Comment by jeffwass

American North Vs South is cultural, and there's no one clear designation.

Having lived in Maryland for 8 years, and 25 years north of the Mason Dizon line on the Northeast Corridor, and having travelled to all 48 contiguous states and visited the U.S. south extensively, I fully agree with the original posters assessment that it's not quite the south.

You bring up the Mason-Dixon Line, but why not the Civil War, another very clear North/South divide? Most Maryland soldiers fought for the Union during the Civil War. But as you said there are still some state parks named after General Lee.

Cuisine is another cultural aspect. Culinarily there's not much native Maryland cuisine that I'd associate with the south. Maryland is most famous for food associated with the Chesapeake Bay like crabs and seafood soups and stews. You'll find more places serving traditional southern foods like Chicken fried steak and BBQ, more than up North but not nearly as much as further South.

Accent-wise, there is a slight twinge that some native Marglanders have but it is nowhere near the southern accent you'd hear as you go further south into Virginia.