<P> Maryland, which was settled by the British, is historically Catholic as well and many historians believe it was named after the Queen Henrietta Maria by Cecilius Calvert, 2nd Baron of Baltimore . Maryland was the only Roman Catholic British colony in the Americas, and was considered a refuge for England's Roman Catholic minority which was being persecuted by the Church of England . When William of Orange rose to power in England, Catholicism was outlawed in Maryland, causing a decrease in the number of practicing Catholics . In the 1840s, the Catholic population rebounded with the mass immigration of Irish due to the Great Potato Famine . Maryland also became home to many Polish and Italian immigrants . </P> <P> In general, the inland regions of the Deep South and Upper South, such as Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama were less attractive to immigrants and have stronger concentrations of Baptists, Methodists, Churches of Christ and other Protestant or non-Catholic fellowships . Eastern and northern Texas are heavily Protestant, while the southern and western parts of the state are predominantly Catholic . </P> <P> The city of Charleston, South Carolina, has had a significant Jewish population since the colonial period . The first were Sephardic Jews who had been living in London or on the island of Barbados . They were connected to Jewish communities in New England as well . The community figured prominently in the history of South Carolina . Richmond also had a Sephardic Jewish community before the Revolution . They built the first synagogue in Virginia about 1791 . New Orleans also historically (and in the present day) has a significant Jewish community . </P> <P> The South Florida area is home to the nation's second largest concentration of Jewish Americans outside New York, most of them early 20th century migrants and descendants from the Northeast . They were descendants of Ashkenazi Jews from Germany, Russia, Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe . Twentieth - century migration and business development have brought significant Jewish and Muslim communities to most major business and university cities, such as Miami, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston and more recently, Charlotte . </P>

All of the following are recognized as aspects of the new south following the civil war except