Bounty from the Bay: A Chesapeake Thanksgiving

By Hank S. Parker

Before you order the holiday turkey, consider a maritime option. And we don’t mean chicken of the sea.

Americans have celebrated Thanksgiving for over four centuries but it’s doubtful that the first Thanksgiving centered on turkey – or any feathered fare. The menu likely featured abundant seafood. 

Conventional wisdom holds that the Plymouth Pilgrims first celebrated Thanksgiving – in November 1621. Virginians beg to differ. They argue, with compelling evidence, that colonists observed the first Thanksgiving two years earlier at Berkeley Plantation on the James River in lower Chesapeake Bay – about 10 years after Captain John Smith first ventured into the Bay. The celebrants were the survivors of a harrowing two-and-a-half-month voyage from Bristol, England to Jamestown, aboard the 35-foot Margaret. On Dec. 4, 1619, they feted their arrival with leftover ship’s rations and local seafood. The ship’s captain, John Woodlief, proclaimed that the date should “be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of thanksgiving to almighty God.” 

So have Virginians settled the matter? Not necessarily. Florida recently jumped into the fray, claiming that in 1565 800 Spanish settlers christened the new colony of St. Augustine with a banquet shared with the Indigenous Timicuan Tribe.

Over time, Thanksgiving took root in America. George Washington first declared a national day of thanks, to mark the end of the Revolution. In 1863, President Lincoln officially proclaimed an annual Thanksgiving celebration. At some point, turkey, pumpkin pie, cranberries, and the like became the favored holiday food. But even raccoon meat – “toothsome” according to its proponent – was once championed as a menu item.

Regardless of the site, date, and cuisine of early New World Thanksgivings, the first celebrations were primarily religious observances. Still, the celebrants feasted – to the extent possible. At Plymouth, Jamestown, and St. Augustine, the principal fare was seafood, for the bounty of the sea was near at hand. According to Massachusetts colonist Edward Winslow, “Our bay is full of lobsters … and a variety of other fish … We have mussels … at our doors …” Though deer, fowl, locally grown vegetables, and indigenous fruits may have been served, fish and shellfish made up the main course.

This was also true in Jamestown. In the early 17^th century, Chesapeake Bay seafood included large sturgeon, a fish that has been around for 120 million years and whose colonial-era numbers were more “than could be devoured by dog or man” (according to Captain Smith). Oysters were even more plentiful; in Smith’s words, they “lay as thick as stones,” forming reefs that were a hazard to navigation. Back then, these were big mollusks – based on contemporary reports, they had to be cut in half before eating. Shells recovered from ancient Native American middens confirm their massive size. And humans have devoured oysters since the dawn of time – reportedly, even Neanderthals dined on them. So it’s likely that oysters featured prominently at the first Jamestown Thanksgiving. 

Populations of sturgeons and Chesapeake Bay oysters are now only a fraction of what they once were. Today’s oyster abundance is one percent of what it was even in 1900 – and the average size of oysters is much smaller. Pollution, siltation, diseases, and overharvesting have taken their toll. Nearly twenty million people now live on the Bay’s watershed. Despite the threats, oysters and sturgeon are now making a slow recovery. And oysters are still a Bay favorite, including at Eastern Shore oyster roasts and holiday meals.

So why not forgo the traditional turkey this holiday season and instead offer the bounty of the Bay? Your menu wouldn’t include sturgeon, but you could serve up oysters, steamed clams, soft-shell crabs, crab cakes, striped bass, and other mouthwatering seafood, washed down with local craft beers and wines from Bay-area vineyards. The more adventurous might enjoy a crab and oyster shooter tipple (see previous issue of Outlook by the Bay). 

One thing is certain: a banquet like this will stimulate your appetite and bring out a spirit of thanksgiving for the bounty and beauty of Chesapeake Bay.

Henry “Hank” Parker is a scientist and writer who previously lived in Annapolis but now lives in Vermont.