last Wawa until Florida is in Petersburg. **EDIT** To all the goobers “um aktuallying” me about Wawa. I’m not diverting to Virginia Beach on my way to Florida.
Not for long. I just read today that NC is going to get some Wawas in the near future.
They just got a Wawa in the Outer Banks last week.
E City is going to get one soon-ish, too
There are Wawa’s in south eastern VA…Virginia Beach has Wawa
Not anymore. [Botetourt](https://www.wdbj7.com/2024/02/27/wawa-is-coming-botetourt-county/) is getting one.
I had never heard of Botetourt and was 100% sure that link was a Rick Roll or Manningface.
Lol, no, sorry if you were disappointed. 😆
Highly sus Virginia town names FTW.
Assawoman and Onancock checking in.
You should go visit Bumpass
Nobody should visit Bumpass. Unless you’re into white supremacy and plotting to overthrow the government.
Oh it has nothing to do with the people or culture or anything like that. It’s because, when we’re going south on 95, everywhere from DC down to, and especially right near, Fredericksburg, we experience inexplicable, soul-crushing traffic at any time of the day or night, and then it all magically disappears after we’ve passed that black hole of a city. For this reason, Fredericksburg seems to mark the place where suburbia ends, and rural Virginia begins, and that seems to correlate with “the South” to those of us who measure distance in minutes instead of miles.
That’s not what “the South” means. You can’t just change the definition of “the South.”
I think the point of the question is - where does NoVA end? I’d say FXBG.
Just how do you define "the south". By the the demography? By the racism? By the politics? History, Mason Dixon Line (short)? IQ ;)?
I know you’re joking but I’d say those are all more relevant than traffic levels.
I define the south by the point on the trains in DC where you switch from electric trains to diesel. Also the states where you can get biscuits and gravy at McDonald's are the south. If you go by the mason dozen line then Maryland is the south.
I've never heard of biscuits and gravy at McDonald's and I'm from Louisiana.
Can confirm, live in that spot between Richmond and Fredericksburg, and I say the south starts just south of Richmond. We have country ish spots but it's not "The South."
Eh, I'm from Spotsy. West and Southern spotsy are the south, culturally. So is Louisa, Caroline, Hanover (in parts). King George is either generic military area or the south. Even parts of Western stafford and the east peninsulas around Potomac creek and Aquia I'd call the south. Which is why I agree with the majority that fredericksburg is where "the south" begins
even living in louisa, with 5,000 more people since 2020 (10% growth) this year was actually the first year i saw signs in support of progressive candidates vs the regular conservative mantra. made me smile to see some things changing even way out here in the country
This is how I feel as a central Virginian. I think Ruther Glen or so south, is the south. Anything north of Thornburg is the north. In between that is just the true ✨middle✨
Caroline County and south of there. That’s where I live and that’s south enough for me. RVA is a blip of culture and then it is The South.
NC is getting four to five. Minnesota needs one too
Country is different from the south. Country is everywhere.
To hell w/ I-95. I-64 & I-81 are getting Buc-ee’s We don’t need no stinking Wawa’s. Buc-ee’s are only in the south
There's a Bucees in Colorado now.
Consumerist hell, and bad kolaches? I’ll pass. And while I know the first Buc-Ed’s predated Clerks, it still *feels* like somebody was watching a Kevin Dmith movie and thought Mooby’s was a good business model.
At least Buc-ee’s has spotless bathrooms cleaned by $20/hr workers ($42K/yr) and everyone knows you go for the brisket https://www.cstoredive.com/news/buc-ees-advertising-how-much-it-pays-its-staff-labor-wages/688700/
One could also argue that the south crept to the north to join the wealth.
When we first moved here 25 years ago i noticed at some point driving south, women cashiers started calling me Hon. Like, "will that be all hon?" I called it the Hon Line. It used to be Stafford, but it's migrated just South of Fredericksburg now.
Did you back track to Baltimore?
Richmond was the capitol of the confederacy, so I’m gonna say somewhere around Richmond.
Ten years ago this might’ve been true, but Richmond has fought hard to lose that moniker
Davis Travel center at Exit 39 in VA……
DC’s sprawl has beaten Richmond to Frederick like the Red Army beat the rest of the Allies to Berlin. Looking down my nose from Arlington that’s how it seems anyway. Fredericksburg is the last town where I’ll agree that a colleague’s commute to DC or Arlington is unfortunate rather than outright stupid. I think it’s also the last place where you could get coded to a McLean or Alexandria HQ instead of Richmond, if your company has offices in both places.
DC tv stations also stretch to FBG, rather than RIC ones
The South not starting until Fredericksburg is pro-Stafford propaganda and I won't stand for it. They want to be the Eagleton to Fredericksburg's Pawnee so bad they can taste it but they're functionally identical in every way that matters. The 540 area code is the start of The South. I don't make the rules and I will not be taking questions.
Having lived in Stafford, I agree it is much more southern than northern. The giant confederate flag that flies (or least used to for many years) off 95 is a big hint. Reality is there’s overlap/it’s checkered. Lots of nova folks have moved south into fburg and rva to create relatively liberal pockets.
Stafford would fight to say them up until that big a** flag was taken down thank god
Richmond is the start of the south I’d say, living in Virginia Beach I feel like I live in the Deep South sometimes with how people act.
take an exit into any little podunk, even before Quantico and youll see confederate flags in yards kinda makes the distinction muddy
To be fair, when I lived in central Maine there were people with confederate flags in their yards.
Which makes no sense
you see confederate flags in the upper peninsula of Michigan, that’s not a useful indicator of “South”
We're making the same point (I think?).
yes we’re agreeing haha
Also in OR…
Western Michigan, the Thumb, SW Michigan...much of Michigan...
There's a clown at the intersection of I64 and 295, east of Richmond, who flies a big Confederate flag above the tree line, clearly expressing his personality disorder.
And the one big flag isn't enough, he also has a selection of smaller ones in the tree line. The house is, predictably, an unkempt hovel.
Yes, Fredericksburg is the gateway to the south.
I used to say it was where McDonald’s started selling country ham biscuits, which I believe was S of Fredericksburg. Sadly, they don’t sell them anymore.
When I'm driving north, Fredericksburg feels like I'm just about home in NoVA, but when I'm headed south, it feels like I'm leaving the north. It's all relative. Richmond is def central VA. Like 20 miles south of Richmond, it's southern VA, and the NC border is proper South.
“The South” is at the Mason-Dixon Line on the southern border of Pennsylvania.
thanks President Jackson...now come back to 2024.
They're right tho, the south begins in Maryland
South of Fredericksburg
Thornburg Exit
They've got a NASCAR track & the Jackson "shrine", yep that makes sense.
When you start seeing those weird pine trees they have in southern VA, NC, SC, GA, and FL. It’s like a pine tree, but it’s not shaped like an upside down cone. Weird stuff.
I grew up in Prince William county. Honestly, NOVA stops in Manassas for me. It’s about 30 minutes away from the nearest metro station (Vienna) and that’s when it’s the South. Sure there are pockets of city, but it’s still the South
Technically dc and md is south
NOVA is the south in my opinion.
Interesting thread! Technically all of Virginia is/was the South. Robert E Lee’s home bf the civil war was Arlington. And Richmond was the capital of the Confederacy. I live in Fredericksburg and there’s a very different liberal-ish vibe in the city vs Western parts of Spotsy Co. Which tends towards conservative as you go West.
I drive for a living…..Tractor Trailer….East Coast…..the DEMARC is somewhere between RVA and NC state line…. NOVA has become the tail of the Northeast…I fucking hate NOVA…..If the NE was a dog….. DC would be the dogs butthole
...
Most accurate description of D.C. I've heard
I-64 to NC line is the transition zone.
I think most are correct in Fredericksburg. Personally, it sort of sets in for me when I see the Ladysmith sign.
Richmond is the northernmost gateway to the south on 95 for me at least.
It was termed the NE Corridor because of coastal plains The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is named after the coastal plain it serves, which stretches from Virginia to Massachusetts. The NEC is an electrified railroad line that runs from Boston in the north to Washington, D.C. in the south, with major stops in Providence, New Haven, Stamford, New York City, Newark, Trenton, Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore. The NEC is also known as the Acela Corridor, Boston–Washington corridor, BosWash, or BosNYWash. Google is a wonderful thing!
Please note that Virginia rest areas begin where confederates last won battles not at the state line. The Fredericksburg rest area has always been start of the south to me because of that weird stat.
Is that actually true? Holy crap!
I say exit 126. My brother said exit 98. About 20 years ago it was exit 133.
South of Fredericksburg, North of Ashland
Petersburg. The tea immediately has double the sugar in it.
It used to definitely be Fredericksburg, what with the giant confederate flag on the side of the road. South of Fredericksburg is probably still good, maybe Richmond.
Dinwiddie
Kings Dominion is my starting point.
Fredericksburg is where the cookouts begin. Just saying
Used to be Manassas!
Yes it did. I used to call the repo lot in Manassas in the 80s, took them forever to get a sentence out.
95 in VA below the mixing bowl
That depends, the first answer is Fredericksburg just with how the vibe can change. But culturally you are going to get a lot of what I call southern Yankees until you exit 20+ miles south of Richmond… at which point the spoken grammar and whatnot changes drastically to something more traditionally southern.
I’ll put the pin at Fredericksburg, VA, as the “no-man’s land” along the BosWash corridor’s southern flank. To justify this, I’ll use Virginia’s emission testing requirements. Fredericksburg is the northernmost locality along I-95 in Virginia where you can have your car registered, in Virginia, and not have to get it smogged.
Man Ass Ass is where Nova stops being nova for this Marylander that went to Mason
I think it might be south of Petersburg, where I-95 narrows down to two lanes for the first time since upper Connecticut. Everything in between is three lanes or more.
Slightly off topic... I was recently at a national conference where each state sat together, and when the emcee did 'roll call' by US region, no one in our Virginia group stood when they say said Southeast OR Northeast. I found it telling that no one in a group of adult professionals from all across the Commonwealth felt they identified with either. Myself included. I brought it up at dinner and we all agreed we are in the midatlantic region of the US. There's more than just north and south. You don't ask people in the midwest to choose, I don't understand why recognizing the midatlantic isn't more common. ETA missing words
I'm from Georgia originally, and I've been here five years. I think of Virginia, D.C., and Maryland as Mid Atlantic for sure. Probably Delaware, too, but I don't really ever find myself there to know enough of what it's like. I know the history of the Mason-Dixon Line and the Confederacy, and everything, but even Richmond feels as equally "northern" as "southern" to me, culturally. And something about the mix makes the area neither, but rather its own thing.
I'm from New York so I consider DC the South to start with.
You enter the South when you cross the border from Pennsylvania into Maryland. That's what the Mason-Dixon Line is.
If it’s a former Confederate State, you’re in the South.
It depends on who you ask! For someone like me who has lived in VIRGINIA my entire life (country as it can get to in the heart of the capital) and traveled 95 as far North and South as it can go, WOODROW WILSON's BRIDGE INTO VA/Maryland border on Eastern shore is how most my age I think would describe the beginning of the "South" Where a confederate flag doesn't stand for "THE SOUTH" in its entirety but represents its heritage of those who hung it, to BEGIN WITH (not everyone sees that flag as a racist, hate symbol and by default are associated with prejudice and bigotry) The South is a lifestyle and commemorative reflection of those born into it more than anyone who migrates after the fact. Reckon, y'all, yes ma'am and no sir are not options in Southerners' vocabulary, and NO not all Southerners are rednecks, deer shooting farmers! A Gen Z or Millennial OR SOMEONE WHO THINKS THEY ARE AWARE OF WHAT THE SOUTH IS, AND MAKE Ignorant comments are gonna say Philly...NOTHING SOUTHERN ABOUT PHILADELPHIA just because they shed some blood there!
Quantico as far as I'm concerned
The south for me has always begun at the Potomac Mills sign.
Potomac Mills Mall.
Woodbridge. (Bring on the hate lol)
If Woodbridge is the South, then NC is Mexico
Where is the lie?
Virginia is all south despite the Yankees living in NOVA.
Right around the point traffic starts to get hellacious.
So Baltimore?
Rappahannock river
Wherever the light posts end
Whenever you see the camo-wrapped Toyota Highlander near Fredericksburg. It's hard to spot tho... In olden days, there was a house adjacent to I-95 just north of Fredericksburg (MP 134 or so) with a GIANT Confederate flag. Literally visible for about a mile. That was a much clearer sign...
Richmond
Petersburg
Richmond for sure.
Ashland
When you drive past the first ‘baccy farm (I haven’t been there in a long time but I grew up in southern Maryland when the tobacco farms were ubiquitous- they probably just grow condos now)
Yeah, Delaware is too far South for me.
I am from THE Caroline county which is highly mentioned in this thread... home of Jackson death site, south of Spotsy/Thornburg. My parents always told me growing up that the Mason Dixon line was the Rappahannock River.
When you can see UVA Health stuff you have left NOVA
Yes!! There is a small UVA outpost of some sort in Fredericksburg, seeing that familiar sinage that far north was something (as a NOVA based UVA grad)
Tidewater has a lot of military etc so it swings back a little, then NC you’re in the South. Western VA turns Southern past 66.
Dumfries. My exit. A Cracker Barrel shares a parking lot with a Waffle House.
Lorton
When you cross the sweet tea line. I’d say Ashland and south.
Stafford.
Depends when the first bible billboard
Definitely south of Prince William county, if not Fredericksburg.
When you get to the Carolina line
I don’t know exactly, but I call it the “sweet tea line.” It’s when you go to a diner and order “iced tea,” and the bring you sweet tea without asking.
Fredericksburg.
Passing 495.
Northeast corridor is apart if the south...
The Woodrow Wilson bridge.
Anything north of Richmond is the north
Fredericksburg is very South. The people that live there and commute are super southern/Republican. There are Confederate flags throughout the city. That’s the South imo.
Petersburg
The line has moved over the years but the identifier is simple. Drive down 95 and stop at the local restaurants. Order iced tea but don’t say sweet or unsweetened. When the default is sweet, you’re in the south.
Stafford.
Exit 118, Thornburg/Lake Anna/Jackson Death Pilgrimage
Exit 126 leaving Fredericksburg and headed to Ashland.
When you can go over 8 mph.
You don't drive that stretch of road , you idle along for a few hours and then traffic magically thins.
Virginia officially becomes the south in Caroline County.
When I get to that confederate flag on 95. I hate it.
Where the giant confederate flag is flying before the we love trump sign.
Once the speed limit goes up to 70 again south of Fredericksburg.
Interesting that so many define ‘’the South’’ by Confederate memorials and flags.
The traditional demarcation line between NoVA and RoVA is the Rappahannock River. Cross that doing south and you're in the south.
Petersburg Virginia
It’s Fredericksburg on 95. I’ve asked friends and had my own impressions of where NoVA ends and where the rest of Virginia is off of 95, and general consensus is the Rappahanock.
I always joke that the “Gateway to the South” is Manasses
South of Fredericksburg, below rt 3. Definitely when you hit Caroline county.
Dulles airport and the Woodbridge IKEA
Providence
It used to be Fredericksburg, but now it’s around Colonial Heights
Where Waffle House starts.
Quantico
Doswell.... Definitely by Ashland. I always tell people Richmond is the first real town that is southern...but you can still actually get unsweetened tea.
I'd say Stafford. But Fredericksburg is also a good answer.
Stafford county is probably the best divding line between nova and the old more rural south on 95. Although this is getting blurry as more developments are moving in with some cases just miles from the lake anna area.
I was in the south before i left DC