#dd11

Humble disclaimer:

I am more a lover of the state characters than I am of the actual, real life states they are based on. That is to say that my knowledge may be lacking at times, especially when it comes to identifying historical momuments and whatnot. I am a European, so please do bear with me. Feel free to make any corrections in the comments.

The School

The fated titular USHS. Though we did get a decent front-view of it in another post, this is our first time seeing it in it's entirety. It also appears to have undergone a few minor design revisions.

In the front-view image, the school has a bunch of trees behind it, possibly implying it's located near a forest or park of some sort. However, in this new map, we can clearly see that behind USHS is the football and track field, not a bunch of trees.

There are also some more minor changes. The little roof over the main entrance is now circular, when it certainly doesn't look like it in the front-view, although it's not impossible it's just a matter of stylized perspective. A lot of what was initially brick pillars has also been replaced with the white-looking stuff, I presume concrete (I am not an architecture expert, so I cannot say with confidence what this building is probably made of). You can see this particularly well on the windows.

It also seems like the two pillar tops of the main entrance have been removed, and that the right-wing might not have the second floor the way it was previously drawn. Then again, it could just be very stylized perspective yet again, hiding it from us. It does seem to have some kind of second floor...

Although it is a bit hard to analyze, the football field, amazingly, doesn't seem to have changed very much from the old, pre-2026 USHS comics. However, the scoreboard and lights surrounding the place seem to be missing. I guess it's not impossible they only bring those out when they're actively needed... But I have no fucking idea how they would go about doing that. Puzzingly, the field is also surrounded by trees in these drawings when in the map, it clearly isn't. So maybe, USHS was meant to be surrounded by more flora until recently... Or maybe Daniel just used them as background filler, because he didn't have the whole town planned out yet. Who knows?

Location-wise, the school is right next to DC's home, and a bit above the Virginias. This seems to strongly suggest that the real-world equivalent of USHS, if it existed, would be in DC. This was my old USHS headcanon before Daniel came back, so I guess in a way, I was right... Though, it should be noted that this map is not a 1:1 representation, because if USHS really was in DC, it would have absolutely 0 business bordering the homes of Missouri, Illinois, and the like. So, this may just be a cope. More on DC's proximity to the school later.

The Eastern half

There are a few notable things here, so let's go over them.

This whole section here is basically just NYC. Everybody knows what the Statue of Liberty is, right? As for the other notable structures...

The bridge is probably meant to be Brooklyn Bridge. Not only does it look incredibly similar visually, but it's also in a very similar position. The real Brooklyn Bridge, connects Brooklyn and Manhattan, two major NYC boroughs. Though we cannot see what exactly is on the other side of this bridge, we can make the educated guess that it's probably going to be the Libertyville equivalent of long island. Going off of the assumption that Libertyville is a mirror of the real USA, we might even be tempted to say that the mainland city is Manhattan, while the off-screen part is Brooklyn. ...There is, however, an issue with this...

The Ferris Wheel's best visual match is the Wonder Wheel. It's not a 1:1 comparison, of course, but you can easily see the inspiration with the colorful cabins and whatnot. But, uh... The Wonder Wheel is in Brooklyn. So like. It should not be on the mainland part of the map. Either this map isn't nearly as much of a 1:1 when it comes to NYC, or this is meant to be some other ferris wheel, but honestly, I'm kinda lost on that front... Maybe it's just a completely fictional ferris wheel. Either way, this whole little area seems to be carnival-themed, so that does make me wonder if there is gonna be some kind of big story plot point happening here eventually.

The big corner house near NY's portrait and the light blue house with the little tower are both very distinct, but I don't know enough about NYC to pin them to any specific real life landmarks. It's not impossible that they are just completely fictional, I guess? The light blue building with the tower might be a very, very stylized version of the New York City Hall, but honestly that's a pretty big stretch. You could argue that basically any city hall on Earth was the inspiration for this building with that line of thinking.

Since Daniel didn't put the state portraits perfectly on top of the houses they live in, it's kind of hard to tell where exactly they live sometimes.

Mass seems to be pretty obvious — but with Connecticut and Rhodie, it's impossible to tell whether they live in the houses near the road, or the houses near the ocean. On one hand, I feel like it would make more sense for them to live right next to Mass, but on the other hand... there might be some interesting implications in them being so "far" from each other on the map? With NY, it's similarly hard to tell. He might be directly over a house himself, but I can't see enough of it to be confident in the assumption...

It should also be noted that, despite being stated to be siblings before, New Hampshire and Vermont live in seperate houses. So, either Dan is back at it again with the retcons, or they live seperately for some reason. That's right, New Hampshire might canonically be a child of divorce. Interestingly, neither of them have sidewalks leading to their houses, either. Vermont's house doesn't even seem to be facing the road... Which we will talk about later.

Pennsylvania's portrait is also in a position that makes it pretty difficult to tell where exactly his house is supposed to be. It could be the red house near the road, the blue house in the woods, or a third secret house that we can't see. Honestly, I lean towards the blue house being his — I think his portrait was intentionally moved a bit to the side so we could see it properly. His old character introduction does state he used to be amish, so naybe him living in a more "remote" location is somehow meant to represent his "disconnection" from the rest of society? Beats me if Daniel is actually going to make him Amish, though.

Let's take a look at this lower area next...

So, first of all, what the fuck is happening with Florida?

Even California and Texas' living conditions pale in comparison to the implication that he lives in this thing. As far as I can tell, Florida was never portrayed as being particularly wealthy or anything — in fact, his intro mentions that he lives right next to his grandma! (...Who is somehow still alive. Old Dan lore cannot be comprehended, just ignore that. [...And the other massive elephant in the room.]) So, does he just live in this crazy ass mansion now?

...I... Don't know, admittedly. But my opinion is that no, he doesn't.

Let's take a closer look.

Not only is this thing ridicilous in size and design, but it seems to have its own swimming pools and beach. There is also a giant cruise near it, and judging by the fact there is a dock right next to this house, I think it is fair to assume that a bit of enviromental storytelling is happening here, and that the cruise is actually part of this luxury hotel experience. That's right — this is not Florida's house, it's a hotel.

Now, I am no Florida expert, but do me a favor and look up "Luxury hotel Florida". I haven't found anything that matches up so well that I am confident it's without a doubt the real world equivalent of this hotel, sure, but the architecture style, and the recreation area are all pretty damn similar, right?

You may then assume, that clearly, Florida actually lives in the little house his portrait is right on top of. But, give that more than 5 seconds of looking, and you will realise that is most definitely just Libertyville McDonalds. Hell, there is even a similar building on the West! (Remember to boycott, by the way.)

So, where the hell could he possibly live, then?! Surely, it's not impossible that, like, his parents own the hotel, and he does live in it, right?

Did you notice how there is a big sidewalk next to the yellow house here that we can't see the end of? And how right behind Florida's portrait, there are some houses we can't see the entrances to?

You may think I am pulling this out of my ass. But, look at Florida's original intro, and tell me... What does it say about tourists? That he's "had to put up with them his whole life". And in what situation would he need to put up with them, in this universe where the entirety of the US is merely a town?

I don't know about you, but I think "Probably if he lived right next to one of, if not the only luxury hotel in the town" is a pretty good answer.

Again, maybe I am wrong, and he really does just live in a giant mansion, or maybe he lives in the knockoff McDonalds... somehow? But this seems like a very satisfactory explanation to me, that fits everything we know about him, and also just generally makes the most sense. Since there is still a sizable chunk of the town that is completely off-screen, I don't feel confident declaring this hotel the only luxury hotel in Libertyville, and it's probably not the only hotel in Libertyville, (we will get to that...), but the point stands regardless. I consider this mystery solved.

Whilst still on the topic of Florida, it should be noted that only on this little stretch of land between his and Louisiana's portraits, there appears to be some sort of bayou-like microbiome. I know these things are endangered in real life, but damn. You could feasibly count all of these unique trees under 5 minutes.

Moving back up closer to the school, I think the most stand-out thing here is DC's house.

This pillar is probably meant to be the Washington Monument. I genuinely have no idea what else it could possibly be. The Washington Monument is a very similar, if not identical structure that is located in the real world DC. Not much to discuss there... The implications are interesting, though.

For one, it implies the existence of George Washington in this universe, which implies a whole bunch of other historical events by proxy. Which is pretty crazy, given that the oldest states are canonically a measely 18 years old. Is Libertyville history just extremely recent? It remains to be seen...

It is also pretty wild that DC just has this thing in his backyard. Before the release of this map, my headcanon for DC being class president, despite the fact he is partly home-schooled and seemingly universally disliked, was that he was the principal's son. But looking at his living conditions... What if he isn't just the principal's son, but the mayor's son? Better yet, what if his father is the man himself, George Washington?! ...Probably not. But if his father is enough of a narcissist to keep a monument dedicated to himself in the backyard, then that explains a lot, don't you think? Either way, Daniel did say the adults won't play much of a role in the story, but I do think his parents' social standing is at the very least the subtext of DC's character.

Maryland's seeming loyalty to DC also becomes very interesting when put in the context of them being next-door neighbours, especially when contrasted with literally everyone else having an issue with him. Are they childhood friends? Is their friendship genuine, or is Mary just sucking up to him with an ulterior motive? Does DC know this? Does he ignore it, because she is still the only friend he has? Much to consider. Alas, only time will tell...

The Virginias living together is also pretty interesting. Before it was finally outright confirmed they were brothers, and before Virginia became uggo as fuuuuuckkkkk 😭😭got his current USHS redesign, his only line of dialogue mentioned leaving his locker to his younger brother. A pretty big part of Virginia history is the West Virginia split, though. So... I do wonder what is going to happen to the both of them, or if they are actually currently on good terms, given how they were implied to be no-contact in the original universe. Timeline wise, if the split was supposed to be represented by them living in different houses, then it is definitely way too late for that, but it's still interesting to think that yet another divorce may be on the horizon.

And for the Carolinas, though the closeness of their portraits seems to imply that they live together... Doesn't it kind of look like there are two houses under them? Maybe it's just one house with unique architecture, but I guess we will just have to wait and see. That is, unfortunately, a very common conclusion that we will be coming to a lot, in case you have yet to notice. Moving on!

Yes, I am counting the Midwest as part of Eastern Libertyville. What are you gonna do? They are clearly not west!

Starting off, yet again, Indiana's portrait is in a position that makes it kind of hard to tell where exactly he lives. I am, however, going yo take an educated guess and say he lives in the circle with Michigan and Ohio, because literally what would be the point of there being 3 houses if one of them was occupied by unnamed background characters. Also, it's a sports rivalry thing or something. I don't care much for American sports...

Michigan also has a factory of some kind right behind his house. Ignoring the horrible air quality he probably lives in, this is most likely a reference to the Rust Belt. In other words, it was probably some kind of metal-processing factory at least at some point. I say was, because the whole point of the Rust Belt is that it eventually declined, so... Who knows if this factory is still functioning. For the sake of Michigan's lungs, I hope it isn't.

Interestingly, if Indiana does live in the circle with Michigan and Ohio, then that means Illinois lives next to a giant house with no specified inhabitants. A bit of a crack theory, but... What if Utah used to live in this house, mirroring how Utah used to live with Illinois in the original universe? I admit, this one is a bit of a stretch, though. I don't even believe in it that much myself, honestly... But it's a fun thought, no?

But ignore that. We have another mystery on our hands. What mystery, you ask, dazed and confused?

Who the fuck lives in this cabin on the other side of the lake?!

This cabin is seemingly completely isolated from, like... Everything? There are no roads or sidewalks leading to it, it doesn't have any neighbours, and there is just generally no explanation for this weird mysterious cabin's existence. I have three main theories.

1.) It's Wisconsin's cabin.

Looking at the map, we can see that Wisconsin has a dock near where his house is. Not only that, but his original intro also mentioned that he owns a cabin on Lake Michigan. So, if we assume that this lake is in some way meant to represent Lake Michigan, than the conclusion is clear. Wisconsin's family has a cabin on the other side of the lake, and the reason it's completely detached from the rest of the world is because they don't actually live there, they just boat there whenever they feel like getting away from the town.

This is honestly a pretty solid explanation, and I feel like it is the most likely. However...

2.) It's a part of Maple Ridge.

In the commentated version of the map, there is text right next to this cabin that says Maple Ridge is on the other side.

Maybe I have just lost my damn mind, but this does kind of feel an intentional framing of the cabin, no? However, this theory... Is a lot less solid. We know Maine and Alaska live off-screen from this very same commentated map, so clearly, this cabin is still within Libertyville territory.

So then, who could this cabin possibly belong to? Which Canadian province? And why do they have a cabin in Libertyville territory? I... Do not know.

But! There is a third possibility...

3.) The lake is evil and the Devil of this world lives there.

Now, listen to me. Look at Vermont's house for me, again, what do you notice?

It is facing directly towards the lake.

And not only that, but it has the same color scheme as the cabin. But that doesn't make any damn sense! Vermont has never been depicted as living near lakes, or owning cabins near them!

Well, heh, you see...

...

Yeah I don't fucking know?

I think I am just weirdly distrustful of this lake for some reason. Probably has to do with a videogame that recently got updated. I genuinely have no explanation for the two very strange coincidences with Vermont's house, so I am forced to grit my teeth and just assume that is all they are. But, hm...

One last thing I want to mention is this treehouse.

It's a structure that has similarly little explanation, is also near the lake, and is also near Wisconsin and Minnesota. I cannot pin this to anyone with pre-existing lore, but if we assume the cabin is Wisconsin's, then it's probably Minnesota's? That's... Literally all I can say about it, though. If anything, that makes it more creepy than the cabin, but I dunno. We will have to wait and see what Dan does with these structures, if anything at all...