What Thanksgiving Looked Like 100 Years Ago — Through the Eyes of Sanborn Maps
As families across the country gather for Thanksgiving, it’s worth remembering that many of our great-grandparents were celebrating the holiday in towns that looked very different from today.
In fact — the streets, buildings, and businesses they walked past are captured in remarkable detail on Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, many drawn in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
These maps weren’t created for holidays, of course. They were tools for assessing fire risk. But today, they’ve become one of the most fascinating ways to imagine what life looked like during early American Thanksgivings.
🏘️ Your Hometown on Thanksgiving, 1885–1915
On a typical Sanborn map sheet from the era, you’ll find hints of Thanksgiving traditions that have lasted generations:
- General stores preparing for the holiday rush
- Bakeries delivering pies and bread for family feasts
- Butcher shops that would have sold turkeys, ducks, or game
- Churches marked in bold — many hosting Thanksgiving morning services
- Railroad depots, crowded with travelers heading home for the holiday
- Homes heated by coal stoves, smoke drifting into the autumn air
This was a time before freezers, before supermarkets — before highways.
Yet the spirit of Thanksgiving was just as strong.
And thanks to Sanborn maps, we can still see the exact streets and blocks where those early gatherings happened.
🕯️ A Thanksgiving Connection: Plymouth Rock on an 1896 Sanborn Map!
One of our favorite Thanksgiving-season discoveries is hidden inside the Sanborn map of Plymouth, Massachusetts (1896).
There, right along Water Street, you can see historic labels like Plymouth Rock, Pilgrims Wharf, Cole’s Hill, and a row of busy coastal wharves that once supported the town’s fishing and trade.
It’s incredible to view these landmarks — usually mentioned only in schoolbooks — drawn precisely on a working map used by surveyors and fire assessors over a century ago.
This sheet captures the real place where America’s Thanksgiving story began. A town preparing for winter, for community, and for traditions that would continue for generations. Seeing Plymouth laid out in this level of detail makes the holiday feel personal — like you’re looking at the same shoreline your ancestors would have known.
The more maps sheets you explore that more detail you find — from the blacksmith shops that shod the horses to the small corner grocery — all are recorded on these wonderful maps.
🗺️ How Sanborn Maps Let You Time-Travel to Your Hometown’s Past
What makes these maps special isn’t just their accuracy. It’s that they show the real places your ancestors walked past on Thanksgiving more than 100 years ago.
Every Sanborn map is a snapshot of:
- A living, breathing community
- Families preparing for holidays just like we do today
- Streets that carried generations home for dinner
With a single search, you can find the exact block where early Thanksgivings took place — in your town, your county, or your neighborhood.
🔍 Want to See Your Hometown as It Looked During Those Early Thanksgivings?
We’ve gathered over 150,000+ historic Sanborn Map reprints, searchable by:
⭐ State
⭐ County
⭐ City
⭐ Year
Find the sheet from your hometown and imagine the Thanksgiving your ancestors celebrated — not from a textbook, but from the actual map of the streets they walked.
👉 Search your hometown here: https://hometownhistorymaps.com/collections
This year we are thankful for our family, friends and customers!
From our family to yours —
Happy Thanksgiving!
May it be filled with history, stories, and the people you love.
- Hometown History Map Team