Thanksgiving photo

Timeline of Thanksgiving

  • Jamestown

    Jamestown

    The first English colony in North America is founded in Jamestown.
  • Period: to

    Timeline of Thanksgiving

    Timeline of events from the first Thanksgiving through the first Macy's Day Parade
  • John Smith

    John Smith

    Becomes the leader of the Jamestown settlement.
  • Mayflower

    Mayflower

    The Pilgrims sail to America from England on a ship named the Mayflower and arrive in Cape Cod Massachusetts.
  • Mayflower Compact

    Mayflower Compact

    They wrote an agreement to create laws and elect leaders for their new Colony.
  • Harvest Feast

    Harvest Feast

    The Pilgrims celebrate a good harvest with prayer and celebration and the Wampanoag had joined their three day celebration. This is what is thought of as the first Thanksgiving Celebration.
  • First Thanksgiving in newly established United States

    First Thanksgiving in newly established United States

    The first Thanksgiving where all 13 Colonies celebrate.
  • George Washington's declaration

    George Washington's declaration

    America's first president declares this a day for thanksgiving and prayer across the nation.
  • Sarah Hale

    Sarah Hale

    She started a campaign in pushing that there be a national Thanksgiving holiday where everyone celebrated on the same day. She tried for several years getting the same answer of no, until the Civil War started in 1861and she proposed it to President Lincoln.
  • Lincoln issues Proclamation

    Lincoln issues Proclamation

    President Lincoln declares Thanksgiving a national holiday to be celebrated the fourth Thursday of November to bring the people together during the Civil War.
  • Thanksgiving today.

    Thanksgiving today.

    Many of us celebrate by watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. The first parade was in New York in 1924.