ABSTRACT

Many of the culture elements that eventually were to diffuse into Appalachia were Indian, English, German, or Scotch-Irish. The Germans and Scotch-Irish employed construction techniques that allowed them to establish a subsistence economy in the Appalachian forests and that were flexible enough to permit settlers of diverse backgrounds to share common house and barn plans and building methods. By the second decade of the nineteenth century, the major national groups in Appalachia continued to be English, Scotch-Irish, and German with smaller numbers of Welsh, French, and other northern European groups. The European traditions that the immigrants who settled the Appalachian region brought with them was religion, and often there was a relationship between nation of origin and religious preference. The immigration of Scotch-Irish Presbyterians increased rapidly, and although they were arriving at essentially the same time as some of the German groups, they were obligated to move beyond the Quaker and German settlements near Philadelphia to find cheap open land.