Pine Tree Inn, Lakehurst, N.J.

Pine Tree Inn, Lakehurst, N.J., November 26, 1931

A Pilgrim, walking before an orange moon, carries a turkey home for Thansgiving dinner. A pumpkin is at his feet. The image, along with the strange font used at the top of the menu, make this menu very unique. The handwritten menu, on the other hand, features a very traditional meal: a local New Jersey turkey and all the standard fixings (cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and both mince and pumpkin pie).

Pine Tree Inn was a very popular winter resort at the turn of the century, during the heyday of the railroad. Several years after this menu, in 1937, the Hindenburg would crash as it tried to approach the Naval Air Base in Lakehurst and, unrelated, the Pine Tree Inn would be torn down.

From the Culinary Institute of America Menu Collection, Smiley Family Menu Collection, menu 27-190.