BREAKING NEWS: Experts Predict Record-High Thanksgiving Traffic

This traffic forecast seems to be as traditional as the holiday itself. Each year, we’re greeted with warnings of overcrowded airports, jam-packed roadways, and weather reports promising wind, rain, and snow to test even the most patient traveler. If you pause to think about it, you might wonder—why is every year expected to be the “worst ever”?

Most of us will hit the road or skies this holiday. Maybe it’s a car trip to grandmother’s house for a family feast, a train ride to New York City for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, or even a jog in a local turkey trot. Others may venture further afield. Whatever the destination, planning is key—yet another Thanksgiving ritual we embrace each year.

For those who love traditions, I’d like to highlight two iconic Thanksgiving landmarks in Massachusetts. This former English colony is home to two of our nation’s most cherished Turkey Day rituals. While I can’t predict the travel time for the 169-mile journey between these sites, Google Maps tells us that with light traffic, it’s about two hours and 45 minutes.

First, we visit Plymouth, where Thanksgiving as we know it all began. Fact, fiction, or somewhere in between, the “First Thanksgiving” of 1621 saw Pilgrims giving thanks to God for a bountiful harvest after a year of hardship. Reportedly, they invited 90 Wampanoag neighbors to share a meal featuring venison, wildfowl, seafood, corn, beans, squash, nuts, fruits, roots, and herbs. Thus began the feast we replicate today.

After dessert—and maybe loosening a belt notch or two— we head west to Great Barrington. There, at 4 Van Deusenville Road, stands a white church built in 1829. Once James Chapel, it became Trinity Church in 1866. In 1963, Ray and Alice Brock purchased it and turned the bell tower into their home. Two years later, on Thanksgiving, they hosted friends, sparking a tradition immortalized by Arlo Guthrie in Alice’s Restaurant. Every year, his 18-minute-34-second song retells the tale of that day. Listen carefully—you might hear it today and smile.

Finally, another tradition begins this Sunday, December 1: the Season of Advent. Join us at St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, 36 East John Street, Lindenhurst, at 9:30 AM. The First Sunday of Advent begins the waiting season toward the celebration of the Nativity of Our Lord. Travel on local roads is expected to be light.

Blessings,

Pastor Marc