Chicken

History

In 1852 a Captain Gates sailed into the harbor at Mystic, Connecticut, after crossing the Atlantic from Italy. His cargo included Leghorn chickens, a breed named neither for its legs or for horns. In fact, Gates had sailed from the port of Livorno and the west coast of Northern Italy, in the region of Tuscany. The English name for Livorno is Leghorn, which provides the namesake for this popular breed of layers. The first shipment were brown Leghorns, with a shipment of white chickens arriving the very next year to Boston harbor. And with that, a mid-sized chicken that would eventually spread coast to coast began its journey into American history.