Over The River and Through the Wood - Thanksgiving in Nineteenth Century Islip

In the midst of our Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln declared that the last Thursday in November would be a national day of Thanksgiving. What was the impetus for this celebration?  That was the beginning of our present Thanksgiving Day?  What were the concerns of the day and issues faced by the people who lived on this Island?  Just how would it have been celebrated here on Long Island.  Learn of the preparations, dishes served and what a Thanksgiving dinner might have been like in the homes and inns of Suffolk’s South Shore.  What did the family do after the dinner?