From Harry Binswanger at HBList:
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).