Each year at this time I try to remind everyone that the first American Thanksgiving was NOT in Puritan, fanatical, theocratic Plymouth, but in the Corporate, for-profit colony of Jamestown.
Well, maybe not right in Jamestown--but nearby. The first Thanksgiving was at Berkeley Plantation, on the James River, about 30 miles from Jamestown (and the same distance from where I was raised, along the same river).
From the Berkeley Plantation website:
"Berkeley plantation was first settled in 1619, just twelve years after Jamestown. Thirty-eight brave men from Berkeley Parish in England, sailed to Virginia to seek their fortunes. They came ashore at Berkeley December 4, 1619, and gave thanks to God for a safe journey. Their instructions were:
"Wee ordaine that the day of our ships arrivall at the place assigned for plantacon in the land of Virginia shall be yearly and perpetually keept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God."
So, help counter the anti-American, pro-Kennedyland propaganda: spread the word about the first permanent English settlement, Jamestown 1607, and the first official (or non-official) Thanksgiving, in 1619. (As you know, the Pilgrims didn't even arrive on these shores until 1620).
From Harry Binswanger at HBList: