North Meets South

SEE Level’s in Virginia this week, on the southeast corner in the part near Williamsburg and Virginia Beach, known as Hampton Roads. I am not from the South, but I come here several times a year for the good food and great people. Despite my Yankee-ness, over time I’ve gotten to know this place pretty well and found out there’s a lot more to it than fried chicken and playin’ the git-tar.

Right off the bat, Hampton Roads can be summarized by four things:

1. Water:
In order to go anywhere, you must go under or over these rivers that are massive and empty out into the Chesapeake Bay. Whenever you have water like that you have serious marshes, swamps and crabs. Locals will probably tell you Virginia actually invented the crab cake, not Maryland. You disagree? Them’s some fightin' words.

That picture's the James River and a Crab Shack. 'Nuff said.

I doubt the credit goes to a public official, but the water here looks surprisingly clean and untouched considering that people have been around since Britain haphazardly gave Jamestown a whirl in 1607. This means Virginia had its 400^th anniversary last year. That’s pretty good... nothing like California’s history-- we’ve got fault lines. Those count more...in many ways.

2. History

When I first visited, I thought there’d be more Williamsburg down here—you know, those colonial Yamaka-doilies, “my worthy opponent,” stuff like that. Despite how big and important it was during the colonial period, Williamsburg is now just a small city amid dozens along the coast. By now, the area’s much more Southern than colonial, but you can still tell that Virginia was a British colony. It's pretty hard to miss with Elizabeth City, Crittenden Road and Isle of Wight County. But then there’s Chuckatuck, the painfully rural-sounding next town over that reminds us, “wait ya’ll, this is the South. "

3. The Military

Hampton Roads is the favorite watering hole for the US Navy and all of their ships and shipbuilding bases. Northrup Grumman is doing quite well here, so much that they proclaim their dominance from a huge sign that’s clearly visible on every inch of the five-mile long James River Bridge. It’s a bit ridiculous (see below). The rest of the military have crashed the Navy’s party too. So, you can count on seeing random armored vehicles in jungle camouflage casually driving down the street and bands of nice, Southern sailors wandering the airport in their crisp whites. That’s what I call frequent flyer benefits.

Newport News Shipbuilding

4. Southerners :

Cotton

You notice the accent first, with people asking “How’re y’all?” and saying ”NAH-fuk” instead of Norfolk with an L . You stop by a gas station, and they’re selling framed pictures of wolves with American flags in the background. You see some Confederate flags and everyone seems to be driving a truck. You’ve watched a little Jeff Foxworthy--Southerners must just be a bunch of friendly, slightly bigoted but patriotic country bumpkins!

But then you meet a few who don’t own a gun rack and you realize there’s more than one type of Southerner. Don’t get me wrong, there are definitely rednecks propagating the South but they’re not everywhere. What do you think happened to the relatives of the Old Southern aristocrats?

It hits you that people don’t act the same down here. Strangers smile and wave as you pass by, you have extended conversations with waitresses, twenty-something guys your own age call you ma’am. Everyone’s just..nicer. People just start talking to you for no reason. They don’t want anything, they’re just making conversation. You feel a little bad because you’re thrown off by it. What does that say about where you live?

On top of this, all the food you’ve had has been really good. I mean really good, and it’s everywhere you go. Soon you start having standards for good ham, barbecue, and real biscuits—none of that Pillsbury Doughboy nonsense. Ain’t no way he was Southern. Dessert also seems to be a big deal around here, as does eating in general.

You feel you could get used to this. There must be more to Southern culture that you thought.

Stay tuned. In the meantime here are some telling photos from my time down South.