Thanksgiving, celebrated each year on the fourth Thursday of November, traces its origins to a three-day harvest feast held by the Pilgrims in Plymouth Colony in the fall of 1621.
That …
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Thanksgiving, celebrated each year on the fourth Thursday of November, traces its origins to a three-day harvest feast held by the Pilgrims in Plymouth Colony in the fall of 1621.
That gathering, regarded by many as the nation's first Thanksgiving, laid the foundation for a holiday centered on gratitude and shared meals.
The celebration became a national holiday on Oct. 3, 1863, when President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday of November as a national day of thanksgiving. Later, President Franklin Roosevelt moved the holiday to the fourth Thursday of the month to encourage earlier holiday shopping, noting that some Novembers have a fifth Thursday.
While the Pilgrims' feast featured foods of the harvest, the modern Thanksgiving table often showcases turkey, a staple that has shaped entire regions of the United States. In 2024, the top six turkey-producing states were forecasted to account for 67% of national production. Minnesota leads with 33.5 million birds, followed by North Carolina at 27.5 million, Arkansas at 25 million, Indiana at 20 million, Missouri at 15.5 million and Virginia at 15.4 million.
Several U.S. towns carry the names of Thanksgiving favorites. Four places are named after the holiday's main dish: Turkey Creek, Louisiana (population 402); Turkey, Texas (325); Turkey, North Carolina (214); and Turkey Creek, Arizona (457), according to the 2022 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Five communities are named Cranberry, including Cranberry Township in Butler County, Pennsylvania (34,516), and Cranberry Township in Venango County, Pennsylvania (6,242).
The nation's food infrastructure supports the holiday's large-scale celebrations. In 2022, there were approximately 63,000 supermarkets and grocery stores (excluding convenience stores), 2,800 baked goods shops and 3,900 fruit and vegetable markets across the United States.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau 2023 Population Estimates, 2022 County Business Patterns, Quickfacts, U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service.
