One Nation, Many Thanksgivings

As people in the United States gather to celebrate and eat with family members, they are likely putting out a traditional menu to honor what was served in that meal between early European settlers and the tribes they found living on the land they were claiming. However, even though recognition of the pilgrim’s meal with the Wampanoag is the one remembered, it was not actually the first thanksgiving meal in North America.

As England gained control of the central Atlantic coast, their feast was remembered over others. But ocean voyages were hard, and it was not uncommon to have a feast to celebrate a landing. One of the many "first thanksgivings" was held in Florida.

Pedro Menéndez de Avilés brought eight hundred Spanish settlers to claim Florida. They landed in what later becam