With Thanksgiving less than a week away, folks everywhere are already caught up in making elaborate plans to enjoy a hearty holiday feast in the company of loved ones. That is, after all, the way most people think of the first Thanksgiving on American soil as having played out. Except, it was a 1621 gathering of pilgrims and Native Americans in Plymouth, Massachusetts as a shared potluck of sorts, right? Wrong!
What if I were to tell you that the first documented “Thanksgiving” event in the New World actually took place in 1619 on the site of the Berkeley Plantation in Virginia, right along the shores of the James River? In this Flashback Friday Feature, I’m recounting what the lesser-known real first Thanksgiving on American soil was truly all about.
The Real Story—Short and Simple
The story behind the first Thanksgiving begins on September 16, 1619, in Bristol, England. That was the date when a group of more than 30 hardy men set sail for the New World aboard the Good Ship Margaret as part of a Virginia Company-led expedition. They sailed under the direction of Captain John Woodlief.
The journey across the Atlantic was a rough and torrent one, lasting more than two and a half months. Even after reaching the Chesapeake Bay on November 28, it wasn’t smooth sailing, as the crew had plenty of stormy weather to contend with. But at long last they arrived at their intended destination of Berkeley Hundred (now Berkley Plantation) on December 4, 1619.
Before even setting sail, the crew was given a list of things to do upon arrival by the Virginia Company of London. First on that list was a directive to give thanks and praise to God for a safe delivery across the ocean. After such a harrowing journey, everyone was more than willing to comply in expressing their gratitude for making it onto safer shores. Therefore, upon arrival on December 4, 1619, Captain Woodlief led his men in praying the following words: “We ordaine that this day of our ships arrival, at the place assigned for plantacon, in the land of Virginia, shall be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of Thanksgiving to Almighty God.”
There you have it—the very first documented proclamation of Thanksgiving to occur in the New World.
There Was No Feast
Thanksgiving in the most literal sense of the word is a giving of thanks. But over time there has emerged a connotation involving food and feasting—giving thanks for consumable victuals in particular. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why the Thanksgiving account at Plymouth, Massachusetts often outshines the more prayerful predecessor event that took place in Virginia years earlier.
As it was, the first Thanksgiving did not include an elaborate feast with all the trimmings. Historians have largely concluded that the meal the crew likely shared upon arriving at Berkeley Hundred consisted mainly of ship rations. These, however, were probably supplemented by regional fare, such as oysters. After all, history tells us that they were in abundance throughout the Chesapeake and by extension most of the East Coast. In fact, if you do go back to that famed Thanksgiving feast in Plymouth, it’s also likely that oysters were part of their multicourse lineup too. Oddly though, oysters aren’t commonly thought of when most folks consider Thanksgiving feasts today. Although, it’s interesting to note that oyster stuffing (alternately known as oyster dressing) was first served in Colonial America more than three centuries ago, having been brought to the New World by British settlers.
The Development of Modern-Day Thanksgiving
For more than two centuries Thanksgiving wasn’t even universally celebrated across the nation as an official holiday. However, certain states did observe their own individually designated days of Thanksgiving. The milestone change occurred in October 1863 when President Lincoln proclaimed that a national Thanksgiving Day would be held every year in November going forward. That was the start of it all, though it took years for traditional feasts and celebrations to reach the magnitude of today. As more and more traditions were incorporated into what are now commonly regarded as standard Thanksgiving celebrations, that long-ago original account of the first Thanksgiving in Virginia continued to slip further into oblivion.
Recovered Recognition for Virginia
Despite the mounting buildup of claims that the first Thanksgiving took place in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621, those well-versed in Virginia’s state history have always known better. Following Kennedy’s Presidential Thanksgiving Proclamation in 1962, where he gave the pilgrims in Massachusetts full credit for the holiday, Virginia State Senator John J. Wicker sent him a telegram to set the story straight. In the telegram, he even explained that he already proved Virginia was the site of the first Thanksgiving to the Governor of Massachusetts by providing historical records as confirmation. The following year, in an amended Thanksgiving Proclamation, President Kennedy stated the following: “Over three centuries ago, our forefathers in Virginia and Massachusetts, far from home, in a lonely wilderness set aside a time of Thanksgiving. They gave thanks for their safety, the health of their children, the fertility of their fields, for the love which bound them together, and for the faith which united them with their God.”
The Virginia Thanksgiving Festival is Born
The settlement at Berkeley stayed true to the words uttered in the first Thanksgiving prayer about how the day “shall be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of Thanksgiving.” That was until tragedy struck in 1622. It came in the form of a massive uprising involving local, seemingly friendly, Native Americans and spanned 140 miles on either side of the James River. Now known historically as the Massacre of 1622, this great tragedy in pre-American history put an end to the Berkeley settlement and, by extension, the annual Thanksgiving observances.
Yet 336 years later, in 1958, Thanksgiving celebrations at Berkeley were restored and have since grown into the Annual Virginia Thanksgiving Festival, thanks in part to Virginia Senator John Wicker. The Festival was incorporated in 1960 and became a nonprofit organization in 1961.
To this day, the Virginia Thanksgiving Festival is still going strong. Held every first Sunday in November, this year’s event took place on November 5, 2023. Of course, all that the Festival now entails is presented on a much grander scale than that of the original Thanksgiving. But every Festival still includes a reenactment of the first Thanksgiving prayer delivered by Captain John Woodlief as part of the lineup. Every year the Virginia Thanksgiving Festival continues to draw in crowds, growing more and more as a communitywide (and beyond) tradition. But above all else, it remains a time-tested honoring commemoration of the first-ever Thanksgiving on American soil.