Growing up in Maryland, just south of the Mason Dixon Line, I often let my wanderlust and imagination drift up the coast to a more perfect place of beautiful coastline, living history and a cultural patina that seemed a caste above my mid-Atlantic surroundings.

BBC: New England week

In contrast to the better-than-average performance of the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states, when examining the states where economic mobility is suffering, a new trend emerges: All nine of the states highlighted by Pew a underperforming against the national average fall south of the Mason Dixon line.

FORBES: The American Dream Is Alive And Well... In New Jersey

Maryland's northern border is the famous Mason-Dixon line, traditionally the demarcation between North and South.

CNN: MARYLAND

They were determined to move from their home in New Jersey to their imagined Nirvana south of the Mason-Dixon line.

FORBES: Do you know the value of your Values?

The main thing the words Democrat and Republican told you was which side of the Mason-Dixon line a politician came from.

ECONOMIST: Lexington

Being south of the Mason-Dixon line makes it prone to harsh winters.

FORBES: Five States That Are Bad For Retirees

The younger generation of carbuyers stayed faithful to their Toyotas, Hondas or Mercedes assembled in the new cheaper car factories below the Mason-Dixon line.

ECONOMIST: The decline and fall of General Motors

If we start corralling every white Southern grandpa who ever committed a hate crime, we may have to throw a dragnet over every old folks home south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

NPR: 'Mississippi Burning,' 41 Years Too Late

The best measurements of that transit were made by Jeremiah Dixon and Charles Mason, of Mason-Dixon-line fame.

CNN: A transit of Venus, an age of wondrous science