Into the Nineteenth Century

Thanksgiving spread from Massachusetts to other northern colonies as Puritans and their descendants moved west.

By the nineteenth century the holiday was recognizable, with sermons or speeches in the morning (including abolitionist themes by mid-century) and a family dinner often featuring turkey and cranberry sauce. (With sugar more easily accessible the tart cranberry was tamed.) In 1621 there were no mashed potatoes or apple pies. Those foods had not been introduced in Massachusetts. Probably there were native pumpkin dishes (and, yes, cranberries.) Two hundred years later apple and pumpkin pie were thanksgiving staples.