Thanksgiving in New Jersey

What many regard as the nation’s first Thanksgiving took place in December 1621 as the religious separatist Pilgrims held a three-day feast to celebrate a bountiful harvest.

The day did not become a national holiday until 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday of November as a national day of thanksgiving.

President Franklin Roosevelt later declared that Thanksgiving Day always be celebrated on the fourth Thursday of the month, not on the occasional fifth, to encourage earlier holiday shopping

Thanksgiving in New Jersey is the most celebrated and most heavily traveled time of the year for family and friends to come together for a festive meal.

While the turkey is generally served as the main dish for a Thanksgiving dinner, goose and duck, foods which were traditional European centerpieces of Christmas dinners before being displaced by ham, are now sometimes served in place of the Thanksgiving turkey. On the West Coast of the United States, Dungeness crab is common as an alternate main dish, as crab season starts in early November. Sometimes a variant recipe for cooking turkey is used; for example, a Chinese recipe for goose could be used on the similarly-sized American bird. Vegetarians or vegans may try tofurkey, a tofu-based dish with imitation turkey flavor.

Interested in having a New Jersey organic
or farm raised Turkey this Thanksgiving?

Turkeys raised by industrial turkey farms are very different today than the turkeys found on the Thanksgiving Day table our grandparents and ancestors cooked. Today, the large majority of all turkeys raised in the U.S. are grown on commercial farms. Click here to find out more about the benefits of New Jersey farm raised turkeys and where you can purchase them.

Things to do to celebrate Thanksgiving in New Jersey

Sunday November 18 • 12pm – 3pm - Celebrate An 1836 Thanksgiving
Celebrate an authentic Thanksgiving Service at the Village Chapel, Christ Episcopal Church, where the Rite Reverend Thomas Tanser, Howell Works Company minister of 1836, will deliver his Harvest Sermon. Visitors are then invited to wander the streets of the Historic Village and enjoy the autumn foliage as they make their way to the home of the Howell Works Company See a traditional Thanksgiving Feast being prepared over the open hearth.  The delicious aroma of turkey, roasting in a tin reflector oven, fills the kitchen as period clad Historic Interpreters demonstrate the arts of 19th Century cooking while preparing such Thanksgiving favorites as apple and pumpkin pies, vegetable dishes, and an varied array of side dishes.  At The Historic Village at Allaire on Sunday November 18th from Noon to 3 pm. Allaire Village, 4265 Atlantic Ave, Farmingdale, NJ (732) 919-3500

November 22, 2007 - Flemington 15th Annual CEA/Johanna Foods Turkey Trot . - Thanksgiving Day Annual 5K Run or 2 mile walk, 6 color souvenir shirt, Awards, Food and Prizes. Benefits employment programs for disabled & disadvantaged individuals. 9:30am. Call for fee. The Center for Educational Advancement. 908/782-2911