Take a trip with us this November to where our Thanksgiving holiday began—Plymouth, Massachusetts. This small harbor area was the final landing site of the first voyage of the Mayflower, and the location of the original settlement of the Plymouth Colony in 1620. It was not where they intended to land, but storms blew the travelers off course and changed their destiny.

The Plymouth settlers faced many difficulties during its first winter, the most notable being the risk of starvation. They survived due to Native American aid; teaching them to catch eel and grow corn in order to prevent the colonists from starving to death. The Wampanoag Tribe, led by Chief Massasoit, later formed a Peace Treaty with the Pilgrims and introduced new ways to cultivate food in the region. Massasoit personally forged critical ties with Plymouth's leaders. Upon growing a plentiful harvest in the fall of 1621, the Pilgrims gathered with their Native American men in a celebration of food and feasting. This celebration is known today as the First Thanksgiving, and is still commemorated annually in downtown Plymouth with a parade and a reenactment.

Plymouth is located approximately 40 miles south of Boston in a region of Massachusetts known as the South Shore. In the 1800s, Plymouth remained a relatively isolated seacoast town whose livelihood depended on fishing and shipping. The town eventually became a regional center of shipbuilding and fishing. Its principal industry was the manufacture of rope and cordage products. At one point, the longest ropewalk in the world, a quarter-mile (0.4 km) in length, was found on the North Plymouth waterfront.

In the last 30 years, Plymouth has experienced rapid growth and development and has emerged as a major economic and tourist center of the South Shore. People from all over the world head to Plymouth to experience reenactments of the first Thanksgiving each year, honoring the spirit of kindness and generosity that allowed one community to save another so long ago.

Join in as we scrap all the many moments we have to be thankful for in our own lives.