Plate, Nahant Hotel.
A day of great sport at the tavern was when there was a turkey-shoot; these often took place on Thanksgiving Day. Notices such as this were frequently found in the autumnal newspapers:—
“SHARP-SHOOTING.
“Thos. D. Ponsland informs his Friends and the Friends of Sport that he will on Friday, 7th day of December next, set up for Shooting a number of
Fine Fat Turkeys
and invites all Gunners and others who would wish to recreate themselves to call on the day after Thanksgiving at the Old Bakers’ Tavern, Upp. Parish Beverly, where every accommodation would be afforded.”
In the Boston Evening Post of January 11, 1773, notice was given that “a Bear and Number of Turkeys” would be set up as a mark at the Punch Bowl Tavern in Brookline.
Captain Basil Hall, travelling in America in 1827, was much surprised at the account of one of these turkey-shoots, which he thus fully describes:—
“At a country inn bearing the English name of Andover, close to the Indian river Shawsheen, I observed the following printed bill stuck up in the bar.