The original settlers of New England didn't eat string bean casserole or sweet potatoes with marshmellows. They had other options. And it's really fun to put the history back into Thanksgiving dinner by making a menu from authentic local ingredients. It's no trouble at all either.
Taking cues from the land and seascape and the traditions of the Natives, you start with oysters or smoked salmon or, if you want to demonstrate the real reason America came into being--the abundance of salt and cod, serve salt cod, most easily as fritters. Salt cod remains a European and Caribbean delicacy sought after by gourmets so there are plenty of recipes for its preparation. Most involve that southern New World phenomenon, the potato.
Don't be afraid to bring on a mess of clams or lobsters because we know these were abundant and available when the settlers came.
The wild turkeys weren't the big breasted Butterballs stuffed into supermarkets today so stick to the heritage birds available from local farms. Or to be probably more authentic to the original, go for a roasted duck or roasted venison. It seems the Plymouth Pilgrims may have served turkey but it was in pieces cut into a traditional Indian stew of beans and hominy. So if you're going to serve turkey, why not stuff it with beans and hominy for a change?
My most popular Thanksgiving turkey by a landslide was the barbequed one, this in honor of our Southern cousins who love long slow saucy cooking. The night before cooking, you just slather the turkey inside and out, and under the breast skin with your favorite barbeque sauce and let it marinate overnight in the fridge. Then slip it into a 450º oven uncovered for 20-30 minutes so the sauce and skin start to crisp and brown. Slather on more sauce plus 1/2-1 cup chicken stock, reduce the heat to 350º and cook, basting from time to time until the turkey is almost falling apart. Nobody is going to complain your turkey was dry or tasteless, trust me.
Remember how many Eastern American towns have a Chestnut Street? Well, go ahead and get chestnuts. Roast them for stuffing or with the duck. Or roast them with slices of winter squash lightly brushed with butter and maple syrup. Winter squash would be the traditional local vegetable. Maybe roast it with cranberries, which gets these traditional fruits on the table in something other than sugary cranberry sauce that has no meaning.
If you're not serving your turkey with bean/hominy stuffing, or in a bean stew, think about cooking up a saucy pot of Southern style beans and greens instead of the alien sweet potato marshmallow casserole. Remember the triumvirate of Native American food was squash, corn and beans. You'll want to have them all on a historic table.
Think mushrooms. They're appropriately local.
And finally the dessert. Indian pudding of course. Any version will suggest history. My own personal favorite is a yummy maple syrup laced pudding baked with apples and raisins in a mold so you can turn it out and ice it like a cake with ginger flavored whipped cream. The recipe is in Veggiyana, the Dharma of Cooking, and like the barbequed turkey, it got itself a huge fan club.
All in all, your traditional Thanksgiving dinner doesn't have to be the same old, same old dull supermarket meal. Put history on the plates this year knowing it will not just be seasonal and local and all that jazz but meaningful and delicious.
In sum: oysters, smoked salmon, salt cod, lobsters, clams, heritage turkey or duck, venison, winter squash, cranberries, mushrooms, chestnuts, beans, some form of cornmeal, maple syrup, and Indian pudding which brings together the staples of the originally shipping trade that powered the original New England: cornmeal and molasses.
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