First Thanksgiving Article – Nov. 24, 1937

Vintage postcard of Mayflower II and Plymouth Rock 

Vintage postcard of Plymouth Rock

In honor of Thanksgiving tomorrow, here’s a pretty good article about the very first one. It appeared on the front page of the Lorain Journal and The Lorain Times Herald back on Wednesday, November 24, 1937. 

The article consists of what is now considered to be the accurate version of the first Thanksgiving celebration – but without the modern nonsense (usually pushed by the New York Times) that always seems to depict the Pilgrims in the worst light.

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America Looks Back to ‘First Thanksgivers’

Pilgrims 315 Years Ago Had Little, But Celebrated

Tomorrow, while the turkey is being cut and the stuffing being passed around at thousands of American dinner tables, the minds of the feasters will turn back to the first Thanksgiving, celebrated at Plymouth, Mass., 315 years ago.

The hardy band of Pilgrims which had landed on the rocky Massachusetts coast in search of the religious and civil freedom which were denied them in England, had battled nature’s cruel wilderness and had managed to harvest a meager crop from their little “clearing.” Yet the pioneers were so thankful for so little that they held the first Thanksgiving celebration.

Plymouth today is unlike any other town in America. It possesses a historic past, an unbroken tradition that goes back to the very beginning of English-speaking life on this continent.

Visitors to Plymouth find that the past is so alive there that they almost expect the Pilgrims to step out of one of the modern grocery or drug stores there and welcome them.

Down “the first street in America” at the waterfront of Plymouth lies Plymouth Rock, the mecca of millions, glorified as “America’s doorstep.”

The rock is an oval boulder, bearing the inscription, “1620.” The harbor close by looks out over sheltered Cape Cod Bay, which was picked by the Pilgrims as a place to end one of the most picturesque voyages in history and to begin a new era in social and political development.

Just back of the Rock is a small plateau, on the top of which are buried nearly half the members of the Mayflower colony during the first terrible winter after landing. At one time during those months, only Governor Brewster, Capt. Miles Standish and five others were well enough to care for the sick and bury the dead.

On the hill, no headstones marked the last resting place of the heroic 51 who died. The graves were leveled and grain planted over them that the loss of half the colony’s members might be kept from the savage Indians.

On the modern Leyden-st, the first families of America built their homes. The little street was then known as Great or Broad-st.

On each side, the Pilgrims built their first crude cabins. They erected their fort there and later built a watch tower, hedged with palisades and beacons.

Two copper cannon now overlook the street from the brow of Burial Hill, which stands above it. The cannon are British; dated 1550 and 1554 and are the only ones of their kind known to exist in the United States. They were taken from the decks of the Mayflower for use in the fort against the Indians.

Burial Hill is now one of the most famous shrines in the country, ranking with Arlington cemetery as a mecca for those who would worship Americans who died with honor.

During the summer before the first Thanksgiving, the supply of food brought from England was exhausted and there remained but one pint of corn in the whole settlement.

Five Kernels of Corn

Five kernels were given to each man, woman and child in the colony. For three or four months, none of them again tasted bread or corn. They were forced to live on shellfish, berries and acorns.

With great eagerness, the band watched their first harvest ripen. At length, with the grain cut and in, Governor Bradford sent four men out to kill fowl for the first Thanksgiving dinner. The four killed enough birds to last the colony for a week.

The first Thanksgiving was celebrated for three days, with King Massasoit and 90 other Indians being entertained during that time.

The first Thanksgiving was not intended, as many believe, as a day of religious worship. The colonists ‘relaxed’ after a summer and early fall of ceaseless work. The week of Thanksgiving was their first real playtime.

Running, jumping and climbing games were on the schedule. Everyone took part in these. Four women did all of the cooking for three days for 30 colonists whose hunger had been aroused by months of starvation. Besides, there were 90 Indians with healthy appetites.