In this part of the country, the Lincoln Highway is known as Market Street, which is divided into east and west sections. This sign is just past the demarcation line for west, a few hundred feet from where the east part begins. Along this span of the Lincoln Highway, one would be challenged to find another part in America along this famous road hosts more historic markers and interpretives. The highway is choking with them.
In an empty lot between two contributing structures along the Lincoln Highway, is this beautiful historic marker. It is in wonderful condition and across from the old courthouse. The sign reads:
The First National Thanksgiving
Was Proclaimed from York by the Continental
Congress on November 1, 1777 to be Celebrated
On Thursday, December 18. It was Written By
Sam Adams of Massachusetts, "The Father Of
The Revolution," Who Advocated for the First
Time "One Day of Public Thanksgiving" For
All of the States After the Battle Of
Saratoga, "That with One Heart and One Voice"
The Good People May Express the Grateful
Feelings of Their Hearts."
By Various Historical and Patriotic Societies
And
The National Thanksgiving Foundation
Most American think of the Pilgrims, Indians, and Plymouth Rock when they think of the first Thanksgiving. But if one’s question is about the first national Thanksgiving holiday in the United States, the answer is that the tradition began at a lesser-known moment in our nation’s history in the fall of 1777 in York, Pennsylvania during one of the darker hours of the American Revolution.