Spanish moss adds character to the trees all over Daufuskie Island.
Visitors and natives alike see the moss hanging from the trees as beautiful. Not only was it plentiful when I was a child, it was also useful in many things that we did. Like many Islanders, Pop and Momma believed in doing all sorts of things for comfort. During my parents’ younger days, Spanish moss was used for stuffing mattresses and pillows. We fed our cows and horses the Spanish moss.
It was also said to be good for treating high blood pressure.
If you put some green Spanish moss in your shoes, it would help bring down your blood pressure. They put in only enough so that they could still wear their shoes comfortably. They allowed the moss to stay in their shoes until it was dry, then removed it and repeated the process. Folks somehow knew when the green Spanish moss had helped lower their blood pressure.
I never understood how the Spanish moss helped, but it worked for Island folks. It was their belief and nature’s way. For them it worked, and that was all that mattered.
Reprinted with permission from Cooking the Gullah Way: Morning, Noon, & Night (The University of North Carolina Press) by Sallie Ann Robinson, a native of Daufuskie Island. Sallie Ann Robinson is a Gullah chef, author, tour guide, TV personality, mother, grandmother and sixth-generation native Daufuskie Islander.