New exhibit To Mark 400th Anniversary Of Thanksgiving In Plimoth Patuxet Museums

A Massachusetts museum dedicated to the English colony of Plymouth and local indigenous tribes is opening a new exhibit to mark the 400th anniversary of Thanksgiving.

The Plimoth Patuxet Museums said the exhibit entitled “We Gather Together: Thanksgiving, Gratitude, and the Making of an American Holiday” will open Sept. 25.

The exhibit will explore the relationship between the indigenous people and English colonists to “better understand the events that led to the First Thanksgiving,” said the museum, which features a replica colonial village and reenactors in Plymouth.

It will feature rarely seen artifacts from the museum’s collection, as well as art from across the centuries tracing how the New England tradition grew and emerged as a national holiday in the 19th century, the museum said.

“Patuxet/Plymouth is the place where ancient traditions of gratitude in both Indigenous and European cultures merged,” the museum said in a statement. “‘We Gather Together’ will explore the ancient and deeply human expression of gratitude that is the bedrock of this national holiday.”

The Pokanoket tribe and their sachem Massasoit shared in three days of feasting and entertainment with English colonists in the autumn of 1621, helping inspire the holiday of gathering and giving thanks, according to the museum.