A Victorian Thanksgiving with "all the trimmings"

BLOOMINGTON - "The Blessings of the Table: Thanksgiving at Clover Lawn," a recreation of the festive Thanksgiving celebrations of the 1870s, will be featured November 1 - 18 at the David Davis Mansion State Historic Site in Bloomington.

The Mansion will be decorated for Thanksgiving, and each day the bountiful foods, family celebrations and charitable customs of the period will be featured. From her birthplace in Massachusetts, Sarah Davis brought to Illinois the New England fondness for celebrating Thanksgiving. To observe the holiday, she invited friends and family to her elegant home in Bloomington, where she served a traditional feast of turkey, pumpkin pie, and "all the trimmings."

In addition to the Mansion's collection of antique china and rare silver, visitors will see the large variety of delicious foods that were typical of a Thanksgiving celebration in the Victorian age. Thanksgiving was the time of year when the dining room was as magnificently decorated for the holidays as the parlor. Visitors will feel as if they are immersed in a nineteenth-century feast for all the senses, as the guide describes the tastes and aromas of Sarah's favorite Thanksgiving foods, which formed the traditional cuisine of colonial New England.

Tours are free and open to the public, and are offered Wednesday through Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The site will be closed on Mondays and Tuesdays including November 12 for Veterans' Day. "The Blessings of the Table" is co-sponsored by the David Davis Mansion Foundation and the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, which administers the David Davis Mansion.

The David Davis Mansion State Historic Site, built in the 1870s for U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Davis and his wife, Sarah, is located at 1000 E. Monroe in Bloomington. A donation of $2 for adults and $1 for children is suggested to keep the Davis Mansion and other Illinois historic sites open to the public.