Quote:
Originally Posted by TempleGuy1000
I always find this sort of comment interesting. No, Philadelphia is not directly on the coast, but the river is tidal with the ocean, the port is a seaport where panamax ships import goods and seagulls hangout and squawk in the parking lots. If Philadelphia wasn't close to the coast, it would not have been one of the first places settled in America. And there's a train that literally drops you off on the beach
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I always find this peculiar as well. We're 50 minutes from the Atlantic Ocean, on a river that empties into the 2nd largest bay on the east coast. We get hurricanes, noreasters, and other weather events that generate from the power of the ocean. You're more likely to see a seagull in Philadelphia than you are a pigeon, not to mention the eagles, cranes, and egrets that nest in the waters of the Delaware River. Juvenile whales occassionally venture all the way up river from the Delaware Bay.
We're not further inland than significant population centers of other coastal states. Much of the topography of the region is low lying marsh and wetlands, particularly in the Delaware River basin. Were it not for arbitrary state lines and say, we were a part of New Jersey, no one would question if we were coastal.
Anyways. I think of New England as a culturally distinct place. For lots of different reasons. There's a hard hewn stubbornness, a committment to fairness, hard work. Plaid and corduroy and Subarus are a real thing. The topography, the architecture, the trust in government. The construct of the "town" (and town square) that supercedes the county in most New England jurisdictions. The lack of unincorporated areas. It's all just very New England to me.