America's First Thanksgiving

The first Thanksgiving in American history was not in Massachusetts but in Virginia, at Berkeley Plantation in Charles City County on December 4, 1619, more than two years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth. Thirty-eight English settlers who arrived that day on the ship Margaret were instructed by their charter to observe the day of arrival as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God annually and perpetually. The Virginia version of the story was largely suppressed in the national narrative because New England historians dominated the writing of early American history.

Source: Berkeley Plantation