The Travelers (Travellers?)

I was born in Aiken SC, a neighboring town to North Augusta SC which is the location of the largest colony of Irish Travellers in America, which is called Murphy Village. The "gypsies" are a part of the local community as much as the non-"gypsies". The Cant, or Shelta, is the language of the Travellers and it isn't used in a widespread fashion...it's used more in the sense that the younger people use certain words almost as slang. They are in the habit of doing a few things that seem strange to some people (concerning housing and marriage, etc) but I feel like its kinda disrespectful to talk about them like they're some sort of strange group on the fringes of society, which they aren't.

Edit: P.S. What part of Appalachia are you from, OP? I lived in Greenville SC at the southern end of the Appalachian mountains for quite some time and 95% of the people in Greenville (and the Upstate in general) didn't even know "gypsies" actually existed, much less en masse a few hours away from them. Did you grow up closer to Murphy Village in SC or the Traveller and Romany communities in WV?