Unloading moss at the Leesburg Moss Yard 1946 (photo: floridamemory.com)
In Leesburg on 3rd St where I turned onto the bike trail there was a moss
yard. Spanish moss was collected from trees and when cured went to furniture and
upholstery companies or by train to Detroit where it was used in car
seats.
Spanish moss is not actually a moss but an epiphyte, meaning it grows on
other plants but is not parasitic. Native Americans weaved dried moss into
clothing, and early white settlers braided it into ropes and netting and stuffed
mattresses with it.
Curing the moss was known as ginning, the gray outer bark of the moss had
to be removed by soaking it in water until it rotted away. The longer the moss
soaked, the tougher and cleaner the inner fiber would become with the most
valuable moss taking six months to cure. State officials in the 1950s estimated
the overall value of the Florida moss crop to be about $500,000 per year but all
this ended with the advent of synthetic materials.
Boy delivering moss to Leesburg Moss Yard 1946 (photo:
floridamemory.com)
