Bakers carry baskets of fresh bread on Duke of Gloucester Street in Colonial Williamsburg.

A NOTE TO OUR READERS:
"Colonial Thanksgiving" is from the November 2003 issue of Southern Living. Because prices, dates, and other specifics are subject to change, please check all information to make sure it's still current before making your travel plans.

Sunrise and fresh-baked bread warm up a cool, crisp day at Colonial Williamsburg. The alluring mix tempts the morning's first visitors to follow the costumed bakers to the Raleigh Tavern on Duke of Gloucester Street (shortened to "Dog" Street by locals). There you'll find baskets filled with goodness. You couldn't ask for a more appetizing start to celebrating Thanksgiving's bounty at Colonial Williamsburg.

Sobering current events at home and abroad renew and strengthen our ties with family, faith, fellowship, and national pride. Restore and rejuvenate those bonds by sitting down to lunch or dinner at one of the four dining taverns in the Historic Area.

All of them offer superb holiday fare, costumed servers, roving minstrels, authentic furnishings, and a pleasant atmosphere. Our favorite meal has to be the sumptuous offering for Thanksgiving dinner at King's Arms Tavern. Start with cream of Virginia peanut soup, so rich, flavorful, and filling that they could serve it as the main course. But then there would be no room for the roasted young turkey served with giblet gravy, cornbread dressing, Carolina candied yams, and cranberry chutney.

Dessert can't be any better than their warm mincemeat pie. But you might be talked into tasting their seven-layer chocolate cake. Last year, the restaurant added wines from French vineyards visited by Thomas Jefferson. Starting at $45 for the 1997 Villeneuve Châteauneuf-du-Pape, they're not inexpensive, but consider the company. This special Thanksgiving feast is rather pricey also ( $42.50adults, $19.95 ages 11 and under), but you'll get a meal and a memory that you'll savor.

above, right: A distinguished, convincing Thomas Jefferson leads visitors to the place where he will begin a lecture on current colonial events.