About the Festival

On December 4, 1619, a group of 38 settlers, led by Captain John Woodlief, arrived at Berkeley Plantation in Virginia, from Bristol, England.   On the banks of the James River the Englishmen proclaimed, “We ordaine that the day of our ship’s arrival 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.”