“It takes a big state to absorb the entire North every winter,” the New York Times wrote on February 2 of this year. “Florida is pulling it off.”
In wintertime, the Sunshine State takes in ‘snowbirds’ from the rest of the country (and beyond). Interestingly, these cold-weather refugees seek out each others’ company according to their place of origin, creating a patchwork of sunkissed settlement areas reflective of their places of origin.
• Alabamians (but also Tennesseans) prefer the Panhandle, as it is closest to their home state.
• Georgians prefer the Jacksonville area for the same reason.
• The area just south of Jacksonville has attracted increasing numbers of Southern Californians, obviously not because of proximity or lack of sunshine in SoCal, but because the real estate is so much cheaper.
• People from the Carolinas prefer to relax in and around Daytona.
• Those from Upstate New York gather around the Cape Canaveral area.
• Palm Beach County is a favourite haunt of New Jerseyites.
• The large Jewish presence in and around Fort Lauderdale is down to the migratory links with Brooklyn (notice the Bagel Dough van hurrying south).
• Hollywood in the Fort Lauderdale area boasts two French-language newspapers, reflecting the tide of Québécois heading there.
• Miami is known as the ‘Sixth Borough’, because of the large number of New Yorkers wintering there. Manhattanites flock to Miami Beach.
• Minnesotans camp out on Sanibel Island.
• Retired GM executives were the spearhead of the Detroit invasion of the Naples area.
• Germans cluster in and around the Fort Myers area.
• New Englanders head for Sarasota.
• Holidaymakers from Buffalo in Upstate New York congregate in Tampa.
• Orlando attracts a wide variety of Europeans and Latin Americans. (‘United Nations’)
• Kissimmee and Davenport are home to many Britons.
Adam Bertolett alerted me to this map (found here, the accompanying article here)
[...] StrangeMaps. This is delightful. [...]
Pingback by DYSPEPSIA GENERATION » Blog Archive » The United States of Florida — August 5, 2007 @
• Miami is known as the ‘Sixth Borough’, because of the large number of New Yorkers wintering there. Manhattanites flock to Miami Beach.
Lots of New Yorkers, especially from Staten Island, emigrate to Florida, too, which explains why Staten Island is listed on the map.
The pattern of emigration usually goes:
Brooklyn->Staten Island->Florida
Comment by Paul — August 5, 2007 @
I used to live in Connecticut and never heard of New Englanders being particularly attracted to Sarasota. Most gravitate toward the Ft. Lauderdale - Palm Beach area.
Comment by Peter — August 5, 2007 @
Need to add the halfbacks, who’ve moved halfway back to the north because of hurricanes, spilling over into Georgia and other parts of the south.
Comment by jsq — August 5, 2007 @
Although the article doesn’t mention it, I suspect the area of Philadelphia people is related to the Philadelphia Philles having their spring training and a minor league team down there.
Comment by Eduardo Ramirez — August 5, 2007 @
Also note the Key West area is labelled “Chelsea”. We see two men holding cocktails and smiling, possibly a reference to all the gay hangouts there.
The map also indicates a few parts of Florida that DON’T get a lot of out-of-staters, using the phrase “native area”. One native area is at the east end of the panhandle, stretching to Tallahassee, and indicated by an old Confederate soldier, a reference to this region’s being part of Old Florida and the Old South. To the south, we see a second native area full of “lakes, natives, citrus”. This is America’s leading orange, lemon, and grapefruit grove. If you’ve ever tried “Florida orange juice”, chances are this is where it came from. A third native area is in the south center, and is largely defined by having Lake Okeechobee at its southern edge. Lake Okeechobee is best known, to older Americans, as the setting of the comic strip “Pogo”. Lastly, at the southern tip of the mainland, we see the Everglades, which don’t get settler or have natives because nobody lives there. The Everglades National Park does get lots of visitors, though.
Comment by Darrel Jones — August 5, 2007 @
@ everyone:
thanks for those useful additions, adding more detail to the map.
Comment by strangemaps — August 5, 2007 @
[...] 162 - The United States of Florida [image] “It takes a big state to absorb the entire North every winter,” the New York Times wrote on February 2 of […] [...]
Pingback by Top Posts « WordPress.com — August 5, 2007 @
What? No Buckeyes?
Comment by DonWW — August 6, 2007 @
[...] a repository of weird and wonderful maps from around the world. It’s candy for cartographers. In the picture above, for instance, the American state of Florida is divided according to wear tourists flock [...]
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Okeechobee?
Native Bridgeporter that I am (along with Walt Kelly), I remember Pogo in the Okeefenokee Swamp. Same place? Artistic license?
Comment by ThresherK — August 6, 2007 @
The map is mildly errant.
Gainesville should be listed on there as a desert oasis among the farmers of N. Central Florida. Plus, someone forgot the huge Greek community in Pasco County, specifically Tarpon Springs.
Also, the Michiganers are pretty heavily congregated up in the Tampa-Lakeland-Kissimmee corridor as well.
Good job with the map, nonetheless.
Comment by A. Dubbin — August 6, 2007 @
Darrell Jones says:
> Also note the Key West area is
> labelled “Chelsea”. We see two men
> holding cocktails and smiling,
> possibly a reference to all the
> gay hangouts there.
Since Chelsea is one of the gay neighborhoods of New York City, I would say that this is not “possibly a reference”, but “definitely a reference”.
Comment by fat_hot — August 6, 2007 @
@ThresherK:
Okeefenokee is to the north, straddling the Georgia-Florida border.
Todd
Comment by Todd — August 6, 2007 @
Now that AirTran has $99 direct flights from Westchester airport to West Palm, expect to see even more suburban NYers there.
Comment by JB — August 7, 2007 @
[...] For our snowbirds: http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2007/08/05/162-the-united-states-of-florida/ [...]
Pingback by Links, some very serious, one lighthearted link for Floridians « Eternally Significant — August 8, 2007 @
Where the heck is “Havana?”
Comment by Becky — August 11, 2007 @
[...] three amusing visions of the US from the blog Strange Maps: The United States of Florida, Ex Unum Pluribus: New American Nations, and (pictured above) The United Countries of [...]
Pingback by Newley Purnell » Strange Maps: Three Views of the US — August 14, 2007 @
I’m from TN and have only been to Pensacola, so I know that part’s right. lol.
Comment by Laura — August 19, 2007 @
More Maps and Mapping Tools
The first is called simply strange maps. It’s a collection of maps, some very old, some remarkably new, that get you to think about the world a little differently. The United States of Florida hits pretty close to home, but it’s an interesting way to…
Trackback by Community Indicators Blog — August 21, 2007 @
I grew up in Miami Beach and although this map would have been accurate when until I left in the mid-70s, I believe that now the bottom right of the map should say Havana/Caribbean rather than Manhattan - on my last visit a couple of years ago, the NY/Jewish population seems to have been pushed north to West Palm Beach or so.
P.S. I agree with #12: Gainesville should be marked as an oasis among the citrus :->
Comment by JaniceG — August 23, 2007 @
When I was in graduate school at Florida State my State Politics Professor passed on this saying, which your map bears out: “Florida - the farther south you go the farther north you are.” I grew up there and would have to agree.
Comment by Allen R — September 14, 2007 @
[...] September 24th, 2007 in maps One of my favorite sites, Strange Maps, posted this awhile ago. I thought of it after class week, after our quick conversation on whether [...]
Pingback by 95 :: Is Florida the South? « 66.f.95.03 — September 25, 2007 @
Yes, agree with all the comments posted, especially with Michiganders in the Tampa area. Similar to Comment #5, Lakeland is the spring training area for the Detroit Tigers, though I think the interstates have more to play for the West Coast-East Coast divide of Florida. For some reason there seems to be a lot of Steelers (the football team) fans in the Daytona area. Can anyone guess why? And what about the Peurto Ricans in Kississimmi? (More than anywhere else outside of Peurto Rico.) Also, another shift in population is that more and more Northerners are invading North Florida. Argh!
Comment by Scott — October 9, 2007 @
[...] From Strange Maps [...]
Pingback by United States of Florida — November 16, 2007 @
As a Brit who has lived in Minnesota since 1971, I am proud to recognize Sanibel Island as a Minnesota colony. I have probably been there six times, and willl be going again this coming February. No loud people, no tall buildings.
Comment by Mike Thompson — December 15, 2007 @
Yeah, pretty accurate, considering I’m from Tallahassee and my dad’s from Alachua County.
Also, to whoever was asking where Havana was…well, two answers:
Havana, FLORIDA is north of Tallahassee (in the “Native Area”)
Havana, CUBA is across the straits.
Comment by Native Floridian — January 22, 2008 @
Gotta love Key West. Key West is likely one of the most tolerant and intolerant places on the map. Yes we tolerate Gay and Lesbian folks, we tolerate drunk and sober folks, we tolerate just about anything except - people not being tolerant!
When ya come to Key West,please leave your preformed opinions of what’s “right” or “normal” at home. Open your mind, open your heart, experience something kinda new. I’ll bet you’ll be surprised to find out how much all the folks in fun and funky Key West have in common with you!
John Jaworski
everythingkeywest.com
Comment by Everything Key West — February 19, 2008 @
Now I know why the drivers are so bad in FL. Everyone is from somewhere else bringing that specific region’s driving habits.
Comment by Nancy — February 20, 2008 @
I grew up in Gainesville in “native” country. I moved to Fort Lauderdale two years ago and feel completely displaced! I’m in the same state, and yet I can’t remember the last time I heard a southern accent. It truly is like a sixth borough of New York, that’s for sure.
It strikes me as funny that my boyfriend is a native South Floridian, which is quite unusual as some of you may know, and yet he pronounces many words with a New York accent!
One thing is for sure…I have a newfound appreciation for Northeners! (northern Floridians that is!)
Comment by Displaced FL Native — March 28, 2008 @
too many damn yankees it annoyes the hell outta me stay home daggum
Comment by chaseFLA — June 27, 2008 @
I’m from Illinois; proud native of Alsip. We don’t talk like that at all. We have no regional accent either. I’m proud of it. People from other places like the south and northeast can understand my English. I find it interesting that there are many natives of New York City in Florida. The map also indicates New Englanders. I wonder how many Floridians or visitors heard that kind of accent in Florida.
Comment by Michael — July 25, 2008 @