“we never have mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving”
It’s a must. Where else would you put the turkey gravy?! 
For southerners I know, it’s cornbread dressing and mac and cheese along with sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes. I have heard of rice based dressing/stuffing and dirty rice.
The south contains so many regions and cultures, it does differ from one area to the next. What my relatives in SC eat is very different from what my friends in LA eat.
Also a dish I think of as Southern – came from my mother’s side who was Southern – oyster dressing.
I don’t make that myself but there are those who love the oyster dressing still.
@doschicos, when you say LA, are you referring to Los Angeles or the South LA as in Lower Alabama? :-S
Louisiana actually. 
I think of oyster stuffing/dressing as an very old school New England recipe. It’s a colonial times thing.
Oyster stuffing is south–that’s where the best oysters are.
We don’t do mashed potatoes–the gravy goes on the turkey and the dressing. Lots of it!
“Oyster stuffing is south–that’s where the best oysters are.”
I could debate you on that. The best oysters come from colder water. They taste cleaner.
As far as the history of oyster stuffing/dressing, here’s some references confirming New England roots, not that it was invented there. It’s an old British recipe as well.
https://food52.com/blog/14939-hey-what-are-these-oysters-doing-in-my-stuffing
https://whatscookingamerica.net/Seafood/OysterDressing.htm
Oyster beds were prolific on the eastern seaboard during the 18th and 19th century.
One of my girlfriends, Midwest born and bred, married a guy from Charleston, SC. Thanksgiving with his family always included rice instead of potatoes. She raised her family in Charleston using the rice tradition.
@patsmom and @gouf78, it depends on what kind of Southerner you are. My mother has Cajun ancestry and grew up in Mobile and New Orleans. We always had rice at T-day (and the rest of the year, too.) When my mother attempted mashed potatoes, a dish she despised, they were the gluey kind from a box and were vile. To this day, I don’t love potatoes, but when I make them, they are delicious. I use garlic, butter, milk, creme fraiche and lots and lots of salt and pepper. That’s the only way I can eat them.
I don’t like turkey, but will make it when we have guests. However, I adore old-fashioned dressing (baked in a Pyrex dish) and wouldn’t ever have a T-day without it. I also love cranberry sauce, both homemade (cranberries simmered with brown sugar and orange rind until they pop–super easy) and the canned stuff. I also make my grandmother’s infamous rolls, which single-handedly cause heart disease.
I hate that green bean casserole, and don’t put marshmallows on my sweet potatoes!
I grew up in the midwest and we didn’t have mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving either! Honestly, I was one of five kids and my mom did all the cooking and I think she just didn’t have it in her to mash that many potatoes.
And the word “moistmaker” is causing me pain.
There are delicious oysters along the Chesapeake area, and south through the Carolinas.
@Massmomm-- “I also make my grandmother’s infamous rolls, which single-handedly cause heart disease.”
I’d love that recipe! But I do tend to back off the “heart attack” recipes.
I have some really OLD recipe books that are SO good. More than good.
The only rice on southern MIL’s radar was Minute Rice. We vetoed that as often as we could.
@4kids4us , rice and gravy is most definitely a thing in some parts of the south. (see my post #88).
^^^It’s not the mashing for me, it’s the PEELING! My 85 year old mom is still asked to do the mashed potatoes to take to my SIL’s for Thanksgiving.
I’m making mashed potatoes my way tonight - using thinner skinned potatoes and leaving the skin on - then just adding butter, salt and milk and using a potato masher to SMASH them. Smashed potatoes.
One of my girlfriends, Midwest born and bred, married a guy from Charleston, SC. Thanksgiving with his family always included rice instead of potatoes. She raised her family in Charleston using the rice tradition.>>>>>>>>
They grew rice in the Low Country back when. Plantations full. Cash crop. Probably where that tradition came from.
Waldorf salad is the one dish that my H has to have for Thanksgiving. My mil always made it and H and his siblings love it. My kids like it as do our Tday regulars—son-in-law’s parents, friends of younger D whose families live on the West Coast (we are in MA). It’s not my favorite—mayonnaise, fruit, and nuts don’t do much for me.
Raised in Ga and live there now -and I see lots of mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving. Southern covers a lot of ground.
@Massmomm That sounds intriguing! And chance of a recipe?