Step back in time with a traditional Thanksgiving at a living history village, where your family can experience the holiday in a historic setting. Few places are more authentic than Plymouth Patuxet Museums, site of the first Thanksgiving, when Indigenous and European cultures merged to give thanks for a bountiful harvest.
Three different Thanksgiving dinner experiences are offered during the holiday weekend at Patuxet/Plymouth. The Story of Thanksgiving Dinner is a traditional plated holiday dinner with a program exploring the history and meaning of the day.
The New England Harvest Feast menu draws from local food traditions, accompanied by an atmospheric dinner-theater experience where costumed performers bring the past to life through music and storytelling.
Thanksgiving Day Homestyle Buffet is a classic turkey dinner with all the fixings, served buffet-style. Each of these dining experiences includes two days of admission to the museum. The various dinners are scheduled Wednesday–Friday of Thanksgiving weekend.
Visitors at Colonial Williamsburg will find the historic area already decorated in greens and holiday finery. Choose from Thanksgiving dinner at one of the three historic taverns or the Grand Buffet in the Regency Room of Williamsburg Inn.
Historic taverns in the restored area are original to the village; George Washington frequented Christiana Campbell’s Tavern, while the 1772 King’s Arms Tavern offers an immersive colonial dining experience with staff in period attire and an atmosphere of 18th-century elegance. Shields Tavern serves a family-style Thanksgiving dinner.
Thanksgiving week is full of festive events for the whole family, so plan to spend time strolling the village to see traditional decorations. Wherever you choose to dine, time it so your family can enjoy the Grand Illumination Fireworks.
Although you can’t have Thanksgiving dinner at nearby Jamestown Settlement, at the restoration’s Food & Feasts of Colonial Virginia event, you’ll get a glimpse into Thanksgiving’s earliest traditions. On Friday and Saturday, Nov. 27 and 28, you’ll find demonstrations of foods and cooking techniques of the 17th and 18th centuries.
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