Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Old-Time Island Home Remedies

Here are a few old-time "cures" that were common on Ocracoke years ago:
  • Use collard leaves on your forehead to bring down a fever
  • For chicken pox take a black hen or rooster. Boil with the feathers still on and apply on the pox
  • For warts, steal your mama's dish rag and bury it
  • For earache, get a member of the opposite sex to urinate on a cotton ball and place it in your ear
  • For a bee or wasp sting, use snuff, already wet from a woman's mouth
  • To alleviate an itch, apply a mixture of gun powder & vinegar with a little kerosene added
I suppose we should be grateful that some things on the island have changed. I don't believe the doctors and nurses at our Health Center will recommend any of these cures today.

Our latest Ocracoke Newsletter is a history of paved roads on Ocracoke. It may not sound very exciting, but there have been dramatic changes on the island because of the construction of paved roads a half century ago. You can read the newsletter, and see some rare photos here.

To read about Philip's new book, Digging up Uncle Evans, History, Ghost Tales, & Stories from Ocracoke Island, please click here.

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous4:49 PM

    In my parts, for warts, cut up a potato by the light of the moon and bury it. Warts-be-gone!

    ReplyDelete