First English Thanksgiving In Virginia
N 37° 19.862 W 077° 11.443
18S E 305914 N 4133846
This Historical Marker commemorates The First Thanksgiving in Virginia in 1619.
Waymark Code: WMNZ73
Location: Virginia, United States
Date Posted: 05/27/2015
Views: 12
This Virginia Historical Marker stands on Route 5, the John Tyler Highway in historic Charles City County Virginia. It commemorates the First English Thanksgiving in 1619, two year before the more well-known observance in Massachusetts. The text of the marker reads:
FIRST ENGLISH THANKSGIVING IN VIRGINIA
"On 4 Dec. 1619, Captain John Woodlef, a member of the Virginia Company, arrived aboard the ship Margaret, with 35 men to take charge of the Berkley Hundred. An experienced former Jamestown settler, he became Berkley’s first governor. He bore Instructions that the day of his ship’s arrival “be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of thanksgiving to almighty god.” Beginning in 1958, the Virginia First Thanksgiving Festival commemorated the directive as the first English Thanksgiving in North America with an annual reenactment at nearby Berkeley Plantation."
Marker Number: V-70
Marker Title: First English Thanksgiving in Virginia
Marker Location: Route 5, .3-mile east of Route 658
County or Independent City: Charles City County
Web Site: [Web Link]
Marker Program Sponsor: Department of Historic Resources - 2012
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