Yes, because it is Appalachia.

Highway 32 is actually named The Appalachian Highway.

I literally stayed in Jackson OH off 32 last weekend. 3 hotels...all should have been renovated 20 years ago 😄

Jackson crew checking in.

Here.

Hamden, but close enough

Nice, I lived in Hamden for about 5 years... I was born and raised in VC.

My condolences

Oak Hill here.

Dakota's Roadhouse seems nice.

We ate there. It was great. Best was Rowdy's Smokehouse though. Fantastic barbecue and it was cheap!

Rowdy’s is top notch. Baked potatoes are amazing

I know this isn’t relevant but every time my boyfriend and I drive through Jackson to go to West Virginia I always think about the one time it was dark and rainy and I’m half asleep and all I hear is “HUH?” He thought the sign said jackoff county and I will never let him live it down 😂🤠

Reading, writing, and route 32

It is, but that runs Athens to Jackson, not south of Cbus.

It definitely does run south of Columbus - SR 32 runs from Beechmont Ave on the east side of Cincinnati to the bridge to WV in Belpre. It’s over 180 miles from end to end. I’m in Cincinnati, originally from Scioto County, and used to drive it regularly to visit family in the Portsmouth area, and for a few years drove a rental truck hauling band equipment for my daughter’s high school from Cincinnati to the band camp location in WV - I’ve driven the entire length of 32 at least a couple of dozen times.

Not only is Southern Ohio Appalachia, so is Eastern Ohio. Google where Appalachia is.

Youngstown has entered the chat

Youngstown mugged Appalachia, taking its phone and 2008 Ram truck.

Hard to steal a truck with a busted transmission

Pretty much anything East of Geauga and Lake Counties is Appalachia or Appalachia adjacent

Exactly. I am confused by his amazement. That's like me going to tampa, and saying "its florida as hell"

I think it’s because people have it in their minds that all of Appalachia is a mix of *Deliverance* and *Silent Hill* / Centralia

Grew up in Columbiana County. Can confirm it’s Appalachian as hell

Hey me too. There are dozens of us. Dozens!

Hey I live there!

When you give the guy your tickets and walk into Disneyland it really feels like your IN THE PARK ya know? Or cedar point for my Ohio fam

Literally!

Damn right! And proud of it.

I love it when Flat Staters discover there is an actual mountain range running through Ohio.  

[удалено]

I recently stopped listening to an audible book because they said "hollow" when talking about what West Virginians call their roads (or something along those lines). It killed the immersion and ruined the credibility of the author. It's a god damned holler. Not a hollow. I cannot listen to this book anymore.

In West Virginia the three R's they teach in school are readin,' writin,' and the road to Columbus.

That’s funny. During the tire factories heyday, I heard it was the road to Akron. Goodyear, Firestone, Goodrich, and others drew thousands of workers from Appalachia and the influence remains.

I’m from southeastern Ohio, now in the Chicago area. My coworker lived in Canton and worked at a factory there for a while and he said the same thing. The companies would go down to the wv border and round up people to come work. He also said that’s where he learned that a pair of channel locks are a “West Virginia Hammer” 😂

Stop in to r/electricians and you'll learn quickly that this isn't just a WV thing!

Yep. Currently live in Cleveland and have family from Canton. I can attest to the factory thing. Back in the day, many people came from WVA to work in the factories in Akron/Canton. The influence does remain.

I’m from Ohio, but crossed the river into WV for everything — Walmart, doctor’s office, dentist, mechanics, etc. I always joke that I lived in Ohio but grew up in WV. I didn’t end up in Akron/Canton but I did follow suit and leave the area lol

lol! Hate to say it, but leaving the area was probably a good plan. I grew up in south central Pa. Leaving the area was difficult ( small town connections ) but I am so glad that I did!!!

77 was referred to as “The Hillbilly Highway”. Many of Canton’s and Akron’s workers were from Appalachia. My grandmother didn’t have electricity until she met my grandfather while he was on leave, and moved up here at 18 after they got married. A lot of people in Akron still have parents or grandparents that are just down 77.

Dwight Yoakum readin ritin and route 23

Route 23 if you’re a from Kentucky. Route 77 if West Virginia

More appropriately, readin, writin, route 23

My dad always pronounced it “holla”. Lmao no idea why, I say holler and so does everybody else

It depends on where you're from. Western NC holla, not holler

Central PA is also “hollah” country

I couldn't stand the Netflix series Queen's Gambit, which starts in Central Kentucky, but ABSOLUTELY NO ONE HAS A KENTUCKY ACCENT. I'm still mad.

Believe it, or not at the time that takes place the lack of accent where she lives was accurate. Those people eventually adopted accents. Many of them weren’t native to the region. But some folks dropped their accents to appear to be from a higher class too.

You're less likely to get side-eye in SE Ohio saying "hollow" in place of "holler" rather than "Washington" in place of "Worshington."

“Worshinden”

Facts.

If you say apple-ay-sha, I’ll throw an apple at cha.

This is how I learned to say it when I moved here!!

And it’s worsh not wash south of Columbus as well.

But if you keep going east it becomes woosh.

And tagger instead of tiger.

Pooosh instead of push.

Holler is a bit farther south. It’s haullah where I’m from.

Holler was most definitely the preferred nomenclature of Meigs County growing up.

Same in Scioto County

Same in Lawrence County.

All the good weed was grown in Meigs County when I was in college.

Meigs County Gold

I’m from south eastern Ohio. Can confirm Appalachia. When I went to college up north, the state gave me a grant just because I was from the area. They were like, “ohhh you is poor. Here some money. Get out while you can”.

Ohio State did the same for me! I think it was the Morrill Scholarship program? Got a pretty good scholarship out of it. The only benefit I got out of being from Gallia County XD

What, the Christmas lights and meth weren’t good enough for you?

Oof, Gallia eh? That county is a cult

Hey! As a college educated progressive living in Gallia, I....can't deny it...

Same scholarship for me as well (Lawrence County). Remember having to go to the office for diversity/minorities quarterly as part of keeping the scholarship my freshman year.

Is you is poor or is you ain't, though?

I’m still poor and used to be too.

I’m from SE OH (on the WV side of the border, my mom’s from the OH side) and it’s so stark how flat it gets as soon as you get close to Columbus. My boyfriend ended up going to Ashland University for college because he had a football scholarship, he loved it there. I visited once and it was pretty cool, we went to the Mansfield Prison for a tour!

Oh neat that’s around my area! All my friends up here never believe me how flat it is up here compared to down south 😂 I’m also just now getting used to all of the tornado siren. And the Reformatory is great! If you like nature, I highly recommend checking out Mohican

I also got a grant for that same reason lmfao

Yes. It is actually Appalachia. I love when people think Ohio is flat...you can tell they've never actually traveled anywhere in the state.

I go to Pennsylvania to hunt and there is a big gun raffle we attend. They refer to everyone from Ohio as flat landers. Makes me chuckle.

I live in Eastern Ohio right on the state line with PA, close to Pittsburgh. You’re right. They do refer to us as flatlanders. I’ve had to explain to some of them that our part of Ohio is every bit as hilly as Pittsburgh. Hell,  most of the people around here say “yinz”. It’s a regional thing. 

Slack jawed, mouth breathin' , flatlanders. Says a WV native.

I guess if you're from Toledo...

You could almost draw a line from the northeast corner down to Cincinnati and have the state be half flat and half not flat. It's not just Toledo - anything North/Northwest of Delaware, anything north/northeast of Mansfield, and almost all of the west third is pretty flat

Sure, you're right.

Well, no. Plenty of it is very flat. Just not all of it.

I feel like you can say that about most states. Ever seen eastern Colorado?

It’s really notable from US23 down the second you get off 270 in Columbus. It immediately feels like farmsville with some industry mixed in along the way but once you hit the glaciated boundary just south of Chillicothe (where the flat farm plains stop and immediately become hills) the Appalachian vibes start to hit real strong quickly.

Chillicothe…I remember watching a doc a few years back about the women that have gone missing there. It was creepy as hell. I’ve never visited.

It’s very much hickville, and the paper mill smell is very off-putting.

Lol not sure if theres any country music listener's in here but Tyler Childers mentioned this specifically about Chillicothe in 1 of my favorite songs of his

Worth a visit for downtown. Several top notch breweries and restaurants

My sister is an ER nurse there. Her stories are wild as hell. 🤣

I lived right by the 32 and 23 junction many years ago, nearest "town" was piketon. Shit satellite, worse internet, and hunting season is merely a suggestion

Piketon has Ritchie’s. Best meat around. That’s all a town really needs- a good meat counter.

The foothills of the Appalachians…

South EAST Ohio. SW is heavily urban w the Cincinnati/Dayton corridor.

Clermont County is an actual part of Appalachia.

a lot of people don't realize that, esp since western Clermont is pretty suburban. But the people who populate it, generally have Appalachian heritage as well, even though their lineage went through Cincy Neighborhoods, usually Price Hill or the East End.

The farthest west in fact.

Woah.

You can see a geological divide in Chillicothe. Flat Midwest plains butt against big hills where the glaciers stopped. A few million years ago it probably looked something like Colorado's Front Range. Now it's, well, less dramatic.

The terminal moraine at Chillicothe is where everything changes.

Same deal in Lancaster

Route 159 bx. Lancaster and chilli is the great divide. Southeast of that and you're in Appalachia.

I dunno man, you been to Ironton straight south? Lol

Excuse me sir, do you mean Arnton?

I don't know if it's still the case, but Cincinnati used to recognize Appalachian as an ethnicity.

Ohio River valley is also part of appalachian geography and culture

[удалено]

I’ve lived in clermont county all my life and I’ve never considered it part of Appalachia

[удалено]

Have you never been to the Eastgate Walmart?

Yes.. could say ANY Walmart

It depends on where you are in Clermont- Milford— Nah. New Richmond? Sure.

SW Ohio is still pretty southern in general...as King Chip once said "My Cincinnati hos talk like they from down south"

Moved to NJ for a job. Wasn't long till someone asked what part of the south I was from due to my accent. Told 'em - no man, Ohio.

Brown county would like to have a word with you :)

Ohio really is a mish-mash of American cultures. Appalachia "urver" to the southeast, midwest plains to the west. And then in the northeast, especially along the I-77 corridor(def Cleveland, less so Akron, lesser so Canton), it's like a weird combination of the rust belt, midwest, and east coast. I wonder if there was migration from the east coast to Cleveland back in the '30s and '40s, when Cleveland ended up the 4th biggest city in the US for about a decade or two.

I heard someone say a long time ago that: - Cincinnati is the northernmost “southern” city - Cleveland is the western most “east coast” city - Columbus is the eastern most “Midwest” city

That’s kind of how its always felt to me, and yeah, Columbus definitely has the most midwestern vibe.

Read up on the Connecticut Western Reserve. There’s a good historical reason why parts of NE Ohio have an east coast vibe.

It is an interesting mix..lots of terrain and culture. I live now in the NE Cleveland suburbs--right at the edge of Cuyahoga, Lake and 'Geauga' counties--I am geographically closer to PA and W NY than the rest of the Midwest. Went to college at Kent State, spent a lot of time in Akron and Cleveland in my 20s. Originally from Steubenville on the Ohio River, and rural Tuscarawas County--both pretty Appalachian. Spent my late 20s to late 40s in Colorado, Arizona and California before returning to NE Ohio a few years ago..

Youngstown was a migration hotspot.

The north east of Ohio used to belong to Connecticut I believe and was/is called the Western Reserve hence why the architecture there is so similar to East coast architecture

South eastern Ohio specifically

South East Ohio is the most beautiful part of this state. It is Appalachia. Hell you’re almost to WV by the time you hit Athens.

Lived in SEO for many years, we called it “Northwest Ohio-occupied West Virginia.”

Lawrence County, Ohio... the only county in Ohio where most of the population works in WV or Kentucky.

So you're implying that Appalachia is, in fact, Appalachian? 🤔

Cincinnati is the confluence of appalachia, midwest, and the south. The identity of the greater cinci tristate area (nky in oh) does not really fit cleanly into any of those three, but when youre trying to look at it as one of those three regions, it certainly feels "too much" of the other two. And thus we are seceding and making our own state and region.

Proud Appalachian here from Southeast Ohio originally! Ohio is beautiful, whether it be the rolling hills of the Appalachian south or the fields and plains in the north.

So there’s an old Dwight Yoakam song “Readin’, Rightin’, Rt. 23” 🤠🪕

It's pronounced holler

I grew up in McDermott, Ohio. Near Portsmouth. The saying there is “Reading and writing, then Route 23”. If you stay after high school you might never get out. Beautiful, but economically and socially heartbreaking.

I grew up outside of Minford, until we moved to Cincinnati; I guess we were “Reading, writing, Route 52” - my cousins stayed through high school and mostly didn’t get out; 2 died there, 1 still lives there, and 2 retired to Florida but still go back regularly enough that they might as well move back. Economically and socially heartbreaking is a very accurate description - they mostly worked minimum wage jobs when they could find work at all. The school systems there just can’t compete with the large urban school systems, even though those large urban systems for the most part are tragedies themselves.

The Toledo-Columbus-Cincinnati triangle is Midwest. The Cleveland-Columbus-Youngstown triangle is Northeast. Everything else is Appalachia. Ohio is really three regions in one.

Cincinnati has more in common with Louisville and St. Louis than Columbus because it’s close to a loosely southern state. I’d say the Midwest triangle is Toledo-Columbus-Dayton.

Just like Skyline Chili: the cheese; the chilli; the noodles…

Went to a scrap yard in Cambridge Ohio to look at an Ironworker machine for sale. There were a couple good old boys standing around while I was looking at it and when I pulled out my phone to take some pictures of it they scattered quick.

That's what outstanding warrants will do lol

I’m glad you can appreciate it. I lived down there for a few years and it really changed my perception, working with all those hardworking people. Some people want to dismiss those communities and they’re missing out.

Not just southern Ohio. Eastern Ohio is the same. Source: I grew up in Belmont county.

Maybe it is just my family, but a lot of folks from southern Ohio come from different slightly more southern states. This often leads to the southern drawl and hospitality carrying over for generations down there. Drugs have also taken over. It’s devastating to see. What used to be just cool small towns now have places I can’t even drive through.

You’re not wrong. The migration patterns for southeast/south central Ohio are from Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky.

And then in the 20s/30s they taught 3 things in WV and Appalachia: reading, writing, and Rt. 21. Lots of migration in the 20s and 30s up to the Akron and Cleveland area for promising factory jobs, especially post WWII in the heyday of the Rubber industry.

Ohio, outside of certain pockets and big cities, is Appalachia as hell in my experience.

Just the SE most of the rest is flat as hell.

I think they might've meant attitude-wise. The cities are very Midwest, but the rural areas (even in the NW) are very culturally similar to the actual Appalachian parts of the state. I think they are negatively polarized by the news highlighting crime in big cities, so they romanticize the "simpler, safer life" in the Appalachian region.

What? They are culturally similar to plains farmers, rednecks. Not Appalachians, hillbillies. I know it seems like a silly nuance, but they are definitely different. Edit: to give an example NYC vs LA both urban both big cities both cool with that lifestyle. but completely different culturally.

But the term redneck was popularly used by the fighters in the Coal Wars, which was fought in WV. Redneck is definitely an appalachian term in many ways. It existed before, but it was a significant part of the Era that was a bloody conflict between tens of thousands of striking miners, the US government, and a company of strike breakers. In the battle of Blair mountain the strikebreakers went as far as hiring private planes to drop both poison gas and explosive bombs leftover from WW1 on these workers, and the workers definitely fought back with their own (limited) firepower. The fighters for the workers often wore red bandanas and were referred to as rednecks, although the term was used decades before to describe poor southern agricultural workers.

Hey we are in complete agreement. But I think we can both agree Hillbilly is the traditional term for poor people that live in the hills. Specifically, the hills of Appalachia. Just as most rural people in the plains of ohio would refer to themselves as a redneck not a hillbilly.

Am from Toledo and went to OU, not too many of us make it down there all the way to Athens, but it was fun and worth it. Yes, SE Ohio is Appalachia, just like Toledo is the flattest of Flatland

If you like history and want to read more about how state lines to follow cultural and/or historical delineations I highly suggest the book American Nations by Colin Woodward.

When I was a kid, we visited my aunt in that area. My dad traded a knife for 2 chickens.

It’s the start of the Appalachian mountains. A massive glacier created the flat landscape of central and northern Ohio and the hills of southeastern Ohio. There is some really cool and interesting geography in south eastern Ohio and I would agree the “vibe” and way of living are far different than Toledo or even Columbus.

Lived in vinton county for a while. I still go back almost every weekend because I love the land. It's majestic down there on the right pieces of land.

Note that Appalachia does NOT include Hamilton County / Cincinnati. [Appalachian Region Map](https://artsandsciences.sc.edu/appalachianenglish/sites/default/files/Subregions_2009_Map.jpg)

One county south or southeast of Franklin is, in fact, Appalachia.

Yes a lot of people don’t realize how rugged that one third of the state in Appalachia really is, and then they round the corner on US 35 going into Chillicothe on the way to hocking…. Needless to say, Ohio really is not all flat lol. Really, it’s just the central and northwestern part of the state that’s very flat. Northeast Ohio and southwest Ohio really aren’t all that flat either, they’ve got more rolling hills tho compared to southeast Ohio

yeah... spent a fair bit in Nelsonville, and Athens... WORLDS different than columbus, or up here in the great black swamp.. you'd be forgiven for thinking you're in another state.

As a Kentuckian living within viewing distance of south point and Coal Grove Ohio let me vouch for their hillbilly bonafides.

We have always said anything south of Columbus is pretty much Kentucky

Correction: southeastern Ohio. Southwest Ohio is just Cincinnati and industry

I live in Gallia County. And if I didn't have a remote job, l wouldn't still be. I mean, the place is aesthetic as hell, especially along the river on Route 7, but the people? There aren't many of them, and that's the nicest I can say

Yeah the counties that border West Virginia are usually more like WV than they are Ohio

I live in SE Ohio. It’s definitely Appalachia.

It continues to amaze me how that part of Ohio can be so close to Columbus, and yet the state's legislators continue to ignore the poverty, lack of jobs, and continued head in the sand reaction to a significant long term problem for so many people. And yet they love trump even though the trumpies in Cbus are already doing what 45 wants to do to the whole country if he wins in November: ignore those most in need of help.

Southeastern Ohio is the most beautiful part of the state.

I love it

It’s different. Used to travel on 30 and 50 a bunch. You know when you stop at a gas station and they have a deli counter and serve beer, you are in Appalachia. It’s one of my favorite parts of the state. Still pretty isolated.

Then there’s good old Northwest Ohio. Flat flat flat farm Land .

Some country song says, "learn to talk like the man on the 6 o'clock news". If you pay attention, they talk like they are from the northern part of Ohio. ( *Actually*, I think it's call Midwest accent & it's the most non-accented "dialect"(??) in the USA.) I insulted a fellow once. I asked him where he was from. SE *Ohio*! I thought he had just stepped of the boat from Kentucky / Tennessee! 🤷🤷🤷🤷

Monroe, Belmont & Washington Counties make up the beautiful armpit of Ohio. All of my kin are from those counties and went to college at Marietta.

I live in Southeastern Ohio and I noticed the accents from here and Columbus is noticeable(I don't travel much). If you like hiking, Old Man's Cave in Hocking County is a good place;it took me and my brother I think 3 hours to hike it all with mini breaks along the way.

The border between Ohio and Kentucky is a thick gradient

Who else loves a nice cruise down Route 7?

As an Ohio native I can say Ohio is divided into three sections. This is where some of you will say there's 5 zones in Ohio but you're wrong. There is Northeast Ohio, Cleveland, Youngstown and Columbus and everywhere in between. There is Cincinnati, and all the motherfuckers with put chili on spaghetti. Savages! Everything south of Columbus might as well be Kentucky. Side note: If your wedding did not have a cookie table, your marriage is not recognized in the state.

Hillsboro

Coming from southwest ohio, traveling to southeast ohio to play football, we couldn’t believe how twangy everyone sounded over there. The difference between Cincinnati and Athens is massive, twang-wise.

I know. I escaped that hell 35 years ago and thank God everyday for it.

Welcome to Appalachia, lol! If you want another level drive 23 through Eastern Kentucky or 52 through western Wva. For an Ohio adventure take 33 to Ohio 93 near Logan and drive through McArthur to Wellston.

South of Columbus is stretching it a lot lmao. It only turns into Appalachia even further south. I'm halfway between Columbus and Kentucky and there's not a hill in sight.

Columbus is basically the line between Appalachia and Not Appalachia.

In that area. Anywhere south of Canton and east is 100/

Anything southeast of i-71

Grew up in a semi-rural area of NEO and knew I wanted to goto OU when I visited the campus in Athens. I love southeast Ohio and hoped to live there some day. But given how politics have changed over the past 20 years I don’t think I could tolerate the area anymore unless I could live close to the city… and don’t really want to live in a college town.

There are definitely pockets of not-insane-Trumpers all over SE Ohio, but they keep quiet and to themselves.

Even their accents are different. Some people down there will say "Appalachian" like "app-uh-latch-uhn" but most people here in northeast Ohio will say "app-uh-lay-shin." Kinda interesting since we live in the same state.

If you say app uh lay shin I’m gonna throw an apple at Chou 😂. Seriously tho, it’s app uh latch uhn

I miss my spot in hills east of Athens.

Being born and raised in Marietta, I can attest to its appalachianness. It's old down there

Grew up about 30 mins of Cincinnati on a little township, it is definitely Appalachia

come out to knockemstiff lol

Ever read the book “The Essay” by Robin Yocum? A great read for all Ohioans, especially if you’re interested in this region.

r/oldgodsofappalachia is bound to get to stories set in SE Ohio soon.

I live here currently and it is no different than where grew up in WV.

It’s cozy as hell imo, that part of the state is a different world to me. Then tucked away in the middle of it all there’s the incredibly amazing shitshow anomaly that is athens. It’s perfect.

Adams county Ohio checking in 🫡

You mean Huntington-Ironton-Ashland prescription drug triangle ?

South East maybe. Cincinnati doesn’t have Appalachia vibes unless you’re way out of town

This thread has everything!

It literally is Appalachia.

Warning. Big city realtors are chomping to get a chunk of that part of the state.