Bringing in the Sheaves

 Two New Bern photographs illustrate an old harvest tradition

Christ Episcopal Church, interior decorated for a harvest or thanksgiving festival, ca.1920-1930.

by John B. Green III

Since ancient times many cultures around the world have developed rituals to observe the turning of the seasons, the times of planting and reaping, and the storing away of the harvest to sustain the community until the time of planting would come again.  The Anglican Church tradition of the harvest festival was transported to the English colonies at an early date. The basic harvest festival was a religious service of thanksgiving for the bounty of the harvest in a church decorated with samples of the local crops. Following the service, the edible decorations along with other donated provisions would be distributed to the poor. 

Two photographs found in our collection illustrate the decoration of New Bern's Christ Episcopal Church for harvest or thanksgiving festivals in the early twentieth century.  A close examination of the offerings reveals sheaves of wheat, stalks of corn and cotton, potatoes, collards, apples, and many other items of local produce.

The Daily Journal (New Bern), Wednesday, 29 Nov 1905.

Christ Episcopal Church, interior decorated for a harvest or thanksgiving festival, ca.1900.

Let us give thanks (for dessert!)

by John B. Green III

With Thanksgiving nearly upon us, it goes without saying that all you folks out there have already secured turkey and ham and dressing and vegetables of all kinds and styles, as well as pickles and relishes and other appropriate delicacies for your family feast.  This does not concern us here at the Kellenberger Room.  What does concern us here is dessert.  Proper dessert.  Dessert for Thanksgiving.  What have you done about the dessert situation?  That's what we thought.

Fear not.  To the rescue comes a  fifty-five-year-old New Bern cookbook entitled From the Baron's Kitchen: Proven Recipes of Coastal Carolina.  Compiled about 1960 by the Mary Bryan Hollister Bible Class of First Presbyterian Church, it contains many excellent dishes by some of New Bern's best cooks.  

What follows are four proper desserts for the coming feast:  sweet potato pudding, pecan pie, pumpkin pie, and pound cake.  A word about the pound cake: this is a recipe for REAL pound cake, not the adulterated, fat-free, sugar-free, taste-free pound cake of these latter days.  Sugar and butter are called for in ONE POUND measures.  You only live once.

Thanksgiving recipes from 1896 New Bern

Advertisement from the Elm City Cook Book, 1896.

By John B. Green III

Church fundraising cookbooks are well known today, but they were a new thing in 1890s New Bern.  When the ladies of Centenary Methodist Church decided to raise money for the church, they turned to this new medium.  The resulting Elm City Cook Book was published in 1896 and quickly sold out.  A second, retitled edition, the Best by Test Cook Book was issued in 1908.  Although the recipes were not signed it was stated that they had been "selected from the manuscript collections of ladies of well known culinary skill."

What follows are recipes for a few favorite Thanksgiving dishes as presented in these two cookbooks.

Advertisement from the Best by Test Cook Book, 1908