Traditionally speaking, Greene County is pure Appalachia, northern Appalachia specifically, and many of our cultural traditions strongly relate to those of some of our southern neighbors. Our dialect, mannerisms, superstitions and, in earlier and more primitive times, our cures and folk medicine can trace their roots back to a compendium of beliefs that resulted from a melting pot of Scotch Irish, Germanic and Native American customs.
As settlers from various regions arrived in the new world throughout the late 17th and 18th centuries, superstitions and home remedies from the old world arrived in the new and blended with traditional Native American cures to create what has become known in later years as “granny wisdom.” Granny wisdom is a system of beliefs that combined folk magic and folk medicine to treat all the worries and ailments of a rural people. This system that would last well into the 20th century, and remnants can still be found today.
Concoctions that are often reminiscent of a recipe used by the witches in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, consisted of plants, herbs and different items thought to have magical or healing properties. These ingredients were mixed to create cures and potions that would ensure that whatever ailment you suffered from didn’t do you in. In a few instances, potions were used to undo a curse brought on by a bad neighbor or simply for good luck.
Going to the chicken coop and having chickens fly over you was thought to be a cure for chicken pox. To break your husband of drinking, skin a live eel, put the skin in some liquor and give it to him; he will never drink again. To cure gout, apply a raw cleaned beef steak to the area of trouble and change it once every twelve hours until cured.
More mystical remedies also existed. Wart healers existed in Greene County well into recent memory, and there may still be some here today. Methods varied from healer to healer, but in some instances, a healer would go for a long walk with a person who was suffering from warts. As the pair walked, Bible verses would often be recited; certain passages were believed to be particularly powerful. At a non-predetermined time during the walk, the healer would throw a stone and pronounce the sufferer cured.
If a person in the community was thought to be a witch and cursing neighbors, the “cure” was for the victim to scratch an image of the witch into a black walnut tree and drive a nail through the heart. This would render the witches spell ineffective.
In an effort to prevent evil spirits from entering a house or a building, a Sator Square was often placed behind the trim of doors or windows. Sator Squares are a two-dimensional word square containing a five-word Latin palindrome, consisting of the words “Sator Arepo Tenet Opera Rotas.” There are several theories on what those words mean in this context, but it is generally thought to be an early Christian blessing. The Sator Square can trace its roots back to ancient Roman times and the early Christian period.
Herbal medicine was the heart of Granny Wisdom. Yellow root was commonly used to treat ailments of the stomach, bladder, kidneys, and liver. Witch Hazel was used for colds and fevers and could also be applied directly to the skin to help with burns and cuts. Peeled rinds of citrus fruit could be made into a tube and placed in the nostrils to help cure a cold, and a tea made from the leaves of stinging nettle could be used to treat itchiness, anemia, and gout.
Many of these herbal remedies did have some medicinal benefit, and often led to more scientific forms of medicine that would develop throughout the 19th century. As society in the new world grew, and science began to dominate a world once ruled by superstition, doctors learned that by using the extracts and oils from different herbs, plants and barks they could successfully cure illness or at a minimum ease the discomfort related to different maladies.
Even in the early 20th century it wasn’t uncommon for a doctor or pharmacist to have a mortar and pestle handy to grind various natural products into a medicine. As time progressed, many chemical compounds from these old remedies would be used to create the foundation of medicine as we know it.
In the late 19th Century, the rural doctor had largely, though not completely, replaced the folk healer. Many worked out of their homes, or in the case of Jesse Ullom of Rogersville in 1876, worked out of a small building beside his house. Ullom’s building can still be seen today. Doctors often traveled to their patients.
In rural areas folk cures were still the prevailing method of battling illness. Granny wisdom was being printed in book form throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, books of home remedies and cures so anyone could use “traditional” medicine in their home. Many of us are passively familiar with some of these old school remedies, such as using aloe on a burn or tea of fever few to cure a fever. A remedy still commonly used today, the hot toddy can be traced back to earlier times.
Honey, the main ingredient in a hot toddy, has been used medicinally since ancient time. It has long been known for its antiseptic qualities. Honey and juice extracted from a roasted onion is also a common treatment for a cold or the sniffles.
Unfortunately, Appalachian culture is slowly being lost. If some of the older generations of your family are still around, talk to them, learn about the ways and customs that they grew up with and record them through the written word or video. Within another generation or two much of this ancient Appalachian knowledge may be completely forgotten.