southwestern Pennsylvania

a rather backwoods-esque (ie the boonies) region .. must have some sort Bermuda Triangle type phenoma associated with it for it seems to be very hard for people to leave this area .. and enter the real world.

back in the day SW PA was an important bituminous coal mining center for the Pittsburgh steel producing industry .. there are hardly any mines left nowadays .. most have shut down .. the reason why SW PA has a bad economy, high unemployment, high number of welfare recipients, etc. can be attributed to this fact.

You forgot to include Alleghany county, which is where Pittsburgh is located. South Western Pennslvania is usally considered the part south of Butler county. The eastern border is usally undefined. Pittsburgh, Pennslyvania is usally considered the 'center' of this area. South Western Pennsylvania is also the second most populous area in the state of Pennslvania. The first is Philadephia. This area is highly idiotic politically. Pennslyvania used to be one of the main deciding votes in the electorial college but it seems that people are moving elsewhere and out of this area. Contains many great colleges, such as Penn State University, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Pittsburgh and Robert Morris College. I think that this area will be highly populated in the future because it would make a great link for computer networks and would make a nice area for another Silicon Valley.