History UsefulNotes / NewYorkState

* The Film/{{Woodstock}} music festival was held in the town of Bethel, along the southern edge of the Catskills.

* '''Catskill Mountains:''' The source of the Delaware River, from which New York City gets its water.[[note]]Also UsefulNotes/{{Philadelphia}}, which is actually ''on'' the freakin' Delaware, but consistently loses to NYC over water rights (it's not a huge deal, since Philly's on the Lower Delaware where there's more water, but the Northeastern PA cities that get their water from near the state line always have Philly's support).[[/note]] Most of the area is kept as a forest preserve/state park, which serves the dual purpose of protecting the city's water supply[[note]]Contrary to popular belief, New York's water is some of the cleanest in the nation. It's only the Hudson River that's toxic.[[/note]] and providing New Yorkers with easily accessible nature. Consequently, the area is home to some of the closest ski resorts, hiking trails, and summer camps to the city -- and unlike [[{{Joisey}} New Jersey]], our campgrounds aren't stalked by [[Franchise/FridayThe13th masked, machete-wielding slashers]]. In the mid-20th century, before UsefulNotes/{{civil rights|Movement}} and the rise of cheap air travel, this area was home to the BorschtBelt, a collection of summer resorts and campgrounds that welcomed New York's Jews when most other resorts discriminated against them. The stand-up comics who performed here soon became famous for their trademark "Jewish humor".

Buffalo is notorious for getting blizzards that are gigantic even by the tough standards of upstate New York (though still not as large as the ones in Syracuse). The city made headlines in 2015 when a pile of plowed and shoveled snow from a massive blizzard the previous November was still there in ''July''. Dirt and debris had gathered on top, which not only insulated it from the summer heat, but even allowed ''grass'' to grow on it. The only reason it didn't last into August was because [[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2015/07/31/humorless-buffalo-destroys-its-famous-snow-pile/ the city had it bulldozed]]. UsefulNotes/{{Rochester}}, meanwhile, was once a major hub of both the abolitionist and women's rights movements. In the early 19th century, the area, together with Central New York, was called the "burned-over district" due to all the religious revivals in the area -- it was so heavily evangelized that there was no "fuel" (people) left to "burn" (convert). Among the religious movements that emerged here were [[UsefulNotes/{{Mormonism}} the Mormons]], the Millerites, the Shakers, the Oneida Community,[[note]]Who were originally a free-love Christian commune -- basically Jesus Freaks ''avant le lettre'' -- who eventually turned to making silverware as a means to support the community. The community fizzled by 1880, but the silverware company remains -- it's now known as Oneida Limited, it's one of the largest cutlery and tableware companies in the world, and it's still based in upstate New York. If you live in North America, you probably have Oneida flatware and tableware in your house.[[/note]] and the spiritualist movement, making it something of a 19th century version of UsefulNotes/{{California}} in terms of being a hub for new religious groups. In more recent times, they were home to the Eastman Kodak Company -- yes, ''that'' Kodak. Once [[TechnologyMarchesOn digital cameras and cell phone cameras decimated Kodak's business]], that left a lot of their employees in the lurch when they began downsizing (with other companies based in the area, like Xerox and Bausch & Lomb, following suit). All these technically-inclined unemployed people led to an influx of tech startups, so the city's economy has recovered from Kodak's faltering. Rochester is also home base of the regionally-beloved Wegmans, a chain of grocery stores with a significant following thanks to their sheer size/scope (though many of the ones in this area are their older, not as absurdly huge stores) and legendary customer service; you can find them as far south as Virginia these days.

Just as UsefulNotes/NewJersey is often [[{{Joisey}} stereotyped]] by NYC-based writers, so are the parts of New York State that aren't the BigApplesauce. To them, Long Island (or "[[UsefulNotes/AmericanAccents Lawn Guyland]]") is inhabited predominantly by the vapid East Coast cousins of the ValleyGirl, while upstate New York (meaning "everything north of the Tappan Zee Bridge"[[note]]its official name is ''technically'' the "Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge" as of 2017, but nobody actually calls it that[[/note]]), to the extent that it's even acknowledged to exist, might just as well be a colder version of [[DeepSouth Alabama]][[note]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabama,_New_York Like so]][[/note]] mixed with every [[DyingTown depressed Rust Belt town]] in existence--unless it's a ski resort or campground. Either that, or it's an extension of LovecraftCountry to the east, filled with [[HeadlessHorseman headless horsemen]] in Sleepy Hollow, {{time travel}} experiments in Montauk, and people in Buffalo and Rochester who talk to spirits. And then they wonder why upstaters want to secede so badly.

Has five boroughs, eight-and-a-half million people and is the center of the world. Oh, you were talking about that ''other'' New York. Well then...

Just as UsefulNotes/NewJersey is often [[{{Joisey}} stereotyped]] by NYC-based writers, so are the parts of New York State that aren't the BigApplesauce. To them, Long Island (or "[[UsefulNotes/AmericanAccents Lawn Guyland]]") is inhabited predominantly by the vapid East Coast cousins of the ValleyGirl, while upstate New York (meaning "everything north of the Tappan Zee Bridge"), to the extent that it's even acknowledged to exist, might just as well be a colder version of [[DeepSouth Alabama]][[note]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabama,_New_York Like so]][[/note]] mixed with every [[DyingTown depressed Rust Belt town]] in existence--unless it's a ski resort or campground. Either that, or it's an extension of LovecraftCountry to the east, filled with [[HeadlessHorseman headless horsemen]] in Sleepy Hollow, {{time travel}} experiments in Montauk, and people in Buffalo and Rochester who talk to spirits. And then they wonder why upstaters want to secede so badly.

* '''Southern Tier:''' Yeah, as you can gather, we're really not all that creative naming parts of upstate New York. (That's because all the creative types in the city don't care about upstate New York.) This area is located along the border between New York and UsefulNotes/{{Pennsylvania}} west of the Catskills. Most of the area is hilly and sparsely populated, though there are a few pockets of industrial development in the river valleys (which include the upper reaches of the Susquehanna and Allegheny rivers). Binghamton, Elmira and Jamestown are the only sizable cities. Binghamton is the site of a large state university that often gets name-dropped in New York-based media, and the city recently entered the news after a guy went on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binghamton_shootings a shooting spree]] at an immigration center. Not far from Binghamton is Apalachin, a small town that became very notorious for hosting a CriminalConvention of the [[UsefulNotes/TheMafia American Mafia's]] higher-ups in late 1957. As one can guess, it's a rather depressing place. The western part of the region also contains Allegheny State Park and Lake Chautauqua. Sits opposite the border from Pennsylvania's Northern Tier, with the combined [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_Tiers Twin Tiers]] area being more of an item in local identity than which state you're in.

** '''Poughkeepsie''' ([[ItIsPronouncedTroPAY pronounced "puh-KIP-see"]]): Home to Vassar College, which was the United States' most prestigious women's college (at least outside of Massachusetts) for over a century before it went co-ed in 1969. The state Department of Transportation considers it to be the furthest edge of "downstate", along with Orange County west of the Hudson, due to it being the northern terminus of the Hudson Line.

Just as UsefulNotes/NewJersey is often [[{{Joisey}} stereotyped]] by NYC-based writers, so are the parts of New York State that aren't the BigApplesauce. To them, Long Island (or "[[UsefulNotes/AmericanAccents Lawn Guyland]]") is inhabited predominantly by the vapid East Coast cousins of the ValleyGirl, while upstate New York (meaning "everything north of the Tappan Zee Bridge"), to the extent that it's even acknowledged to exist, might just as well be a colder version of [[DeepSouth Alabama]][[note]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabama,_New_York Like so]][[/note]] mixed with every [[DyingTown depressed Rust Belt town]] in existence--unless it's a ski resort or campground. That, or it's an extension of LovecraftCountry to the east, filled with [[HeadlessHorseman headless horsemen]] in Sleepy Hollow, {{time travel}} experiments in Montauk, and people in Buffalo and Rochester who talk to spirits. And then they wonder why upstaters want to secede so badly.

Just as UsefulNotes/NewJersey is often [[{{Joisey}} stereotyped]] by NYC-based writers, so are the parts of New York State that aren't the BigApplesauce. To them, Long Island (or "[[UsefulNotes/AmericanAccents Lawn Guyland]]") is inhabited predominantly by the vapid East Coast cousins of the ValleyGirl, while upstate New York (meaning "everything north of the Tappan Zee Bridge"), to the extent that it's even acknowledged to exist, might just as well be a colder version of [[DeepSouth Alabama]][[note]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabama,_New_York Like so]][[/note]] mixed with every [[DyingTown depressed Rust Belt town]] in existence -- unless it's a ski resort or campground. That, or it's an extension of LovecraftCountry to the east, filled with [[HeadlessHorseman headless horsemen]] in Sleepy Hollow, {{time travel}} experiments in Montauk, and people in Buffalo and Rochester who talk to spirits. And then they wonder why upstaters want to secede so badly.

Politically, the non-NYC parts of New York State, outside of the urban areas (where labor issues are at the forefront), have trended more conservative than the city, although Long Island has recently become more of a Democratic safe zone. New York's conservatism, however, has often been of the more libertarian-minded, "Rockefeller Republican"[[note]]So named for Nelson Rockefeller, who was governor of the state for nearly a decade and a half (1959-73) before he became Vice President under UsefulNotes/GeraldFord, and was famous for being one of the most high-profile moderate voices in the Republican Party.[[/note]] variety (aka "''[[UsefulNotes/AmericanNewspapers Wall Street Journal]]'' Republicans"); attempts by the Republican Party to use the same religious rhetoric that worked so well in the Bible Belt are typically met with ridicule by upstaters.[[note]]We're looking at ''you'', Mr. Carl Paladino.[[/note]] In 1970, it was an upstate legislator who cast the deciding vote to legalize abortion in the state of New York, and in 2011, same-sex marriage was legalized on the votes of four upstate Republicans breaking with the party line to vote in favor of the bill.

Politically, the non-NYC parts of New York State, outside of the urban areas (where labor issues are at the forefront), have trended more conservative than the city, although Long Island has recently become more of a Democratic safe zone. New York's conservatism, however, has often been of the more libertarian, "Rockefeller Republican"[[note]]So named for Nelson Rockefeller, who was governor of the state for nearly a decade and a half (1959-73) before he became Vice President under UsefulNotes/GeraldFord, and was famous for being one of the most high-profile moderate voices in the Republican Party.[[/note]] variety (aka "''[[UsefulNotes/AmericanNewspapers Wall Street Journal]]'' Republicans"); attempts by the Republican Party to use the same religious rhetoric that worked so well in the Bible Belt are typically met with ridicule by upstaters.[[note]]We're looking at ''you'', Mr. Carl Paladino.[[/note]] In 1970, it was an upstate legislator who cast the deciding vote to legalize abortion in the state of New York, and in 2011, same-sex marriage was legalized on the votes of four upstate Republicans breaking with the party line to vote in favor of the bill.

Just as UsefulNotes/NewJersey is often [[{{Joisey}} stereotyped]] by New York-based TV and movie writers, so are the parts of New York that aren't the BigApplesauce. To them, Long Island (or "[[UsefulNotes/AmericanAccents Lawn Guyland]]") is a place inhabited predominantly by the vapid East Coast cousins of the ValleyGirl, while upstate New York (meaning "everything north of the Tappan Zee Bridge") doesn't exist. And if it does, it may as well be a colder version of [[DeepSouth Alabama]] [[note]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabama,_New_York Like so]] [[/note]] mixed with every [[DyingTown depressed Rust Belt town]] in existence -- unless it's a ski resort or campground. That, or it's an extension of LovecraftCountry to the east, filled with [[HeadlessHorseman headless horsemen]] in Sleepy Hollow, {{time travel}} experiments in Montauk, and people in Buffalo and Rochester who talk to spirits. And then they wonder why upstaters want to secede so badly.

** ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedValhalla'' has Eivor go to Vinland and come across [[spoiler:the entrance to the Grand Temple in ''III'']] that the Order of the Ancients is attempting to excavate.

** ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedRevelations'' ends with [[spoiler: Desmond waking from his coma as he and his companions arrive at a field in New York state.]]
** ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIII'' will also take place, at least in part, in the Mohawk Valley.

** '''Sleepy Hollow:''' The town made famous by Washington Irving in ''Literature/TheLegendOfSleepyHollow''. It was actually known as North Tarrytown until 1996, when they finally changed the name to what everybody was already calling the place by that point.

Buffalo is notorious for getting blizzards that are gigantic even by the tough standards of upstate New York (though still not as large as the ones in Syracuse). The city made headlines in 2015 when a pile of plowed and shoveled snow from a massive blizzard the previous November was still there in ''July''. Dirt and debris had gathered on top, which not only insulated it from the summer heat, but even allowed ''grass'' to grow on it. The only reason it didn't last into August was because [[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2015/07/31/humorless-buffalo-destroys-its-famous-snow-pile/ the city had it bulldozed]]. UsefulNotes/{{Rochester}}, meanwhile, was once a major hub of both the abolitionist and women's rights movements. In the early 19th century, the area, together with Central New York, was called the "burned-over district" due to all the religious revivals in the area -- it was so heavily evangelized that there was no "fuel" (people) left to "burn" (convert). Among the religious movements that emerged here were [[UsefulNotes/{{Mormonism}} the Mormons]], the Millerites, the Shakers, the Oneida Community,[[note]]Who were originally a free-love Christian commune -- basically Jesus Freaks ''avant le lettre'' -- who eventually turned to making silverware as a means to support the community. The community fizzled by 1880, but the silverware company remains -- it's now known as Oneida Limited, it's one of the largest cutlery and tableware companies in the world, and it's still based in upstate New York. If you live in North America, you probably have Oneida flatware and tableware in your house.[[/note]] and the spiritualist movement, making it something of a 19th century version of UsefulNotes/{{California}} in terms of being a hub for new religious groups.

The main road going through here is the Long Island Expressway, or [[FunWithAcronyms the L.I.E.]] -- and yes, the jokes have already been made.[[note]]There's also a road called the Seaford-Oyster Bay Expressway, aka the S.O.B. Well-known speed trap.[[/note]] The first planned suburb in the United States, Levittown,[[note]]Alongside the town in UsefulNotes/{{Pennsylvania}} with the same name, just northeast of Philadelphia[[/note]] is in southeast Nassau County. Generally, the further east you go, the more rural and spread out the towns get, with the North Fork home to many orchards, wineries, and through most of the 20th century, duck farms.[[labelnote:Yes, duck farms.]] Around 2010, a combination of EPA regulations regarding environmental contamination and chronic problems with disease resulted in the closure of most of the farms on Long Island; by 2014, only one major duck farm remained in operation. At its height, the Long Island duck industry had produced 65% of the duck consumed in the US.[[/labelnote]] The western, more urbanized part of the North Shore has historically been known as the "Gold Coast" due to the massive amount of both [[BlueBlood old money]] and [[TheGildedAge Gilded Age]] wealth that existed (and still exists) in the area, with names like Vanderbilt, Roosevelt, Pratt, Whitney, Astor, Morgan, and Hearst owning massive estates in the region; ''Literature/TheGreatGatsby'' was set here for a reason. Located on the South Fork facing the Atlantic are the Hamptons, a collection of super-rich resort towns that you may have seen in TV shows and movies. The far eastern tip (which is closer in geography in a straight line to UsefulNotes/{{Boston}} than Manhattan[[note]]due to its proximity to Block Island, the New York-Rhode Island state line is one of three state lines to be entirely within the states' water area, the other two being Michigan-Illinois and Michigan-Minnesota[[/note]]) is occupied by Montauk, a small town that wouldn't look out of place in [[HollywoodNewEngland New England]] -- and judging by [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montauk_Project tales]] that [[GovernmentConspiracy the government once conducted freaky experiments there]], wouldn't be out of place in LovecraftCountry either.[[note]]''Series/StrangerThings'' was initially written as ''Montauk'' and supposed to be set there. Tax credits meant production moved down to Georgia, so the showrunners moved the setting to rural Indiana, which is easier for Georgia to play than Long Island. (The choice of Indiana over Georgia appears in part to be more "middle America" and in part because the South has [[SouthernGothic other horror tropes]] that don't play well with the government-conspiracy and parallel-universe tropes they had in mind.)[[/note]]

* ''Series/StrangerThings'' was [[WhatCouldHaveBeen originally supposed to have been]] titled ''Montauk'' and set in the town, as the Duffer Brothers were inspired by both the Montauk Project and the "coastal-town Amity feel" of ''Film/{{Jaws}}''. It wound up being set in the fictional town of [[EverytownAmerica Hawkins, Indiana]] instead, largely because they didn't have the budget to film in a coastal area that could [[CaliforniaDoubling double for Montauk]], while the UsefulNotes/{{Atlanta}} area could easily double for the Midwest.

The main road going through here is the Long Island Expressway, or [[FunWithAcronyms the L.I.E.]] -- and yes, the jokes have already been made.[[note]]There's also a road called the Seaford-Oyster Bay Expressway, aka the S.O.B. Well-known speed trap.[[/note]] The first planned suburb in the United States, Levittown,[[note]]Alongside the town in UsefulNotes/{{Pennsylvania}} with the same name, just northeast of Philadelphia[[/note]] is in southeast Nassau County. Generally, the further east you go, the more rural and spread out the towns get, with the North Fork home to many orchards, wineries, and through most of the 20th century, duck farms.[[labelnote:Yes, duck farms.]] Around 2010, a combination of EPA regulations regarding environmental contamination and chronic problems with disease resulted in the closure of most of the farms on Long Island; by 2014, only one major duck farm remained in operation. At its height, the Long Island duck industry had produced 65% of the duck consumed in the US.[[/labelnote]] The western, more urbanized part of the North Shore has historically been known as the "Gold Coast" due to the massive amount of both [[BlueBlood old money]] and [[TheGildedAge Gilded Age]] wealth that existed (and still exists) in the area, with names like Vanderbilt, Roosevelt, Pratt, Whitney, Astor, Morgan, and Hearst owning massive estates in the region; ''Literature/TheGreatGatsby'' was set here for a reason. Located on the South Fork facing the Atlantic are the Hamptons, a collection of super-rich resort towns that you may have seen in TV shows and movies. The far eastern tip (which is closer in geography in a straight line to UsefulNotes/{{Boston}} than Manhattan[[note]]due to its proximity to Block Island, the New York-Rhode Island state line is one of three state lines to be entirely within the states' water area, the other two being Michigan-Illinois and Michigan-Minnesota[[/note]]) is occupied by Montauk, a small town that wouldn't look out of place in [[HollywoodNewEngland New England]] -- and judging by [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montauk_Project tales]] that [[GovernmentConspiracy the government once conducted freaky experiments there]], wouldn't be out of place in LovecraftCountry either.[[note]]''Series/StrangerThings'' was initially written as ''Montauk'' and supposed to be set there. Tax credits meant production moved down to Georgia, so the showrunners moved the setting to rural Indiana, which is easier for Georgia to play than Long Island. (The choice of Indiana over Georgia appears in part to be more "middle America" and in part because the South has [[SouthernGothic other horror tropes]] they didn't want to play with.[[/note]]

The main road going through here is the Long Island Expressway, or [[FunWithAcronyms the L.I.E.]] -- and yes, the jokes have already been made.[[note]]There's also a road called the Seaford-Oyster Bay Expressway, aka the S.O.B. Well-known speed trap.[[/note]] The first planned suburb in the United States, Levittown,[[note]]Alongside the town in UsefulNotes/{{Pennsylvania}} with the same name, just northeast of Philadelphia[[/note]] is in southeast Nassau County. Generally, the further east you go, the more rural and spread out the towns get, with the North Fork home to many orchards, wineries, and through most of the 20th century, duck farms.[[labelnote:Yes, duck farms.]] Around 2010, a combination of EPA regulations regarding environmental contamination and chronic problems with disease resulted in the closure of most of the farms on Long Island; by 2014, only one major duck farm remained in operation. At its height, the Long Island duck industry had produced 65% of the duck consumed in the US.[[/labelnote]] The western, more urbanized part of the North Shore has historically been known as the "Gold Coast" due to the massive amount of both [[BlueBlood old money]] and [[TheGildedAge Gilded Age]] wealth that existed (and still exists) in the area, with names like Vanderbilt, Roosevelt, Pratt, Whitney, Astor, Morgan, and Hearst owning massive estates in the region; ''Literature/TheGreatGatsby'' was set here for a reason. Located on the South Fork facing the Atlantic are the Hamptons, a collection of super-rich resort towns that you may have seen in TV shows and movies. The far eastern tip (which is closer in geography in a straight line to UsefulNotes/{{Boston}} than Manhattan[[note]]due to its proximity to Block Island, the New York-Rhode Island state line is one of three state lines to be entirely within the states' water area, the other two being Michigan-Illinois and Michigan-Minnesota[[/note]]) is occupied by Montauk, a small town that wouldn't look out of place in [[HollywoodNewEngland New England]] -- and judging by [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montauk_Project tales]] that [[GovernmentConspiracy the government once conducted freaky experiments there]], wouldn't be out of place in LovecraftCountry either.

-->--'''''Literature/OurDumbWorld'''''

* WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick's [[http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/team-nchick/nostalgia-chick/37037-sleepy-hollow review]] of ''Film/SleepyHollow'' had her, Nella, and Elisa visiting the actual town of Sleepy Hollow, New York, and being generally disappointed that it wasn't as creepy as advertised.