Southside (Virginia)
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Southside is the colloquial name given to a broad swath of southeastern and/or south-central Virginia, USA. It is bounded on the north by the James River, and does not have any particular western boundary. The term can be used in two senses:
- It can refer to the south side of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. In this sense, the term always includes the cities of Norfolk, Portsmouth, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, and Suffolk as well as Surry County and Isle of Wight County.
- It can also refer to the south-central part of the state, roughly bounded by the James River on the north, the Blue Ridge Mountains on the west, and the South Hampton Roads area on the east. The major center of the "Southside Virginia" area is generally considered to be Danville. An exception to this general geographic definition is the Richmond-Petersburg area, which is usually not included in the above senses of the term, where the term "Southside of Richmond" may apply instead.
The term Southside Virginia is generally used to refer to the second area, and not the first. The area east of Southampton and Prince George counties is not considered part of Southside Virginia, but rather, is known as South Hampton Roads (or locally, simplly the "Southside" as opposed to Hampton and Newport News as the "Peninsula". These areas are also divided by the James River.
