The First Thanksgiving

Two years before the Pilgrims arrived in the New World, a band of English settlers arrived in Virginia at what is now Berkeley Plantation. They were directed by the King of England that "the day of the ship's arrival shall be yearly and perpetually kept as a day of thanksgiving." On December 4, 1619, these settlers celebrated the first Thanksgiving Day.

In the fall of 1621, the Pilgrims held a celebration in Plymouth, Massachusetts, to give thanks for their bounty and blessings.

While the Pilgrims celebrated with a feast much like the meal Americans now eat on Thanksgiving Day, historians say the settlers at Berkeley Plantation would have had a more meager meal that included bacon, peas, cornmeal cakes, and cinnamon water.