The first Pilgrims came to America escaping religious persecution on December 11th, 1620. The Mayflower left England with 120 Pilgrims, but after the first winter only 74 survived. The Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock and settled in the Massachusetts area.

After the first winter had passed, the Pilgrims met a group of Native American tribes who they then invited to a celebration on their health and well being. The Pilgrims gathered wild geese, ducks and other birds. The word 'turkey' literally meant a wild fowl and only came to mean a type of bird years later.

The great feast then lasted more than three days and when finished it was not celebrated again until three years later, and finally not again until the Council of Charlestown declared it a holiday in 1676.