The First Thanksgiving In The History of America Was Held And Celebrated At The Berkeley Plantation In Virginia In 1619
Capt. John Woodlief, his 35 men and 19 crew members had endured a grueling two and a half months at sea when they approached the shores of Virginia in December, 1619. “Their ship was just 35 feet long,” Graham Woodlief, an 11th generation descendant of the party’s leader, tells The Buzz. “It was a tiny boat for that many men.”
As they came ashore on the banks of Virginia’s James River, the men fell to their knees and gave thanks. Their prayer wasn’t entirely the result of relief at reaching their destination, Woodlief says. “Lord Berkeley, who was the primary sponsor of the expedition, sent along instructions that the company should immediately give thanks upon landing, and that the day should be celebrated yearly and perpetually as a day of Thanksgiving.”
“This was two years before the Pilgrims had their so-called First Thanksgiving,” Woodlief continues. The Plymouth Colony’s three-day barbecue featuring deer provided by their Native American guests in 1621 was long considered the first celebration of Thanksgiving in the English colonies, and might have remained so had not Dr. Lyon Tyler, son of President John Tyler, been hunting in the New York Public Library for information on Virginia’s early days. There he found the long-forgotten Nibley Papers, which included an account of Lord Berkeley’s instructions to the company he sent to Virginia.
Dr. Tyler grew up at Sherwood Forest Plantation, next door to Berkeley Plantation, built on the land originally granted to Lord Berkeley. He shared his discovery of this first Thanksgiving with his neighbor, Malcolm Jamieson, who was attempting to restore the ruined plantation that had been the family seat of the Harrison family since Colonial days.
Tyler also published a column in the Richmond newspaper about his find, which led years later to the official recognition of the Virginia First Thanksgiving by President John Kennedy in 1963. Virginia senator John L. Wicker led the campaign to get the Berkeley event recognized, according to Woodlief. “He literally flew around the country with turkeys under each arm.”
Originally called the Berkeley Hundred after the land grants designed to support 100 fighting men each, the settlement was dissolved after an attack during the infamous Massacre of 1622, when the native tribes rose up against the English colonists.
The land passed into the Hamilton family in 1691, and in 1726 Benjamin Harrison IV built Virginia’s first three-story brick house for his bride, on a hill overlooking the James. The couple’s grandson, William Henry Harrison, became the ninth president of the United States. “But after seven generations of Harrisons, tobacco failed, and Berkeley with it,” says Jamie Jamieson, current owner of the plantation.
During the Civil War, Union general George McClellan bivouacked his troops at Berkeley property during the Peninsula Campaign of 1862. Although the gardens were trampled into mud and the buildings fell into disrepair, the occupation marked the beginning of Berkeley’s next chapter.
“For two months, July and August, 1862, there were 140,000 troops here,” explains Jamieson. “One of them was my grandfather, a 10-year-old drummer boy.” Jamieson says his ancestor enlisted, along with his older brother, because they were starving. “They were immigrants from Dundee, Scotland, and back then no one would give the Scots or the Irish jobs.”
Fast forward to 1907 and that drummer boy, John Jamieson, now headed a successful construction company in New York City. “His company poured the foundation for the Statue of Liberty and worked on the docks for the big cruise ships,” Jamie says. “He needed pilings and remembered the timber that grew at Berkeley. By chance, he saw a notice that the plantation was for sale. So he bought it for $28,000.”
One reason that Berkeley stuck in the young man’s mind may have been another historic event that took place that summer. In July, 1862, the bugle call we know as “Taps,” 24 soul-stirring notes, was first played on the banks of the James River. “He was here,” Jamie says. “He would have heard it that first time.”
Even though the Berkeley buildings were so dilapidated that the family had to camp out in tents when they visited, Jamie’s father Malcolm fell in love with the place. “He married a Southern belle from Richmond and for the next 70 years they worked to restore the plantation,” Jamie says. “My mother would buy antiques one by one, using just the profits from the farm. It was a real labor of love.”
Today, the 1726 manor house and the restored gardens are open to the public, and in 1958, the estate hosted its first Virginia Thanksgiving Festival to honor the long ago wishes of Lord Berkeley. The Jamiesons invited Graham Woodlief to celebrate with them, and he has become the head of the free annual event, held each year on the first weekend in November.
“We have a lot of fun,” Woodlief says. “There are Colonial period games and a parade with horse-drawn carriages and fife and drum corps. The centerpiece of the day is the reenactment of the landing, when the settlers come ashore and give thanks. Then the Chickahominy Tribal Dancers lead everyone in a friendship dance. If the weather’s good, we get a big crowd, this year about 3,000 people.”
While no food or drink traditions have come down from the early Thanksgivings at Berkeley Hundred, it’s likely that the celebrations grew quite festive. George Thorpe, an Episcopal preacher who was among the original 35, is credited with creating the world’s first bourbon whiskey. “He wrote that he had managed to distill a ‘fiery liquid’ from the Indian corn,” Woodlief says. “Two drinks a day and all your troubles would be solved.”
“We have a lot of history here,” Jamie Jamieson says. “Recently we’ve become a popular spot for filming movies and TV shows. We’ve had seven movies made here in the last ten years.” The list includes current release “Loving” as well as three seasons of “Turn” about Washington’s spies and two seasons of “Mercy Street.”
Still family owned and operated, Berkeley receives no government assistance or grants, operating solely on fees from films, admission fees, weddings and events. Jamie himself can often be found working on the terraced gardens that stretch down to the river.
“It’s not easy; it’s always a struggle,” he admits. “But we are determined to continue. We hope people come here and have an experience, learn some history. Take a step back to a slower time.”
Renee Wright
A graduate of Franconia College in Social Psychology, Renee has worked as Travel Editor for Charlotte Magazine and has written three travel guidebooks for Countryman Press among other writing assignments. She enjoys food and camping.
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