There are so many stereotypes about South Carolina that I couldn’t count them on my fingers and toes, but there are a few that I know to be almost uncomfortably accurate. However, what most people who aren’t native South Carolinians don’t realize is that each region of South Carolina is vastly different from all of the others. For the sake of not making this article ten pages long and confusing anyone who isn’t familiar with the state with words like “Peedee," “Santee-Cooper," and “Ninety-Six," I’ve grouped the state into three general regions: the upstate, the midlands, and the coast.

The Upstate

Think pearls and Lilly Pulitzer dresses for church on Sunday, Clemson University pawprints, stickers and flags and small-town drama. A decent chunk of your high school probably drove huge trucks that you could hear coming before you ever saw them. A good percentage of this region is Christian, conservative and proud; churches are not only the centers of worship, but where you make your childhood friends, where you spend at least a week of summer at a camp at and where you form a family with the congregation. The Upstate is known among South Carolinians for housing homegrown people that typically don’t leave their hometown. Having grown up here, I can vouch that it is not uncommon to meet someone whose family has lived in their current town for generations. Maybe because of this, the Upstate also places a touching amount of emphasis on family. Sports here are overly focused around local high schools, especially football and baseball. College-wise, the majority of the population is all but a cult centered around Clemson football, and for good reason: they won the National Championship this year and were runners-up in 2015. Because of the proximity to many beautiful lakes, everyone who can afford it probably owns a boat of some sort; lake days are a favorite pastime of many Upstate inhabitants.

Midlands

What I have typically found is that except the areas immediately around Columbia, the midlands is usually a unique blending of some of the characteristics of the Upstate and the coastal areas. There are many small towns near both the upper and lower border of the state, sharing the same emphasis on family, high school sport pride and small town culture. Closer to Columbia, however, it’s all University of South Carolina gear, larger cities and more political jobs. It’s a well known fact that Columbian natives are far more accustomed to the city and the suffocating heat that envelopes Columbia March through October. To say the least, those from Columbia and the outlying areas are more than proud to represent the heart of South Carolina; Columbia is our capital after all. One strange thing that I personally have noticed is that Columbians don’t have as intense of a Southern accent. In the outlying counties especially, you will find a lot of lake people, and a lot of people you meet will probably be related to a lawyer, judge or a government official of some sort.

Coastal

The coast or “low-country” depending on who you ask is typically the closest you will be to finding left-leaning political affiliations in the state. The coast is well known around the country for its beautiful beaches, the gem that is Charleston, and lesser-known but equally beautiful areas like Hilton Head, Beaufort, Fripp Island, Pawley’s Island and countless others. The South Carolina coast is where you need to go if you want to hear the slow, sweet country accent you hear in movies. The low-country also knows how to have a good time, even with Charleston earning the nickname of the “Holy City” due to an old ordinance declaring no buildings may reach above the heights of the church steeples throughout the city. The Myrtle Beach area inherited the same loud cars and trucks of the Upstate and is a well-favored spring break destination for those in-state and those who are not. Not surprisingly, not many locals grew up in the area and moved from elsewhere, but everyone who lives in this region (including myself) still complains about the flocks of tourist. The few locals who have lived here for generations tend to come from very old money, are probably good at golf, and tend to lack the fascination with the Spanish moss that covers everything in the low-country that everyone else has. Anyone from the Beaufort area probably grew up with an alligator in their backyard, most likely lived within walking distance of a historically protected sight and always has bug spray in their purse.

Despite all of this, there are some things that hold true for everyone in the State: practically being half amphibian because of all the water, drinking sweet tea, home cooked meals, sitting on the front porch being the best part of your day, eating watermelon, regional biscuit mix with homemade gravy, fried okra, fried green tomatoes, an unnatural amount of pride in your state, always wanting to know where someone is from (because we probably know someone from there), “How’s your mama and them?," cookouts for any and every occasion, strange amount of businesses named “Palmetto”, growing up catching fireflies and loving the state you live in.