I remember as a kid wondering what it might have been like to celebrate Thanksgiving in the way past, like in the 1800s, the 1700s, and even in the 1600s with the Pilgrims themselves. I'd watch whatever movies they'd show on TV, which were not shown very often, and loved when on Season 4, Episode 12 of Bewitched, Aunt Clara accidentally teleports the Stephens family and their neighbor, Gladys Kravitz, to the first Thanksgiving in 1621 Plymouth. I loved it!
My mom and dad inadvertantly helped me to imagine, at the very least, a minimal experience of Thanksgivings past to some extent by having a roaring fire in the fireplace, though the meal was cooked on our modern gas stove, and candles burning on the dining table, though it was the electric lights that mainly lit the room. Still...that affected me in such a positive somewhat historical manner. And still does to this day.
So here we are, in 2025, and I'm that Beatles' age of 64 ("will you still need me, will you still feed me"), and now I can live out my childhood dream by utilizing period clothing and a historic cabin to make that dream come true. I'm also building memories for my grandson.
I gotta tell ya, it absolutely looked and felt 18th century when we celebrated our 1775 Thanksgiving Fall Harvest. It also helps to leave modern political and social issues alone. Otherwise it just becomes a modern gathering in funny clothes.
When one is with the best of the best living historians in a colonial atmosphere, it can be pure magic.
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Of the names Autumn and Fall, both are commonly used, though Autumn is thought to be slightly older, appearing in the 1300s, with the word Fall first appearing around the 1500s in reference to leaves falling off trees.
However - - - - -
an even earlier name for this season is Harvest. Harvest comes from the Old English word hærfest, of Germanic origin, with an underlying, ancient etymology meaning of “plucking and gathering” (as in picking fruits to store for the coming winter). Imagine a conversation: "It was harvest last that I saw her" rather than "I saw her last fall." To pinpoint a time, we may even have said, "It has been since apple harvest that I last saw her."
Now that makes sense!
Perhaps we should change the name back to Harvest rather than Autumn or Fall, for we do tend to pick apples and pumpkins and other fruits & vegetables (plus enjoying our own Thanksgiving feasts), generally eating a whole lot more this time of year, finding ourselves perhaps a bit more porky!
I don't know...because of my own research and living history practices & experiences, I think of the word “Autumn” as equal to "Harvest" time, which actually begins in August, starting with Lammas Day on August 1st, then September and October, with the harvesting of even more fruits and vegetables. But beginning with November, I call it “Fall” for the falling leaves. So, I suppose, I am incorporating all three…
Still...
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| Here we have our group shot~ Yes, my grandson, Ben, joined us once again. This time we borrowed 18th century clothing for him to wear. |
Ever since we began to utilize this cabin in such a manner as we have for over five years now (33 times as of the date of this posting!), we have celebrated the various seasons and holidays in each. Thanksgiving included.
Fall harvest festivals had been celebrated mainly in New England on different dates in different states or colonies. But Sarah Josepha Hale, author of the nursery rhyme 'Mary Had a Little Lamb,' urged President Lincoln to make Thanksgiving a national holiday, perhaps to help bring our Union together during this tumultuous time of the Civil War. In her letter she convinced Lincoln to support legislation establishing a day of Thanks as a national holiday, which he proclaimed on October 3, 1863: "I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.”
Early on, however, President Washington, in the middle of the Revolutionary War, also gave a Thanksgiving Proclamation (here it is in part): “In Congress November 1, 1777
The committee appointed to prepare a recommendation to the several states, to set apart a day of public Thanksgiving…recommended to the legislative or executive powers of these United States, to set apart Thursday, the 18th day of December next, for solemn thanksgiving and praise…”
But this proclamation was not for an annual Federal-type holiday like Abraham Lincoln’s.
So with the harvest in, the end of November was, for many farmers, a special season of celebration and feasting.
That is exactly what we did! And it was absolutely wonderful!
By the way, for those who lived during that time, the holiday had much more preparation than the modern last-minute-run-to-the-grocery-store-to-get-everything-you-need-for-Thanksgiving-dinner that is so common today.
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| No going to Colonial Kroger... |
We all contributed to the meal in some form or another.
My contribution was making homemade cider.
Calling this drink "apple cider" may be a bit redundant, for back in the 18th century, if you said "cider," everyone knew it was cider made from apples. If it was "perry," it was made from pears, and if it was "wine," it was made out of grapes. That was the general consensus in those old days.
Having never winnowed before, we were all surprised how well the process worked, even with a very light breeze.
After winnowing came the final step in flour making:
using the quern (or tabletop grinding wheel mill) to grind the wheat berries into flour.
Calling this drink "apple cider" may be a bit redundant, for back in the 18th century, if you said "cider," everyone knew it was cider made from apples. If it was "perry," it was made from pears, and if it was "wine," it was made out of grapes. That was the general consensus in those old days.
The following piece on cider is from the book Vinetum Britannicum - Or, a treatise of cider and other wines and drinks extracted from fruits growing in the kingdom. To which is added: A discourse teaching the best way of improving bees.
The original edition was published in England in 1678.
"One great impediment in the improvement of this most excellent drink, hath been the want of a convenient way of grinding or bruising the fruit. It having been the usage or custome in most places where but small quantities of this Liquor* has been made, for the Operators to beat their fruit in a Trough of Wood or Stone, with Beaters like unto Wooden Pestles, with long handles. By which means three or four Servants or Labourers might in a days time beat twenty or thirty Bushels of Apples: yet by this means are made very great quantities of Cider..."
*(In the 17th century, the word liquor was used to describe any drinkable liquid, including water. However, as time rolled into the 18th century, the term was also frequently used to refer specifically to intoxicating beverages, particularly strong, distilled spirits.)
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| " ...for the Operators to beat their fruit in a Trough of Wood or Stone, with Beaters like unto Wooden Pestles, with long handles~"
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| Making some of the most delicious apple cider...from scratch! Here you can see the mash in the wooden tub, and the cudgel with remnants left on the edge. There's also the flat plunger, which presses the apples by way of the screw - the tall metal piece sticking out of the top of the frame with the wooden handle on top. On the left we have the cylindrical basket, made of wooden staves held together by metal hoops, which is filled with the mashed apple pulp. |
Every private visit we do at the cabin seems to be a teaching lesson - sometimes it's a big lesson, while other times it's small. But smaller doesn't mean insignificant - it's still learning by doing, and most times it is a success at that! For instance, as I spent half of the day out on the porch making cider, Larissa shared how she better understood that those from the 18th century considered the outdoors - the land they owned - as part of their home...part of their work space. Unless there was inclement weather, the agricultural laborer oftentimes spent more time outdoors than inside.
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| Ben "earning his keep" lol. Cute story here: As Ben was chopping the apples in halves, he became bored and tired of the chore and wanted to make himself a cup of tea (what??? tea?!?). I told him that his job was to cut up the apples, and if his job wasn't done, that would mean extra work for me. Or it meant there would be no cider to drink. So...he completed his chore, just as a young lad would have done back in 1775, then, yes, he warmed water on the hearth for tea. |
One of our unspoken rules while here emulating life in the 18th century at the cabin is, except for special occasions, everyone who participates must "earn his or her keep" - - you want to eat? You must help out. Perhaps by preparing and cooking the food.
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| We borrowed Ben's outfit but we cannot find shoes to fit him. If he continues in this venture, he just may find himself the proud owner of colonial clothing from head to feet! |
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| His 11th birthday was only about six weeks earlier, and for a gift we bought him a hand ax. He helps his father cut kindling for their own backyard bonfires. Now he's using that ax to cut apples...gently as to not scar the wood porch. |
Since first utilizing the cabin in the way we do, we have chopped down a tree, made candles, processed flax, spun on a spinning wheel, worked in the garden, processed wheat, worked the shaving horse, did spring cleaning, said prayers...there are a variety of period chores and acrivities we've done over the years since we've been at the cabin.
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| Ben even took a turn at the cider press. He did great, as you can see here (with a bit of help from Larissa), as the squeezed mash drains into the collection trough, placed below the basket to catch and collect the pressed cider as it drains. Through my photo program, I "magically" darkened Ben's shoes here. |
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| My turn to press~ Larissa was a great help to me in holding the cider press in place as apples were squeezed into cider. |
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| My grandson also took the leftover squeezed pomace out to be dumped into the kitchen garden. If the deer and critters don't eat the treat, it will surely help the ground for next year's growing season. |
I find it interesting that in this same cider book I quoted earlier the author writes:
"But nowhere the Fruit increased, that this way became too tedious for the Ciderist, the Horse-Mill was and is still much in use, Grinding for the whole Parish: That is, by placing a large Circular Stone on edge in a round Trough, made also of Stone, in which the Fruit is put, and Ground by the single upright Stone moved round by a Horse, as the Tanners Grind their Bark; in which Mill may be Ground sometimes three or four Hogsheads a day; and some are so large, that they Grind half a Hogshead at a Grist."
The following photo shows wheat being ground into flour, but this also shows very well the description above ftom 1678. I wrote more of a description below with the photo.
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A Fontanini miniature...a donkey working at the grain mill. Though it could be fruit such as apples or pears, this does a wonderful job showing in small-scale early grinding of cereal/wheat grain into flour from around the time of Jesus. And we see one farmer, on the left, holding a sickle, and another, on the right, with his scythe. And there in the center we can see a large Circular Stone on edge in a round Trough, made also of Stone, in which the (wheat grain) is put, and Ground by the single upright Stone moved round by a (donkey). It really is a great depiction of harvest time and milling of long long ago. That's why I like Fontanini miniatures so much! |
Now, we did not use a horse or a donkey or an actual trough. However----going back to the beginning of harvest time for us:
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| Back in late July, my friend Theresa harvested wheat. And, yes, she did it in period clothing! Living historians~~~ |
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| Throughout the months of August, September, and mid-October, while at the cabin, we threshed the wheat berries (grain), which separates the edible grain kernels from the wheat stalks and husks. This is a pretty physical job, but here you see my (at the time) ten year old grandson, Ben, and I working together to do this task this past September. |
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| Later September Ben winnowing. |
Winnowing separates wheat grain from chaff and other lightweight debris using air currents, making the grain clean and ready for milling or storage.
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| My wife Patty winnowing...still in September. |
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| My turn to winnow. It's a family affair, you know. |
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| In October I went back to threashing the wheat, only this time my friend Tonya winnowed. Tonya was amazed at how slow and long a process winnowing was. |
using the quern (or tabletop grinding wheel mill) to grind the wheat berries into flour.
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| This was taken in September...we did the whole wheat process over the course of two months. Sometimes we did it for ourselves during private excursions, while another time we did it to show the visiting public, as we did during Pioneer Day. Ben very much enjoyed using his muscles to grind flour. He is an "old hand" at bread making. |
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| In mid-October I made more flour. This was during Pioneer Day. In the bowl on the right side of this photo you can see the wheat berries/grain before grinding, while in the bowl on the left we have the ground flour. You can also see some ground flour there in front of the wheel on the towel |
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| A better look at the table flour mill/quern. I re-grind the wheat to make it finer and less gritty. Either way, it's all natural. |
All from hand-harvested wheat---thank you again Theresa~~~
So, now that we have flour, guess what's next?
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| Into the bowl it goes for mixing. We don't have quite enough for bread making, but there's an alternate idea in Larissa's mind... |
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| ...Let's make fritters! Ben and Larissa worked together to mix the dough. Larissa has two sons: one in high school and the other close to Ben's age. She's considering bring the younger one out during one of our future time-travel excursions. |
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| For folks who lived during the 1770s, this was a daily grind. For us it was another high point in living history. I'm sure they would think us off our rockers~ |
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| Larissa was chopping up squash. |
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| I enjoyed how Ben was able to prepare and cook food on the hearth. Now he has cooked on a gas stove, over a bonfire, and on the open hearth - that's a lot to achieve for an eleven year old here in 2025! |
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| If you look in the center of the photo you can see the flat fritters made from our dough cooking on the spider pan. I also see squash...and there is chicken in the tin kitchen/reflector oven. |
I'm very proud of my grandson in his taking to "the old ways." He absolutely loved it and continuously asked me, "Papa, when can we go back to the cabin?"
On this Thanksgiving/Harvest celebration, he asked if I could actually buy the cabin. I told him that it was a historic building, nearly 200 years old, and that it was on a historic site to be enjoyed and to teach the public - thousands of people - about history.
Ben replied with, "But still, it would be cool to own it."
lol
I then told him we can use it almost as often as we'd like.
He accepted that.
I think what I'm most proud of is that we made cider AND flour from scratch.
From scratch!
Living history~~~~~
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| It's not a very large hearth, so sometimes the food being cooked will have to be switched out. And, yes, the legs on the spider are a bit too long, but it is what we have and, well, where else could we experience our reseach like we do? Since most everything was handmade or hand forged, it's not going to be perfect. I suppose that adds to the realism. Mmmm...carrots and a pumpkin pie...in 1775, pumpkin pie was called "pumpion pie" or "pompkin pie". The term "pumpion" was a common spelling and pronunciation for pumpkin at the time, though a US recipe from 1796 ("American Cookery" by Amelia Simmons) referred to it as "pompkin pie". |
I am always awe-struck at the ladies cooking such a meal on the hearth. They know how to gauge the heat and time without a timer nor a temperature-controlled dial. And the food is always so delicious. I love the idea that I've enjoyed hearth-cooked meals. Just another thing to remove from my "kick the" bucket list!
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| This is what it looked like from the back doorway of the cabin. We have Larissa coming up on the left, while looking toward the right side of the picture, we can see Charlotte checking out what's left in the garden. |
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| You can see we're past the autumn peek when it comes to fall colors. Such an autumnal look... |
Done making and preparing the flour...
Almost suppertime.
Or do I mean to say dinnertime?
Generally, breakfast was taken at around 7:00, when the members of the family, completely dressed, met around the dinner table, often after early morning chores; dinner, in many cases, was eaten at about noon or early in the afternoon and was the main (largest) meal of the day. Sometimes that time was delayed until 2:00 or so on Sundays and/or holidays. Plus there were church services on Sunday mornings.
Supper most often was at 5 or 6 o'clock and mostly consisted of dinner's leftovers.
This remained the times even into the 20th century. After the 2nd World War, with the invention of fast foods, frozen foods, and social actions, such as going out to restaurants to eat and car dating, the times to eat changed greatly. In fact, most likely due to the away from home working situations for the men, supper became the day's large meal while dinnertime became the usually smaller lunch.
In our modern times, suppertime and dinnertime mean the same for most, for both words pretty much intertwine. I did my own survey about a dozen years ago - nothing academic or scientific, mind you - but I learned that both words are very commonly used for the later afternoon or early evening meal. Think about it - you don't take a girl out to supper when on a date --- you take her out to dinner. You might bring her home to supper...or dinner.
Yowza---the English language!
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| Looks like the chicken that was cooking in the reflector oven (tin kitchen) is done! |
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| Hot food stand smoking on the board...this was a perfect fall feast for 1775~ |
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| Norm, our 18th century minister, gave us two Thanksgiving prayers from the 1700s. Norm is in a constant state of research of 18th century ministers and prayers. He mostly portrays Heinrich Melchior Muhlenberg (September 6, 1711 – October 7, 1787), a German-born Lutheran clergyman and missionary who immigrated to Pennsylvania. |
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| Storing our cider in a wooden barrel. |
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| I had to tip the barrel to get all of the cider. |
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We had quite a harvest meal of chicken, fritters, squash, cooked carrots, stuffing with apples, beets, and pumpkin pie (made from heirloom pumpkins grown in the kitchen garden), and, of course, cider to drink...everything was so good!
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I recall my wife and I visiting Greenfield Village and Crossroads Village decades ago and just soaking all of that history right up, as we still do today. Watching the presenters spin on a spinning wheel, cook in the hearth, process flax, make cider, utilize a shaving horse, harvest and process wheat, and dream of doing such chores ourselves...
So now look at us; along with the "cabin crew," we are doing all of these historical activities...and more!
Dreams can come true~~~
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| Thanksgiving November 1775 Who would have thought...? |
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| After our meal, a weather front made its way through our area, and we could feel the temperature dropping, so Norm sat by the fire. |
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| Normally we stay until darkness comes, but the temps lowered swiftly, so we did not remain there much past 3:00 in the afternoon. Norm especially is not fond of the cold. |
By the way, the very next day the cold front came through with a vengeance, and not only became cold and windy, but we got inches of snow dumped on us (the amounts varied by location). Luckily, we were all home in our modern homes by that time - the next day - but, yeah, what a difference a day can make. We actually lucked out, for had such a storm happened just a day earlier, we may not have been able to enjoy our celebration.
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| Here is our interior group shot~ Next year, God willing, we will stay later into the evening to enjoy the candle-lit cabin. But what a wonderful day this was. |
And there you have our Thanksgiving/Harvest celebration as may have been done in 1775.
It was a wonderful day, especially for me to have my grandson there.
Home, home again
I like to be here when I can
When I come home cold and tired
It's good to warm my bones beside the fire
Far away across the field
The tolling of the iron bell
Calls the faithful to their knees
To hear the softly spoken magic spell...
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| Charlotte snapped this shot without me realizing it - my favorite kind of picture. Because of how often we've been there, the cabin really does feel like home... I've been there one time in modern clothes (I foget now why) and I felt very off. |
It's pretty amazing how rooted in agriculture and in traditional ways, including the ties to God and His control of nature, that our nation's past has been - we have learned this and so much more when it comes to colonial pioneer living through our cabin living history experiences. But there is a strong reason behind that, and, no, it is not necessarily taught to any large extent in school history classes/subjects, for I have read about colonial living in my history books, and as important as it was in our nation's history, farming/agriculture is pretty much almost an afterthought ("By the way, Washington, Adams, etc, were farmers"). My eyes began to open much wider when I saw so many of these ancient farming techniques and activities live and in color- right before my eyes while visiting Greenfield Village over the past 40-plus years. And it's been since 2009 / 2010 that I have found myself actively taking part in such period activities and presentations, which eventually turned into all of this
This has been a wonderful experience for all involved, and I pray it continues...
And I say to myself what a wonderful world~~~
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| Just a few yards from the cabin---I love Autumn |
Until next time, see you in time.
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Many thanks must go to Larissa, Norm, and Charlotte for snapping wonderful photos. They are mixed in here among my own. Each of us were busy so we captured whatever images we could when we could.
And as for our friend Jackie - - please get better---you are SO missed!
As for my grandson Ben - he is being homeschooled...I believe he has been learning a good history lesson, don't you?
To learn more about the connection between harvest and Hallowe'en and Hallowe'en history, click HERE
For a colonial Thanksgiving, please click HERE
For a colonial Christmas, please click HERE (by the way, contrary to current popular belief, many colonists - much more than modern folks care to admit - did indeed celebrate Christmas)
For a colonial Christmas, please click HERE (by the way, contrary to current popular belief, many colonists - much more than modern folks care to admit - did indeed celebrate Christmas)
For information about colonial Autumns, please click HERE
For information about colonial Winters, please click HERE
For information about colonial Springs, please click HERE
For information about colonial Summers, please click HERE
For information about colonial Springs, please click HERE
For information about colonial Summers, please click HERE
For A Year on a Colonial Farm - season by season - click HERE
To learn more about American Apples, please click HERE
Are you interested in our previous colonial life cabin excursions? Look no further, for here is a complete list with links for all of our colonial cabin excursions, including our celebrations of holidays such as Candlemas, Rogation Sundays, and Lammas Day, Harvest meals/Thanksgiving, and even Christmas celebrations (remember - each year listed here we are representing 250 years earlier:
2020 = 1770
2021 = 1771
2022 = 1772
2023 = 1773
2024 = 1774
and now
2025 = 1775
~To read about our 2020 autumn excursion - our first time at the cabin - click HERE
~To read about our 2021 wintertime excursion at the cabin - click HERE
~To read about our 2021 springtime excursion at the cabin - click HERE~To read about our 2021 summertime excursion at the cabin - click HERE
~To read about our 2021 summer harvesting of the flax at the cabin - click HERE
~To read about our 2021 autumn excursion - click HERE
~To read about our 2022 winter excursion at the cabin - please click HERE
~To read about our 2022 spring excursion at the cabin - please click HERE
~To read about our 2022 summer excursion at the cabin - please click HERE
~To read about our 2022 autumn excursion at the cabin (Pioneer Day) - please click HERE
~To read about our 2023 winter excursion at the cabin (Candlemas) - please click HERE
~To read about our 2023 spring excursion at the cabin (Rogation Sunday) - please click HERE
~To read about our 2023 late spring at the cabin - click HERE
~To read about the 2023 early summer - please click HERE
~To read about the 2023 summer (Lammas Day) - please click HERE
~To read about the 2023 autumn Pioneer Day - please click HERE
~To read about our 2023 Thanksgiving harvest celebration - please click HERE
~To read about our 2024 Winter experience at the cabin - please click HERE
~To read about our 2024 spring excursion at the cabin - please click HERE
~To read about our 2024 late spring with just Patty & I - click HERE
~To read about our 2024 summer (Lammas Day) - please click HERE
~To read about our 2024 mid-and-late-summer - please click HERE
~To read about our 2024 mid-September - click HERE
~To read about our 2024 autumn Pioneer Day Celebration - please click HERE
~To read about our 2024 Thanksgiving Harvest - please click HERE
~To read about our 2024 Christmas at the Farm Cabin presentation - please click HERE
~To read about our 2025 winter & Candlemas Day - please click HERE
~To read about our 2025 spring/early May Rogation Sunday excursion - please click HERE
~To read about our 2025 Memorial Day/Late May visit, please click HERE
~To read about our 2025 (Lammas Day) Celebration, please click HERE
~To read about our 2025 September visit with my grandson experiencing living history, click HERE
~To read about our 2025 Pioneer Day experience, including processing wheat, please click HERE
Including today's post, that makes 33 days spent in the good old colony days!
Again, I simply cannot thank enough those special folk at the Waterloo Farm Museum for their allowance for us to have such experiences.
We are so honored. And grateful.
I am also honored to visit the past with my cabin cohorts of Patty (who just happens to be my wife), Larissa, Norm, Jackie, and Charlotte (and sometimes a few others here and there, including, of late, my own grandson!), for, without them, none of this would even happen.
Brian, Chad, Chrissy, Arlene...and others from Waterloo - past and present - my heartfelt thank you.
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