First Thanksgiving feast re-created

LEHI – Step back in time to the first Thanksgiving and you won't find a slice of turkey or even a cranberry on the table.

Instead the 52 Pilgrims from the Mayflower and 90 Native Americans from Chief Massasoit's tribe dined on duck, oysters and goat's milk at that 1621 harvest fest.

Guests at Thanksgiving Point's "Eat Like a Pilgrim" event experienced a first Thanksgiving re-enactment Monday night. In a barn lined with cornstalks and fall leaves, guests ate off tin plates (sans utensils) next to pens with goats, sheep and cows. Traditional games, period crafts and a dinner show by historical actors portraying Pilgrims and Indians gave guests a peek into the 17th century festivities.

Celebrating a season that is largely forgotten, actors from the Colonial Heritage Foundation, Utah Civil War Association and the Boy Scouts of America Order of the Arrow heralded the November holiday.

"Things are getting too commercialized. We can take this back to our families and bring a true meaning to our holidays," said Steve Nelson, a Lehi resident portraying a Civil War soldier. "We can't go back in time, but we can see what they had to experience."

Civil War soldiers and an Abraham Lincoln actor were included in the event because Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863, the middle of the Civil War.

Provo residents David Early Perry and his wife, Frances, played Lincoln and his wife, Mary Todd.

"Thanksgiving is the foundation for America. It's the time of drawing families together, which is our real foundation," David Perry said between shaking the hands of an admiring girl who exclaimed: "Lincoln is my favorite president. "

Frances Perry patted the arm of a young girl, dressed head-to-toe in black and white Pilgrim attire.

"It's important to relive history and continue to appreciate it, and remember who you are and what ancestors got you here," she added.

Other actors portrayed the first governor of the Plymouth Colony, William Bradford, and Samoset, the Indian who first approached the Mayflower colonists and acted as an interpreter between the two groups.

After eating a bill of fare including roasted turkey, cheate bread and butter and corn pudding, guests sampled food from the first feast.

"It tastes like in between turkey and chicken," Jordan Shelton said after sharing quail with brother Logan. Added the 13-year-old Plain City resident: "If I had to eat this, I don't think I'd live through the winter."

Ariela Hansen, 14, and sister Tia Hansen, 8, Saratoga Springs residents, came with their parents and grandmother.

"It's really different not using forks, eating salad with our hands," Ariela said of the dinner. "Thanksgiving is important because it's important to give thanks."

e-mail: astowell@desnews.com