The Original Thanksgiving

Concerned with losing their cultural identity the group later arranged with English investors to establish a new colony in North America.

This group of Pilgrims departed Southampton, England. The Mayflower had departed Southampton to rendezvous with the Speedwell and to pick up supplies and additional passengers. Among the passengers to join the group was many Pilgrims including William Brewster, who had been hiding for the better part of a year, and a group of passengers known to the congregation as “The Strangers”.

The departure of the Mayflower and Speedwell for America immediately encountered delays. Leaving Southampton, the Speedwell experienced significant leakage, which required the ships to immediately dock at Dartmouth. After repairs were completed and after waiting for favorable winds, the two ships sailed only two hundred miles before the Speedwell sprung another leak and returned to Plymouth.

Finally the Mayflower departed Plymouth, England on 16 September 1620 with 103 passengers and about 30 crew members in the small 100 foot long ship. The first month on the Atlantic was successful and the seas were calm, but by the second month the ship was being hit by strong north-Atlantic winter gales causing the ship to be badly beaten with water leaks from structural damage.

There were two deaths, but this was just a precursor of what happened after their Cape Cod arrival, when almost half the company would die in the first winter.

On 21 December 1620, the first landing party arrived at the site of what would become the settlement of Plymouth. Plans to immediately build houses, however, were delayed for a couple days by inclement weather. As the building progressed, twenty men always provided security while the rest of the work crews returned to the Mayflower each night. Women, children, and the infirm remained on the ship, many had not left the ship for six months.

During the winter, the Mayflower colonists suffered greatly from diseases like scurvy, lack of shelter and general conditions onboard ship. 45 of 102 immigrants died and were buried on Cole’s Hill. By the end of January the Pilgrims began unloading provisions from the Mayflower.

Eventually the colony, established in 1620, became the second successful English settlement (after the founding of Jamestown, Virginia in 1607) and later the oldest continuously inhabited English settlement in what was to become the United States of America. The Pilgrim’s story of seeking religious freedom has become a central theme of the history and culture of the United States.

On 16 March 1621, the first formal contact with Indians occurred. An Indian named Samoset, originally from Pemaquid Point in modern Main, walked boldly into the midst of the settlement and proclaimed “Welcome, Englishmen!” He had learned some English from English fishermen and trappers operating in the region.

Samoset returned to Plymouth on 22 March with a delegation of his people. After an exchange of gifts they established a formal treaty of peace. This treaty ensured that each people would not bring harm to the other, that Samoset would send tallies to make peaceful negotiations with Plymouth, and that they would come to each other’s aid in time of war.

On 5 April 1621, after being anchored for almost four months in Plymouth Harbor, the Mayflower set sail for England. Nearly half of the original 102 passengers had died during the first winter. By November only 53 pilgrims were alive to celebrate the harvest feast which modern America knows as “The First Thanksgiving.”

For most of us enjoying turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauces, and pumpkin for Thanksgiving is as traditional and American as, well, apple pie. But how did the Pilgrims really celebrate on what we now regard as the first Thanksgiving in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1621? Is our celebration – and traditional menu – truly akin to that enjoyed by the Pilgrims and their Wampanoag Indian guests?

In a word, no. “Most of today’s classic Thanksgiving dishes weren’t served in 1621” according to culinary historian Kathleen Curtin of Plimoth Plantation in Massachusetts. She has relied on period cookbooks and journals, Wampanaog Indian oral histories, paintings from the time, and archeological evidence.

The table was loaded with native fruits like plums, melons, grapes, and cranberries, plus local vegetables such as leeks, wild onions, beans, artichokes, and squash, cabbage, parsnips, onions, carrots, sage parsley, rosemary and thyme.

There was undoubtedly native birds and game was well as the Wampanoag gift of five deer. Fish and shell fish also were likely on the table.

There is no concrete way to know if they had any roast turkey that day, but we do know there was plenty of wild turkey in the region.

As for beverages to wash down the feast, Curtin says the Pilgrims drank just water. In their first year, the English colonist had grown a few acres of barley, so it is possible some beer or ale may have been brewed by the end of harvest time but given how long it takes to brew and ferment beer, it was probably not available for the first dinner.

While modern Thanksgiving meals involve a lot of planning and work, at least we have efficient ovens and kitchen utensils to make our lives easier, Curtin says the Pilgrims probably roasted and boiled their food.

“Pieces of venison and whole wildfowl were placed on spits and roasted above glowing coals, while other cooking took place on a hearth.”

Appetite whetted? You can replicate the first Thanksgiving by making the Seethed Mussels with parsley and vinegar, stewed turkey with herbs and onions, stewed pumpkin and sweet pudding of Indian corn, or take a trip to Plimoth Plantation in Massachusetts for special 1621 themed dinners.

There, you can feast on food of the time with residents of Pilgrim Village and give thanks that a few dozen English stragglers stuck it out in the wilds of the New World.

Word of advice is that whether you decide on Pilgrim Village or the warmth of your home and family, do it in moderation.

(Kay Martin is an author and a CityWatch contributor. His new book, Along for the Ride, is now available. He can be reached at [email protected])

-cw