STURBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 3, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Thanksgiving in early New England was a special occasion, not so different -- in some ways -- from today's celebration. Other than the fact that the date could vary from year to year, according to gubernatorial proclamation -- the fourth Thursday in November designation was set much later . A 21st-century American might find many aspects of the holiday familiar and would certainly recognize most of what was on the table for dinner.
Thanksgiving Day visitors to Old Sturbridge Village, the outdoor living history museum in Sturbridge, Mass., can see an early 19th- century Thanksgiving menu prepared at the hearth and learn about the 19th-century roots of some of today's holiday traditions.
"Some of the foods we eat at Thanksgiving today -- roast turkey and mashed potatoes, certainly -- would likely have been found on the Thanksgiving table in early New England," said Debra L. Friedman, program coordinator for historic foodways at Old Sturbridge Village. "One of the reasons early New Englanders chose to serve them may have been that these particular dishes involved an extra investment of labor, a way of elevating the meal from the ordinary."
Preparing a roast turkey in the early 19th-century was quite labor- intensive, as several steps were involved -- dressing, plucking, singeing -- before the bird was even ready to be stuffed and cooked.
"The extra steps involved with preparing mashed potatoes -- pureed as they were with butter and cream rather than simply boiled as usual -- was probably considered a labor of love, driven by a desire to make the meal special," said Friedman.
Some differences in preparations for Thanksgiving Dinner in early New England were based on the fact that most people at the time still farmed, so root vegetables might come straight from the garden, or, if Thanksgiving fell after the first hard frost, straight out of the root cellar. Pumpkins and squashes might come out of storage from under beds, and braided onions and dried herbs might be untied from the eaves. If the family owned a cow -- and most had one or two, even if they weren't farmers by trade -- they might also be able to supply their own butter and cream for cooking. Families who didn't eat turkey at Thanksgiving would likely roast beef or mutton from a farm animal they had raised themselves. Turkeys were often purchased from a drover, someone driving a flock through town on the way to market in a larger town or city.
Beyond items produced on the farm for Thanksgiving meal preparation, there was a wide variety of food items -- some surprisingly exotic -- that early New Englanders could purchase from the local store: sugar and molasses from Cuba, rum from Jamaica, raisins from Spain or Turkey, nutmeg and mace from the Spice Islands, cloves from Ceylon or Zanzibar, allspice (then called "pimento" or "Jamaican pepper") from the West Indies, cinnamon from the East Indies, citrus from the Mediterranean, coffee from Java (now Indonesia), and tea from China.
Visitors to Old Sturbridge Village during the Thanksgiving Day Celebration (Thursday, November 27, 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.) can watch meal preparations at the hearth in some of the households and even see a "family" of interpreters demonstrate early New England table manners -- when the napkin was tucked under the chin, the knife was used to convey food to the mouth, and the fork was used to push food onto the knife--as they sit down to a re-created Thanksgiving Dinner. Other special events during the day are a re-created Thanksgiving Service in the Center Meetinghouse and an after-dinner shooting match.
The remainder of the holiday weekend will include a Shooting Match on Friday, November 28, and a re-created New England Wedding on Saturday, November 29. Daily demonstrations also include shoemaking, tinning, blacksmithing, spinning or weaving, printing, and pottery. Visitors may also visit the District School and learn why, for children of early New England, the day after Thanksgiving was the first day of school.
Old Sturbridge Village, in Sturbridge, Mass., is a re-created village where historically costumed staff demonstrate the daily life, work, and community celebrations of a rural New England town of the early 19th century. The museum covers over 200 acres with more than 40 exhibits including restored houses, gardens, meetinghouses, water- powered mills, a district school, a country store, a printing office, a working farm, and craft shops such as a blacksmith shop, a pottery, and a tin shop.
The largest outdoor living history museum in the Northeast, Old Sturbridge Village is located on Route 20, just off Exit 9 of the Mass Pike (I-90) or Exit 2 of Interstate 84. Open year round. Hours of operation in November and December are 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily, closed Christmas Day. Admission, which is good for a free return visit within 10 days, is $20 for adults, $18 for seniors 65 and up, and $10 for youths ages 6-15; children under 6 are admitted free of charge. Unless otherwise noted, all activities are included with admission. For more information, visit www.osv.org, or call 800-SEE- 1830 (TTY 508-347-5383).
A Thanksgiving Feast is served at the Tavern at Old Sturbridge Village at the museum's threshold and the Bullard Tavern within the museum village. Reservations are required and may be made by calling 508-347-0395.
Current OSV press releases are available online through the Press Room at www.osv.org. JPG images illustrating Thanksgiving and related events are available upon request.
September is Senior Month at Old Sturbridge Village! For details, click on http://www.osv.org/pages/seniormonth.php
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