Foretelling Weather: The Ol’ Goose Bone Method

Can you really predict weather with a wishbone? Back around the turn of the last century, in the days before the National Weather Service, the so-called goose bone method was a famous weather-forecasting technique. Here’s how to try it at home. Of course, many of us have broken the dried “wishbone” with another person. The

Thanksgiving 2023 – History of Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday in the United States, and Thanksgiving 2023 occurs on Thursday, November 23. In 1621, the Plymouth colonists from England and the Native American Wampanoag people shared an autumn harvest feast that is acknowledged as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. For more than two centuries, days

History Matters: Strange and true Thanksgiving tales from the Seacoast

New Hampshire’s first Thanksgiving days were no fun at all. Our God-fearing forebears, for the record, defined “giving thanks” as an act of faith, not feasting. Rather than stuffing themselves with turkey and pie, local colonists prayed and fasted. In 1681, New Hampshire’s first royal governor, John Cutt, lay dying at his Portsmouth home. Suddenly

Thanksgiving night sky 2021: 3 planets and more shine in tonight’s sky!

Thanksgiving is often thought of as a time for family and friends to get together — but after the feast has been consumed, what’s next on the agenda? A time to reflect on one’s many blessings? Certainly. A visual feast of football enjoyed from an overstuffed recliner, long after the turkey and all its trimmings

What Did the Pilgrims Eat at the First Thanksgiving?

Have you ever wondered what the Pilgrims ate at the first Thanksgiving feast in the fall of 1621? We dig into how similar their menu was to the traditional American Thanksgiving meal. The Thanksgiving meal is remarkably consistent in its elements: the turkey, the stuffing, the sweet potatoes, the cranberry sauce. Barring ethical, health, or

Weather on the First Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving travel always makes weather a big concern, so I thought it might be fun to write about weather on the very first Thanksgiving for the Plymouth Pilgrims. Ironically, we know more about the weather than the date itself! We believe that first Thanksgiving feast held by the pilgrims of Plymouth colony in 1621 was

The Plymouth Vampire of 1807

Thanksgiving is fast approaching, and many people associate the holiday with Plymouth, Massachusetts. This is where the Pilgrims held a feast in 1621 that is sometimes said to be the “first Thanksgiving.” That may not really be the case, but it’s still a beloved American myth that is remembered every year around this time. But

Chris Newell pens children’s book about the ‘Plimoth Thanksgiving,’ from the Native perspective

By his own admission, Chris Newell is not a writer. The former director of the Abbe Museum wrote a book, so he’s a published author. But the process of writing “If You Lived During the Plimoth Thanksgiving,” published last week by Scholastic Press and geared toward kids in first to fourth grades – but appropriate

Why do we eat turkey on Thanksgiving? The history of the holiday tradition

It’s November and you’re probably craving turkey. The fowl has long been the centerpiece of the traditional American Thanksgiving meal, but contrary to tradition, turkey may not have been part of the 1621 feast at Plymouth Colony. Descriptions of the three-day feast shared by the Pilgrims and Native Americans from the local Wampanoag tribe include

Thanksgiving 2020 – Tradition, Origins and Meaning

Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday in the United States, and Thanksgiving 2020 occurs on Thursday, November 26. In 1621, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Native Americans shared an autumn harvest feast that is acknowledged today as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. For more than two centuries, days of thanksgiving were