10/31/2026
Happy Halloween from Hickory Ridge History Museum!
Did you know that Colonial Americans did not celebrate Halloween? No jack-o'-lanterns, no trick or treating, no costumes. What they did have was pumpkins, and they took them very seriously.
The pumpkin, or "pompion" as it was called, was a crucial food source that helped early settlers survive the winter months. They stewed it, baked it, added it to soup, made it into pie, and even fermented it into an alcoholic beverage. Wasting one by carving a face into it and leaving it on the porch would have been absolutely unthinkable.
The jack-o'-lantern tradition actually came much later, brought to America by Irish immigrants in the 19th century who discovered that pumpkins were far better for carving than the gourds they had used back home.
So tonight as you admire your carved pumpkin on the porch, spare a thought for the early Appalachian settlers who would have had it in a pot on the hearth instead.
These photos are from one of our favorite memories on the museum grounds, our Haunted Horn event, captured beautifully by photographer Rob Moore. The cabins look a little different after dark, do they not?
From all of us at Hickory Ridge History Museum, have a safe and happy Halloween!
Pumpkin history sourced from "Some Pumpkins! Halloween and Pumpkins in Colonial America" by Mary Miley Theobald, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. colonialwilliamsburg.org
Photos by Rob Moore
