The First Thanksgivings - Plymouth

• ​George Washington was the first President to call for a national day of thanksgiving for November 26, 1789.

• In 1862 Abraham Lincoln set the last Thursday in November as a day of thanksgiving.

• In 1939, Franklin Roosevelt changed the date to the fourth Thursday in November!

As English settlers landed here on December 4, 1619 they celebrated a safe journey to the New World.

​Berkley Hundred, Virginia

Widely accepted as the true first, this thanksgiving was sometime in September or November of 1621.

Plymouth, Massachusetts

​About the Pilgrims' Experience

• Of the 102 passengers on the Mayflower, only 53 survived when it landed. Only a few were able to take care of others.

• Their first winter there was extremely harsh. The few remaining passengers were struggling in the new world. 

• They would not have survived were it not for the help of the Indigenous Peoples, aka Indians, aka aka Native Americans.

• They were able to complete their village in February of 1621. 

• The Mayflower ship eventually returned to England on April 5, 1621, and left those 53 pilgrims behind.

• Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock in November 1620.

• The Native Americans (also known as Indigenous People) showed them how to survive the winter and plant crops in the spring. In the fall of 1621, the Pilgrims and Native Americans had a big feast to give thanks for the harvest.

• The stories of this celebration were passed down and contributed to the creation of this National Holiday.

​The Thanksgiving Story You Know

​The Thanksgiving Feast in Plymouth

• Three days of feasting and playing games

• May have been similar to the traditions during an English harvest festival that was celebrated around September or October annually.

• At least 90 Wamponaoag Native Americans joined the Pilgrims.

• The group of pilgrims contained 22 men, 4 women, 14 teenagers, and 13 young children.