Vintage photos of Thanksgiving in NJ – NJ.com

Greg Hatala/For NJ Advance Media

Vintage photos of Thanksgiving in N.J.

Historical accounts of the first Thanksgiving mention a meal of fowl, corn and venison. But, since that meal in 1621, many items have been added to the menu. The Cranberry Institute reports that Native Americans ate cranberries long before 1621, and by the mid-17th century New Englanders were also harvesting the berries, with references to “cranberry sauce” appearing regularly by 1700.

Cranberries officially became a part of the national Thanksgiving tradition in 1864, when Gen. Ulysses S. Grant ordered cranberries to be served to soldiers as part of their holiday meal.

Garden State farmers must be given a healthy helping of credit for satisfying America’s appetite for the fruit. According to pineypower.com, the land in the state’s southern communities was ideal for the bogs traditionally built in wetlands. By 1910, there were 12,000 producing acres in New Jersey, as many as any other state in the country.

Ocean Spray, one of the largest producers of cranberry products, operated a plant in Bordentown from 1943 through 2014; at its peak, it produced 32 million cases of cranberry juice each year. Juices and sauces make up the majority of cranberry products, with only five percent of annual production sold fresh to consumers.

Here’s a gallery of vintage photos Thanksgiving being celebrated in various ways in New Jersey. And if you have vintage photos you’d like to see in our slide shows, send them in an email to greghatalagalleries@gmail.com.

Courtesy of Alex Czopek

Hermann Schmidt carves the Thanksgiving turkey in Union in 1954 under the watchful eye of his wife, Martha. Also in the photo are, from left, Steve Piegelbeck, Freda Piegelbeck and Al Schmidt.

Star-Ledger archive photo

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis is seen with an unidentified rider at the Essex Hunt Club’s annual Thanksgiving Day Fox Hunt in Bedminster on Nov. 23, 1978.

Courtesy of Kathy Franzoi

Vineland High School is shown on the way to a 20-18 victory over Millville High School at Millville’s Wheaton Field in 1959. The annual Thanksgiving Day match up is the 12th-oldest high school rivalry in the country and, in terms of number of games played, the fourth-longest with  a total of 147 before this year.

Courtesy of Bobby Cole Photo Archives

This impressive float was part of a Thanksgiving Day parade down Broad Street in Newark in 1941.

Courtesy of Larison’s Turkey Farm

Patrons wait to enter Larison’s Turkey Farm Inn in Chester for Thanksgiving dinner in this photo from the 1960s. Family-style turkey dinners were served in a building dating back to 1800 until the farm closed in 2001.

Courtesy of the New Jersey Digital Highway

Soldiers at Fort Dix in New Jersey enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner in this undated, hand-tinted postcard photo.

Courtesy of Mike Boldt

The Boldt family sits down to Thanksgiving dinner in Union City in this photo from the 1950s.

Courtesy of Bob Bartosz

Thanksgiving Day came early at the Joyce Kilmer School in Cherry Hill; this photo was taken at lunch two days before the holiday in 1970.

Courtesy of the Passaic County Historical Society

An unidentified family sits down to Thanksgiving dinner in this photo taken in Little Falls in 1956.

Courtesy of oldphotoarchive.org

In the early 1900s, people headed to West Orange on Thanksgiving mornings to watch the annual hill-climb motor races. Here, William Vanderbilt speeds to the top of a hill in record-breaking time in 1903.

Courtesy of Jim Paxson

Two unidentified women prepare a turkey for Thanksgiving in this photo taken in Atlantic City in 1952.

Courtesy of the Monmouth County Historical Association

Thanksgiving being celebrated by members of 113th Company C Artillery at Fort Hancock in Sandy Hook in 1911.

Courtesy of Rick Davids

The Davids and Wolf families got together for Thanksgiving in November 1950 and posed for this photo in River Edge.

Courtesy of the Linwood Historical Society

Eight children show off their turkey costumes during a Thanksgiving program held in Linwood in 1938.

Courtesy of Veronica Mangine

This Thanksgiving Day Parade took place in Trenton in the 1950s.

Courtesy of Larry Ward

Thanksgiving dinner from the 1940s with an unidentified family in a home on Broad Street in Paulsboro.

Courtesy of the Burlington County Historical Society

In this November 1968 photo, students at the Jacques School in Edgewater Park prepare to record their Thanksgiving play for posterity as part of the school’s Technology for Children project.

Star-Ledger archive photo

Boonton High School’s majorettes posed for this photo before the school’s annual Thanksgiving Day game in 1960. Butler High School was Boonton’s longtime turkey day rival, but that series ended in 1965, with Pompton Lakes High School taking over the opponent’s spot from 1965 through 1980.

Courtesy of the Squan Village Historical Society

A night view of holiday decorations on Main Street in Manasquan from 1962. The lights traditionally were first lit during the annual Thanksgiving parade.

Courtesy of the Franklin Township Public Library

A community Thanksgiving meal at the Harvest Home in Middlebush is shown being prepared in this photo from the 1940s.

Courtesy of newspapers.com

From left, James Jagemann, Maureen Dower and Robert Faust participate in a Thanksgiving pageant presented by the Spotswood school system in 1960.

Courtesy of Margot Villanova

Thanksgiving at the Villanova house on Paulison Avenue in Clifton in 1967.

Courtesy of Vintage Bergen County

This unidentified well-dressed family posed for a photograph on Thanksgiving Day in Mahwah in 1903.

Greg Hatala/For NJ Advance Media