New England
Within the New England region is Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. Northern New England is Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, while Southern New England is Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. “The County” in Maine may refer to Aroostook County, and the portions of New England closest to the Québec border are often associated with an enhanced sense of rurality. Further away from the international border is Mount Katahdin, the highest peak in Maine, Mount Washington, highest in New Hampshire, and Mount Mansfield, highest in Vermont. The primary mountain ranges in the region include the White Mountains in New Hampshire and the Green Mountains in Vermont. The Connecticut River separates the States of Vermont and New Hampshire, bisects the State of Connecticut, and splits approximately the western third of Massachusetts from the eastern two-thirds of the Commonwealth. Aquidneck Island refers to the island officially named Rhode Island, containing Newport, Portsmouth, and surrounding communities within the island. Providence, formerly Providence Plantations, refers to the vast majority of the mainland region of the State of Rhode Island. Within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the Berkshires are at the western end, the Pioneer Valley along the Connecticut River (with the Knowledge Corridor including the region plus Greater Hartford in Connecticut), the Quabbin Reservoir separating Western and Central Massachusetts, and the remainder of Massachusetts being even more distinctly identified. Salem is notable for the Salem Witch Trials, Lowell for the textile industry, Cambridge for Harvard and MIT (plus Tufts in nearby Somerville and Medford), Boston for the Puritans, Plymouth for the Pilgrims, Lexington and Concord for Minute Man, and Worcester, Leominster, and Fitchburg for artistic identity and expression. The SouthCoast refers to much of Bristol County, in which New Bedford in particular is notable for the whaling industry (and Attleboro for jewelry manufacturing). Within the Pioneer Valley, Springfield is home to the birthplace of basketball, while Holyoke is home to the birthplace of volleyball. Further north is the Five Colleges, a consortium of Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, Smith, and UMass Amherst. Additional colleges and universities also exist in the nearby areas, such as Westfield State University in Westfield, west of Springfield and West Springfield, and Bay Path University, located in Longmeadow, immediately to the south of Springfield along the Connecticut state line. Between the Cities of Springfield and Holyoke is Chicopee, home to Elms College, officially known as the College of Our Lady of the Elms. Within the State of Connecticut, the Gold Coast refers to an assortment of cities and towns predominantly in the south of Fairfield County, south of (but not typically including) Danbury. The Quiet Corner of Connecticut refers to the northeastern corner of Connecticut, while the Northeast Kingdom refers to the northeastern corner of Vermont along the upper reaches of the Connecticut River. The Down East refers to the upper portion of the Atlantic coast of Maine, while the Aroostook Valley is largely determined by the eastern portion of Aroostook County. Referring back to the Knowledge Corridor, or perhaps the Intelligence Corridor, Connecticut is also home to UConn, located approximately twenty miles east of Hartford in Storrs, as well as Willimantic, home to Eastern Connecticut State University.
Mid-Atlantic
The Mid-Atlantic region is not a well-defined region, but most sources include New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. States like Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia may also be included, and the District of Columbia is often included with the definition of the Northeast Megalopolis as well. Within the State of New York, distinct regions include Western New York, the Finger Lakes region, the Mohawk Valley, the Hudson Valley, the Capital District, the Catskills, the Adirondacks, the North Country, Long Island, and New York. While the present-day boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens are located on Long Island, Manhattan and Staten Island (formerly known as Richmond) are located on separate islands and the Bronx is located on the mainland of the State. Even within the distinct regions, a more granular examination of the State of New York would reveal the Thousand Islands along the Saint Lawrence River and the Canadian border, as well as numerous smaller indigenous reservations, such as the Seneca in Western New York and the Akewsasne in the North Country and into Ontario and Québec in Canada. Notable sites of historical interest within the upper State may include the Roosevelt historical sites in and around Hyde Park, along the Hudson in Dutchess County, women’s rights exhibits in Seneca Falls, baseball history in Cooperstown, boxing history in Canastota, and numerous additional attractions scattered throughout the State. Within the State of New Jersey, the population is often divided into “North,” “South,” and sometimes “Central,” Jersey, dropping the word “New” from the state name entirely. Although the most densely populated of the United States, the State is also home to dramatically rural areas, in particular the pine barrens ecosystem of South Jersey (the ecosystems of eastern Long Island in New York may also be fairly similar). Apart from the very rural pine barrens, the State is also home to a portion of the Appalachian Mountains in the northwest hindering significant urban development within the region, most notably moderating the population of Sussex County (which is also New Jersey’s northernmost county). The North Jersey region is often associated with Newark, Jersey City, Paterson, Elizabeth, Hackensack, Morristown, and New Brunswick, as well as numerous smaller communities associated with the satellite cities and occasional suburbs of such cities and New York. Sometimes included are communities in Monmouth County, such as Freehold and Asbury Park, the latter of which is directly coastal and opposite New York’s city limits. On the western side of the State is communities such as Trenton (the state capital) and Princeton to the northeast, both in Mercer County. South Jersey, as a region, often consists of the areas in fairly close proximity to Philadelphia, particularly Camden, as well as coastal cities such as Atlantic City and Ocean City. Cape May County is located at the extreme southern end of the State of New Jersey, wherein a peninsula nearly connects the State to Delaware to the south opposite the Delaware Bay.
While the States of New York and New Jersey provide general insights into community values in either state, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania also contains nearly the same level of prestige, with the Greater Philadelphia area in particular being notable as a symbol of American independence and freedom from British rule, particularly as a former national capital with the Liberty Bell centrally located within the city. Away from the inner city limits, the region is also notable for such localities as Bryn Mawr, Swarthmore, and nearby institutions. Since the region is largely flatter than most other portions of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the general southeast region is more densely populated, even at great distances from Philadelphia city limits. The third-largest city in Pennsylvania after Philadelphia and Pittsburgh is Allentown, which itself is directly adjacent to Bethlehem and within proximity to Easton toward the Delaware River. Additional cities of statewide importance include Lancaster, which is surrounded by the Amish and Mennonite communities (of which the city itself is not Amish nor Mennonite), York, Gettysburg (maintaining the historical sites from the Civil War), Kennett Square, Chadds Ford, Reading, Chambersburg, Shippensburg, Carlisle, Harrisburg (the state capital), Hershey, and Lebanon. The northeastern corner of the Commonwealth is, by contrast, significantly more sparsely populated than the southeast, with settlements largely interrupted by the Poconos, located directly to the south and southwest of the Catskills of New York. Although Wilkes-Barre, Scranton, and to a lesser extent, Hazleton are fairly significant independently from the more major metropolitan areas further south, the areas even further to the north may often be very sparsely settled, a stark contrast from the Connecticut that much of the region had previously belonged to. Although cities have already been mentioned on both sides of the Susquehanna River, the true Susquehanna Valley experience is specifically unique to Union, Snyder, Northumberland, Montour, and Columbia Counties. While the region may be celebrated for covered bridges, particularly in the case of Union County, Columbia County is unfortunately home to the Centralia Mine Fire. Even further west is the true Pennsylvania Wilds, containing such counties as Forest, Elk, and Cameron—all with unique personalities, quirks, and styles. Forest County is home to Tionesta, while Elk County is home to Ridgway and Cameron County is home to Emporium. Communities in the surrounding areas also include Franklin and Oil City in Venango County, Mount Jewett (renowned for Swedish heritage) in McKean County, and the communities nearer Lake Erie. While the only significant Pennsylvania communities along the lake are Erie and the Borough of North East, the nearby area to the south is also home to Corry, Union City, Conneaut Lake, Meadville, Titusville, and more. The Greater Pittsburgh area is home to more than just the Pittsburgh urban and suburban areas—the region also extends toward Butler, Washington, Connellsville, Greensburg, Uniontown, Waynesburg, Ellwood City, New Castle, Mercer, Beaver, Ohiopyle, and even in the direction of the communities of “Pennsyltucky,” a T-shaped region where most of the Commonwealth’s population does not live. Such Central Pennsylvania communities may include Johnstown, Altoona, State College, Bellefonte, Williamsport, Jersey Shore, Lock Haven, Muncy, Somerset, Bedford, Indiana, Brookville, Punxsutawney, and numerous smaller communities, including possibly cities, boroughs, and townships, influenced by the aforementioned.
If New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania are exceptionally difficult to decode, the State of Delaware may be significantly simpler to decode. Only three (3) counties exist within the State of Delaware: New Castle, Kent, and Sussex. The county seats are located at Wilmington, Dover, and Georgetown, respectively, with each city providing a unique opportunity to discover an authentically Delawarean experience for locals and visitors alike. While Wilmington is the largest city in the State of Delaware, the city is also largely influenced by proximity to Philadelphia, which also impacts the nearby communities across the Delaware into New Jersey. Dover is centrally located within the State and is the capital city of the State, thus providing the city primarily with government resources that serve Delaware as a state. While Wilmington is where corporate friendliness is often celebrated, Dover is where the State of Delaware is honored independently from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania that the “Lower Counties” were formerly included within. At the southern end of the State is Sussex County, home not just to Georgetown, but also to Milford and numerous smaller cities, towns, and communities along the Atlantic Ocean and further inland—all within close proximity to the Maryland state line, as with all of Delaware.
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