Chestnut trees are everywhere and a good source of carbohydrates and they feed the wildlife. nutritional profile similar to potatoes. Chestnut trees are huge, grow fast and are hard wood so good hardwood with a profile similar to oak is readily available. Hospitality for the Scots and Scott-irish would be very much the once I invite you into my house i'm responsible for you. But you better behave. Respect for individualism would be important among them as well. they would be proud Brave , and willing to die to protect family and Honor.I'm from the very southern end of Appalachia.
Some things I would consider essential to capturing the mood of the region, in a D&Dish fantasy context, in my opinion, would be:
•The forests are dense. This is something that people who haven't been to the region won't understand. The trees aren't often very large (poor soil), but they grow nearly as close together as grass in a field. Between the thick foliage and the mountainous terrain, a laden party of adventurers on foot will be lucky to travel 4 miles in a day.
•Everything is isolated. In a fantasy setting with no highways or telephones, you can really play this up. Towns are far apart from each other. There are homesteads sprinkled across the mountainsides many miles apart, sometimes populated by families who aren't aware of their nearest neighbors' existence.
•Hospitality is important. It's not like Deliverance. If strangers come to your door, you let them in, you feed them, and you find out what their story is. There aren't going to be a lot of inns for the party to rest in between towns. They'll need to either camp out or rely on the generosity of whatever locals they meet.
•That said, don't abuse your host's hospitality. Everyone is armed. In real life, that means a lot of people enthusiastic about the 2nd Ammendment. In a fantasy world where you probably don't have guns, I might have some NPC's who are proud of their old family sword or axe.
•Farming sucks. Poor soil. Hunting and fishing are comparatively efficient ways to feed your family.
•There are a lot of caves, and the caves get pretty big. There are also ruins, of a sort: abandoned homesteads, bootleg distilleries, and mines. Plenty of places that could become dungeons in a world with monsters.
Hear hear! The "i" is silent and the "t" is invisible.
The english settlers would be in more typical towns and cities with forts scattered throughout the area, with either english or american troops depending on the time frame.
If it's fantasy that's where it could get really interesting. do the Celtic gods exist? Cause the border tribes of scotland weren't that into Christian religion, that's part of what did them in. But if they have the old religions you get druids , is there a catholic church and are they burning witches and mages? If so a lot of mages might be living with hill folk or indians. Indians of that area, Choctow, chickasaw, Cherokee, were fairly civilized they farmed , hunted and generally got along people that wanted to get along with them. If thier gods exist and they have shaman's and mages who would probably be looked on as people who had been blessed by the gods, they might be holding on better than they did in real history. there is no one african culture so I'd recommend looking at West Africa as a lot of the slaving was done there. Pick out a couple of the tribes who's religion and myths you like and work them in.
The fey side would be a horrible mixed up mess, with African spirits, indian fey who are often confused as spirits of the land, fey brought by the english, scotts and irish. You'd probably have as much conflict on the fey side of things as in the real world.