re: Colonial American English Pronunciation (For Linguist Nerds)

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I took an anthropology folklore class once a long time ago, and I remember the prof saying that some people in remote Appalachia (and maybe remote Carolinas) had an accent that was closer to colonial American and 18th century English than the British accent today.

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Yes, it's true. The people on the "outer banks" of North Carolina still speak this way as do people on the islands off the coast of Virginia (Tangier) and Maryland (Smith island). You can search it on Youtube and hear the locals.

A similar accent survives in Appalachia among the Lumbee tribe. They learned English from colonial people and have been isolated in their own community. They still pronounce words like "side" as "soid."