Middle Tennessee mystery

[minionofmidas]

It is the TVA area (and it is not a mining area), but whether the TVA is the reason... relative isolation and lack of a Republican effort sounds more realistic. And TN regional tribalism that, after all, held East Tennessee Republican for 140 years.
Might be worth taking a look at the kind of denominations people belong to, too.

[minionofmidas]

Of course, the ARC's boundaries are political and a little weird (*cough* Shenandoah). I'm not even sure the Cumberland Plateau is geologically part of the Appalachians at all.

[minionofmidas]

Yes, the boundaries are a lot wider than "Appalachia" in any coherent sense; if wikipedia is to be trusted, this is mainly the work of congressmen on the border areas looking for pork.

Or, in the case of the Shenandoah Valley, a congressman who didn't want his voters to be seen as Appalachian yokels.

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Yes, that is most certainly accurate.