What US Region Does Pa. Belong To? This Researcher’s Answer May Surprise You

This story first appeared in PA Local, a weekly newsletter by Spotlight PA taking a fresh, positive look at the incredible people, beautiful places, and delicious food of Pennsylvania. Sign up for free here. Look at a map of the United States and think about the country’s various regions. Where does Pennsylvania belong? The Northeast? Appalachia? The mid-Atlantic? Colin Woodard, director of Nationhood Lab at Salve Regina University and an expert on North American regions, says it’s actually at the crossroads of three, and you probably couldn’t guess the names of these areas. Woodard defines 11 distinct regional cultures in his book American Nations. Studying and witnessing the complicated cultural and political battles in the Balkans in college made him want to understand the fissures in the United States. His research led him to the work of the now-deceased Penn State cultural geographer Wilbur Zelinsky, whose doctrine of “first effective settlement” became the backbon