Did you know that in 1939 there were two Thanksgiving Days? That year there were five Thursdays in November, making the last one fall on November 30. This caused merchants to worry about diminished holiday sales because of the proximity to Christmas, and President Franklin Roosevelt, concerned about the continuing economic struggles of the Depression, responded by declaring an extra Thanksgiving Day on November 23.
Jack Howard (1875-1971), a noted outdoorsman and photographer, took advantage of the situation and spent the second Thanksgiving with a well known guide and storyteller in Grand Lake Stream, Maine, having the best Thanksgiving dinner ever. This is the story as he wrote it down.
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