2008 Woodie Awards
Clover Lawn hosts free Thanksgiving tour
Amy Gorczowski
Issue date: 11/12/07 Section: Features
Clover Lawn is hosting a tour demonstrating what a traditional Victorian Thanksgiving was like.
"It's a tour and they learn about what they ate and how they celebrated it," Marcia Young, site manager at the David Davis Mansion, said.
Young explained that Thanksgiving celebrations during the early years of the David Davis Mansion were not what is found today. "In the 19th century, Thanksgiving was not universally celebrated around us," Young said. "It was a holiday that Victorian women invented as a way of unifying the country."
The Thanksgiving tradition, as most know, began in the New England area. Sarah Davis, who would later reside in the Davis Mansion, was born and raised in New England.
"When people left New England to migrate to other areas of the United States, as Sarah Davis did, there was nobody here celebrating Thanksgiving," Young said.
Young credited Sarah Davis with bringing the tradition of Thanksgiving to the Bloomington area. Davis worried that her children would grow up in the Midwest not knowing about the Thanksgiving tradition. "She wrote her mother saying, 'What am I going to do? [My children] won't know anything,'" Young explained.
With the help of women like Davis, Thanksgiving became more widespread and celebrated. Another woman who is commonly credited with spreading Thanksgiving tradition was Sarah Josepha Hale, whom Young called the Martha Stewart of her day.
"She used her editorial magazine position to get people to celebrate Thanksgiving," Young said.
Young also explained that while Thanksgiving was widely accepted in the north, the southern states were skeptical at first. "Ministers in the north used Thanksgiving to preach against the evils of slavery," Young said. "Southerners in the war saw this as a northern Yankee holiday."
Besides a tour, visitors will learn about the traditional Thanksgiving meal. "The other thing that's fun is that it's the Victorians who invented the foods," Young said. "The Native Americans did not eat pumpkin pie, nor did they eat turkey nor cranberry sauce." Young said the Native Americans feasted on shellfish and wild game, and that it was the Victorian women who created most of the dishes enjoyed at Thanksgiving today.
More information is available at davismansion.org. While all tours are free, Young pointed out that donations of $1 or $2 are gratefully accepted.
"It's a tour and they learn about what they ate and how they celebrated it," Marcia Young, site manager at the David Davis Mansion, said.
Young explained that Thanksgiving celebrations during the early years of the David Davis Mansion were not what is found today. "In the 19th century, Thanksgiving was not universally celebrated around us," Young said. "It was a holiday that Victorian women invented as a way of unifying the country."
The Thanksgiving tradition, as most know, began in the New England area. Sarah Davis, who would later reside in the Davis Mansion, was born and raised in New England.
"When people left New England to migrate to other areas of the United States, as Sarah Davis did, there was nobody here celebrating Thanksgiving," Young said.
Young credited Sarah Davis with bringing the tradition of Thanksgiving to the Bloomington area. Davis worried that her children would grow up in the Midwest not knowing about the Thanksgiving tradition. "She wrote her mother saying, 'What am I going to do? [My children] won't know anything,'" Young explained.
With the help of women like Davis, Thanksgiving became more widespread and celebrated. Another woman who is commonly credited with spreading Thanksgiving tradition was Sarah Josepha Hale, whom Young called the Martha Stewart of her day.
"She used her editorial magazine position to get people to celebrate Thanksgiving," Young said.
Young also explained that while Thanksgiving was widely accepted in the north, the southern states were skeptical at first. "Ministers in the north used Thanksgiving to preach against the evils of slavery," Young said. "Southerners in the war saw this as a northern Yankee holiday."
Besides a tour, visitors will learn about the traditional Thanksgiving meal. "The other thing that's fun is that it's the Victorians who invented the foods," Young said. "The Native Americans did not eat pumpkin pie, nor did they eat turkey nor cranberry sauce." Young said the Native Americans feasted on shellfish and wild game, and that it was the Victorian women who created most of the dishes enjoyed at Thanksgiving today.
More information is available at davismansion.org. While all tours are free, Young pointed out that donations of $1 or $2 are gratefully accepted.
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