When I first moved to Washington from Connecticut the cultural and political landscape seemed familiar. Connecticut is mostly run by the Democratic party, with a Democrat in the governor’s mansion and an entirely Democratic congressional delegation.

My hometown, though, leaned to the right, voting for the Republican presidential candidate in four of the last six elections. In the most recent presidential election, 52% voted for Trump. In Enumclaw, it was also 52%. Both Washington and Connecticut take pride in their educational systems, and are usually happy to pay the necessary taxes.

It is true in King County, at least, that there is support for environmental causes and social equality. It seems safe to say that the support for such causes is weaker in Enumclaw. This is also true in my Connecticut and my old hometown.

I was pleased to meet our U..S representative, and found Dr. Kim Schrier to be a moderate and thoughtful Democrat. Similarly, I found Reagan Dunn to be a moderate and effective Republican.

Although the two regions are very similar in culture and politics, they aren’t identical. The COVID lockdowns, for example, ran into more resistance in Enumclaw than any of the reports I got from friends and family in New England or Indiana. Eastern Washington seemed to be even more different. I was curious, but I didn’t get all academic and try to investigate the differences.

Then I happened to see a book called “American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America” by Colin Woodard. The premise of the book is that there are different regional cultures in the U.S. that have historic roots, and that those historical differences are still evident today.

It seems that the regional cultures do not pay much attention to state borders. Our political and social opinions develop as we listen to our families, our neighbors and friends, and our schools. These regional cultures have been remarkably durable even as immigrants moved in, and as people emigrated to other parts of the country.

I know that no book can ever fully explain American culture – not even in 381 pages. Just the same, “American Nations” fits pretty well with the observations of this Connecticut Yankee who has moved to a town that is close to the Left Coast, but is strongly influenced by the Far West and other areas.

Connecticut is deep in the heart of a region and culture that Woodard calls Yankeedom, which was settled by Puritans and Pilgrims from England. Their plan was to create a self-sufficient society of agricultural towns, ruling themselves based on Calvinist beliefs. Education, literacy, hard work and the common good were central to their society; “The salvation of the entire community depended on everyone doing their part.” They wanted freedom from the ruling class, and rejected British royalty and the Church of England.

As the Yankees migrated westward across the Great Lake states, they brought with them their values of hard work, strong education systems, and a belief in sacrifice for the common good. They also brought along a spirit of intolerance and a belief that their way was the best way. Some would say that those qualities are still found in Yankeedom.

This was completely different from the British who colonized Virginia and eventually the other states of the southern Atlantic coast. Their plan was to recreate the English countryside with the upper class living in fine manors. To replace the peasants who supported the British upper class, there were indentured servants who worked in conditions of poverty and servitude. Exporting tobacco allowed the wealthy to become even more wealthy. Eventually, slaves from Africa replaced the indentured servants. Initially, at least, they supported both the English King and the English church.

As the people of the Deep South moved westward along the Gulf Coast, they brought with them a system that concentrated power in the hands of a ruling elite, with an impoverished and poorly educated White population and the slaves who made possible the wealth of the ruling class. Woodard explains that these values have survived decades of upset and reform. Still today, the states of the old Deep South have the highest poverty rates, lowest support for education, and an anti labor union atmosphere.

Between Yankeedom and The Deep South, there is an area Woodard calls The Midlands, with roots in the Pennsylvania colony. From the 1680s, this region has been tolerant of religious differences, settled by many nationalities of European immigrants, and often seemed to simply wish for their government to leave them alone so they could work. The people of The Midlands rejected slavery, but did not agree with the intolerant Yankees.

Midlanders migrated westward and settled territories from Ohio to Iowa. There were areas of many different Northern European nationalities, which were close knit, but tolerant of each other. Their farms and towns were well established and prosperous.

The Appalachian Mountains were settled mostly by people escaping poverty and constant conflict in Ireland, Scotland and Northern England. They settled west of the established British colonies, often out of reach of the government. Initially, they carried the violent and lawless ways of their past. They were resentful of the powerful plantation owners, and the missionaries from Yankeedom. Their history both in the British Isles and the Appalachian Mountains lead them to value self reliance, courage and personal honor.

The frontiersmen of Appalachia migrated westward through Kentucky and Tennessee, and into Arkansas and southern Missouri. They brought along values of courage and individualism, a weak commitment to education, and agricultural and economic practices that encouraged self-reliance, but rarely led to the prosperity found in the states to their north.

As the U.S. expanded westward to the Pacific Ocean, people from Yankeedom, The Midlands and Appalachia moved west – some ended up in Washington. They carried with them remnants of the culture of their ancestors. Along the narrow strip of land along the Pacific Coast, which Woodard calls “The Left Coast”, Yankee businessmen and missionaries established the first settlements north of the lands where Spanish missionaries were working.

The Yankee immigrants dominated the intellectual and political scene. Washington’s first territorial governor was born in Massachusetts, and The Seattle Times was founded by a Mainer, for example.

Even though still more Yankees arrived by shipload over the next decades, Yankees were never a majority of the immigrant population. Immigrants from other parts of the U.S., and from Asia and Europe, made up a larger portion of the new population.

While the Yankees arrived mostly by ship, other settlers arrived by wagon. These were mostly Midlanders from the American midwest. The Stephensons, who founded Enumclaw, were from Indiana.

While the Scandinavian immigrants often came here directly from Europe, they settled in an area that was already populated by people of Scandinavian descent who had migrated from the Midwestern states.

Yankee values of support for schools and colleges, personal sacrifice for the public good, voting rights and hard work survived, but the Yankee conformity and intolerance was overwhelmed by the power of so many new points of view. Today, the Left Coast and Yankeedom vote together in almost all national elections. Just the same, buttoned-down people from The Land of Steady Habits tend to think of people from the Left Coast as a little bit “far out”.

In Woodard’s view, the American West developed almost as a colony of the rest of the country. It was far too arid and mountainous for the agricultural methods of the East or the Left Coast. It was sparsely populated by people from other regions, including from Appalachia. Settling in such an area required values of bravery, independence and a willingness to live without the finery of wealthier regions.

Except for the Mormon settlements in Utah, settlement of the early west followed the railroads or mining enterprises. The money to build the railroads and the large mines came from wealthy people and corporations in Yankeedom or the Left Coast. Railroads made it cheaper to ship raw materials than finished goods, so manufacturing was discouraged. The work and the environmental damage was done in the West, but the profits were realized on the Left Coast or in Yankeedom.

Later, the governmental agencies established ownership of much of the land and undertook enormous infrastructure plans like dams and irrigation canals. Often, the Westerners felt that the regulations that went along with these projects were developed by people outside the West. Today in the West, there is continuing distrust of, and hostility toward, the federal government of Eastern institutions.

And so, from the viewpoint of a Yankee who loves living in Enumclaw, Washington has three American cultural areas. East of the Cascades is part of the American West. Ellensburg and Spokane are not at all like Connecticut. Most of King county can be viewed as a part of Woodard’s Left Coast. Seattle is like Boston’s wacky younger brother.

And Enumclaw, with its Midlander roots, Left Coast neighbors, and just a touch of Far West, is my new home.