The Hempsted Houses in New London will hold Thanksgiving fesitivies on Saturday.

Visitors can gather around the hearth fire as a hearth cooking expert prepares a harvest meal. They can try their hand at colonial meal-making techniques and learn about colonial foods. They can watch members of the Hempsted Youth Group make cider and join them to play historic games on the lawn. Light refreshments will be served.

The event is free and open to the public; it is sponsored by The Chester Kitchings Family Foundation.

The Hempsted Houses are located at 11 Hempsted St. and are open for tours May through October. For hours and more information, visit www.ctlandmarks.org and hempsted@ctlandmarks.org or call (860) 443-7949.

The 1678 Joshua Hempsted House is the oldest house in New London and is one of New England’s best-documented dwellings. Adjacent to that is a rare stone house built in 1759 by Nathaniel Hempsted. Both structures survived the 1781 burning of New London and stand today as testaments of 17th- and 18th-century daily life.