What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

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SOLVED: Children's/YA
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SOLVED. Children's Book Age 9-13. Boy/Young Man gets trapped in a colonial town he cannot leave in the woods. When trying to leave walks through the woods and winds back up at the town in some temporal existence. [s]
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Free to borrow https://openlibrary.org/search?q=Nayl...
Summary: When his mother is killed in an automobile accident, high-schooler Josh decides to hitchhike across the country, and finds himself trapped in a mysterious village somewhere in the Appalachian Mountains, among a group of people who call themselves Melungeons.
I think it was published maybe 10-20years before that.
I cannot remember the Title, Author, or character names.
It starts out wit ha boy/YA attempting to hitchhike across the USA. I believe he was running away but cannot remember.
An older man picks him up in car to give him a ride. After some time the main character accidentally falls asleep in the car. After what seems to be a few hours, he wakes up with no clue here is, and notices the radio is just static.
He asks to be let out but now the man doesn't want to let him out. Fearing for his life there is a fight in the car, where he bails out of the car while it is moving into a ditch. He then runs off into the woods to make sure the Older man doesn't chase him. (He never gets chased)
After following a path in the woods he managed to run across what seems to be a colonial style village. (Kind of like the movie "The Village").
I forget what his first encounter was at the village, but he attempts to leave, following the path he once came in on. After some time walking he winds back up at the same village. No matter which was he goes he just ends up at the village. Stuck in some kind of temporal existence.
He does eventually give in and begin helping around the town while trying to figure out how he can leave. He does form relationships with the towns people and there is a love interest. From what I can remember the townsfolk seems to understand that he is not a part of their "time", "era".
If I recall he does find out there is a way you can leave, but I forget if you have to be chosen, or if some special condition has to be met in order to leave. I believe it involved a special cottage, or outhouse, or something like that. Then their either had to be a condition met, time, ritual. I can't remember.
[SPOILERS BELOW]
He does eventually get to leave, but if I recall correctly he actually returns because he realized he is happier in the village, or doesn't leave at all. He also wanted to stay with his love interest.