each week. american artifacts takes you to museums and historic places to learn about american history. in 16 1935, english settlers arrived in berkeley, virginia, upriver from jamestown.

we talked to graham woodlief, descendant of the group's leader, captain john woodlief, about how these colonies celebrated the first english thanksgiving in america. later, archeologist mark horton described his current project act looking for artifacts from the settlement to determine its exact location. hi, my name is graham woodlief. i'm president of the virginia thanksgiving festival, which is an organization devoted to the history of the first thanksgiving in america, which was here at berkeley plantation. this journey began in the spring of 1618, when four gentlemen met in london to form the berkeley company. their names were william throckmorton, john smith, george thorpe and richard berkeley, who owned berkeley castle in england. they met in london, as i said, because they had been given a grant of over 8000 acres, a beautiful land in virginia, to start a settlement and to bring profits back to england.

at that point in the early 17th century, england was going through severe a severe recession. poverty was rampant. king james, the first, had tyrannical leadership. and there was a lot going on. and people wanted to go to the new land in the new world and see what it was like and try to gain their fortunes and profit from that. so they were easy, easy to get people to go to the new world. and they did. as i said, it started in 16, 18 and they wanted to expedition to virginia to see this new land that they'd been given by king james, the first what they needed to do first was find a leader and that leader was john woodlief after looking at certain people, several people, they chose captain john woodlief to lead the expedition to the new world. and john woodlief had been to the new world several times. he was an ancient planter, which was a title of distinction in those days. he was a merchant trader and h was in jamestown during the starving time.

so he had been to the new world, experienced the new world and experience to the leadership of an expedition. the group in london made him a captain, and the first governor of the colony, and he set on to his task of leading the expedition to the new world. now, what he had to do first was lease a ship. he leased the good ship. margaret, from edward williams in bristol, england in 1619. his name was the margaret and it was due to take off for the new world with the expedition on september the 16th. next captain would leave, had to get a crew, and he found men that were capable of building a settlement. they were carpenters, journeymen, turners, fellers, those kinds of professions that were craftsmen who knew how to build a settlement. the sturdy settlement that would last for a long time. so he chose 35 men to go across. the settlement progressed. next, he needed provision for

the ship and he started to do that. he had food that included biscuits and bread, wheat, peas, bacon and horse meat in other kinds of things like that. he also had a beer, cider and aquavit, which was an alcoholic beverage during those years. now he took with him along as well tools and kitchen utensils, bibles and 6000 beads to trade with the indians. so there were a lot of things on that ship that went over. the margaret itself was a small ship for those times. it was only 35 feet long at its keel and was weighed 47 tons. so it was one of the smaller ships of that period. the men, in fact, when they went across the ocean, probably had to sleep on the top deck of that ship because there was not room underneath because of the supplies that were there to sleep underneath a deck. so they took off on september

the 16th, 619 at 8:00 in the morning. it was a beautiful morning. it was actually 35. settlers plus captain would leave and a crew of 19. they left bristol, england and went forth on their journey. unfortunate early there was not a lot of wind. so on the seventh day of the cruise, a small gale came up and pushed them forward. they spent two and a half months on the atlantic ocean. they were claustrophobic. they were homesick. there was a lot. there was vermin infestation, there was a lot going on, a lot of difficult times for them during that two and a half months ban. also, many storms took place, but they made it and they made it to the hampton roads area of virginia on november the 29th, 16, 19. they anchored for the night and then a gale came up. a shroud star storm is what it's called, and they lost their capstone, which was a winch part

of the ship. they worried that they wouldn't make it through the night, but they prayed constantly and they did make it through the night. and then headed up the james river to to their destination. so captain would leave can meet with friends who had already settled there. they stopped at jamestown along the way and then they ended up at berkeley plant a berkeley, as it would be called on december the fourth, 16, 19, as clifford daly says in his book, the great plantation, they rode to the shore. they dropped their luggage on the hard winter ground. it was december the fourth. now they gazed at the woods, enclosing them, and they listened in complete silence. then, in a command from captain wood leaf, he said, gentlemen, neil, so we can say a prayer of thanksgiving. and he said, we ordain this day of our ships arrival at planet con in the land of virginia shall be perpetually and annually kept holy as a day of thanksgiving to almighty god.

that was the first official thanksgiving in the new world. first english thanksgiving in the world. and it was a two years before the pilgrims had their thanksgiving in 1621. so with that said, the settlement continued on and continued sending goods to england. and what about their business? george thorpe was a cleric who had come over on the ship several months later. he had come over and wanted to convert the indians to th ad beme verytity. friendly with the indians and vice versa of the indians wi them. so all of a suddene morning of march 22nd in 16, 22, indian tribe came into the settlement and other settlements along the james river and picked up any weapons they saw and what's known as the massacre of 1622. it's it's the indian uprising. many people were killed. in fact, 11 people were killed at berkeley. many were injured.

and others just ran into the woods. and this happened all up and down the james river. chief ope akinola had planned the assault. jamestown was spared because an indian named chaco who was befriended. one of the settlers let him know what was going on and the settler rode across to jamestown the night before and warned them of the impending hostility. so jamestown was spared. captain woodley was spared. he was in england at the time and his family was in jamestown. captain woodley eventually settled at syon hill across the james river from where the settlement was and what is known as jordan point today in hopewell, virginia. now, how did we find out about this? well, in 1931, dr. lyon tyler, who was president of the college of william and mary and the son of president john tyler, came across some papers at the new york public library. they were known as the nibley

papers, and they chronicle the journey across the atlantic. and once they landed, dr. tyler was excited to find this as he lived on the james river and close to the berkeley plantation. he wrote an article in the richmond, news-leader in 1931 about his find. and i think this is the first time people really realize that the first thanksgiving had happened in virginia and not in massachusetts, as many people believed. so he wrote his article. then he told his neighbor, who is mark jamieson at the time, who owned berkeley plantation, about his discover three and years later, in 1958, the jamieson family invited the woodley family to the plantation to celebrate this historic event that had happened on their land. the woodley family started meeting in 1958 and three years later opened it to the public. and today, as we celebrate the thanksgiving, we celebrate it with the virginia festival that

has been held for the last 57 years. it's actually recreates that first thanksgiving when the landing occurred at berkeley. also a lot of other colonial games and things take place. but the main purpose is we have been reenacting that thanksgiving ever since. 1958, as they had ordered in the initial papers. now, once captain woodley left england, they had given him instructions for to do ten things. the very first thing was when he landed to say thanks for their safe journey and to do that perpetually and annually. that's why captain woodley had his men kneel and gave that prayer. thanks. and we think that is the reason they did that. and it's that official first thanksgiving is because it was ordered by england other thanksgivings in the new world response is not any specific orders from anyone. all of the pilgrims had our orders. the colony governor william

bradford. but the one at berkeley was the one that was official because it was ordered by england and it was to be done perpetually and annually, which it was. so that makes a difference between the thanksgiving at berkeley, how that's different from the pilgrims and mass jesus and other thanksgivings at the time. plus, it was two years earlier in those days, thanksgivings were prime eerily a part of the new england lifestyle. there was also a lady burton by the name of sarah josepha hale. she was a 73 year old magazine editor, and she had been trying for 15 years to get one of the presidents of the united states to listen to her. she was very well thought of in the united states in those days and quite influential. well eventually, after 15 years, abraham lincoln did listen to her and designated the official thanksgiving day. it was five days after he met with her that he did that. so he was it is said in a

washington post article i just read recently that she may have had some inflnce on him with the being recognized as the first thanksgiving. the pilgrims had a harvest festival. in addition to somewhat of a religious service, so that was different. but in those days it was more of a giving thanks for for safe voyages and good harvest and things like that. so in today you've got food, you've got football games, you've got a lot of things like that. it's a bit it comes right down to being with famd being a family time and giving thanks for what the good lord has provided. let me mention one other thing to it's pretty interesting. in 1962, john jay wicker was a virginia state senator. saw president kennedy's john f thanksgiving proclamation where it gave massachusetts full

credit. he wrote to arthur sleigh. he wrote to the president. but arthur schlesinger answered, arthur schlesinger was the historian for the white house, asking him why virginia was not recognized. arthur schlesinger sent him a note back, basically saying he was sorry the error occurred, but due to uncommon trouble. new england biased on the part of the white house. they had overlooked virginia being the first and the 1963 thanksgiving proclamation by john f kennedy included virginia first and then massachusetts after that. so we feel like we've gotten our due as far as recognition they would leave family had a wood leaf association that they started in 1958 when the jameson's invited them to the plantation. and it's been a part of my life ever since i was a child that i because they would send out information, they would have the festival down here. it's been an important part of our life andomhing we really

enjoyeanlearned a lot from the state of virginia through the jamestown yorktown foundation is commemorating certain historic events that happened in 1619 one was the first african came to the new world first groups of females came to the new world, the first legislative body was in jamestown. in 1619, and the first thanksgiving was was here at berkeley. so we have invited charles barkley to the 400th anniversary, which is next year in 2019. charles barkley owns berkeley castle. now, as a member of that original berkeley family. so he is coming as a part of that, though they are having a lot they've had a lot of excavations done around berkeley castle in england and the gentleman is doing a is here now excavating. well actually looking at surveying the berkeley grounds to see if we can find the original settlement that where they built that when that first thanksgiving occurred.

so mark horton is his name emailed me and said, i'd like to come to virginia. we met with him about six months ago. we looked at the land with the owner, berkeley, jamie jamison and in between mr. jamison and mark horton, they pretty much decided where they thought the ship may have come in, and so they decided to come back and do further surveys. and so they have been here the last four days doing that. and we're hoping they're going to find something that will be meaningful. for. what we've been working in berkeley, gloucestershire, england, for the last ten years. and we're actually fascinated in trying to uncover the story of berkeley, the famous berkeley 100 that was established here in 1619 by people that came from england.

one of the big mysteries is where berkeley settlement of 6019 is actually located. i mean, it's clearly somewhere here on the property. it's known as be known as berkeley or berkeley for hundreds of years. but the precise location of where the settlement is located has never been what was discovered by archeologists or by historians or even in the memory of the people that lived here. so our task is to use modern scientific machinery, geophysics, equipment and so forth to see if we can actually find where the 17th century settlement really was. well, we've been surveying this this huge field here because we think that this is the most likely place where they would have been. there's a small spring over here. there's a shallow landing by the river where they could have brought their boats up. and there's a fantastic view out both directions up, the james river. so if i was a color coming here for the first time, this is

where i would end up. so that's the reason why we've come to this particular field and we've done a massive survey using magnetometer and radar across this entire field to see if we could find traces of the settlement as a result of the geophysics, find a series of target sort of anomalies in the geophysics. and so what we're trying to do is to ground truth. what those anomalies are to work out, whether they're there from the civil war, because millions of men were camped here during the american civil war. but could it also be part of remains the settlement that was here in the 17th century? so this is one dig that we're doing to see whether there's any evidence from what we've found is a very promising anomaly at this place. so we're trying to see whether actually there's any real archeology there at all. a lot of archeology of this area has settled on. jamestown has come from the

london area, from britain, from southeast kent, east anglia, london and so forth. what was interesting about the berkeley colony, the berkeley companies? it came from the west country, from bristol, where the pottery and the pipes are really quite different to what was being consumed in london. so what we actually have in our excavations in berkeley, england, is the precise material culture that we would expect to find just underneath our feet here from the excavations of all the plantation sites on the james river, just the quantity of material that has been discovered is is massive. and we know that the berkeley company was very rich. it had a lot of investment in it. thousands, thousands of pounds, even in 17 century standards, probably five, 10 pounds million of goods that were brought here. so, you know, hopefully there is stuff here to find. one thing that we noticed

immediate when we come here is how similar the landscape is to where they came from. berkeley is on the river severn. the seven is almost the same width that it is here than it is back in england. they they almost as if they chose a place that was familiar in terms of their landscape. and of course, the trees are very different. the vegetation is very different. and of course it would have been even more different then it would be much more forested. so yes, it would have been a very alien environment, but we know that they took a lot of material with them to make them feel home ceramics, the pipes and so forth. so, so it is clearly it would have been a real wrench, but conditions back in england were not good in this time. a lot of poverty we've excavated at berkeley, a lot of the graves of the people, the poor people of the parish, those all the people that would have volunteered to come out here. and we can see that they were

wracked with scurvy and rickets and all sorts of horrible diseases that are malnourished. so there's a good reason why they would want to come out here to seek out a new life and new opportunities. i think there's two things that really set them apart. one was that they came from the west of britain rather than the east. the west countries had a long history of engaging with north america, going all the way back to to rally in the roanoke ventures in the late 16th century and indeed even before cabot set out from bristol to discover the mainland of north america in in 1498. so there's a long history of engagement of the west country with north america, which has sometimes been neglected. so one of the things we're interested in is is is understood finding that and putting that into a context. the other thing that the berkeley site is interesting about is they clearly had a very

strong christian ethos here. we know from the people organizing the colony, they were very strongly anglican in their outlook and in particular one of the key figures in the history of the colony, manuel george thorpe, was a post the tithing tive a suld bebelieves that the converted to christianity. and as far as we can see, that relations between the berkeley company here and the native americans was very good. george thought was went out of his way to both befriend ali and attempt to educate and christianize the native americans. he built a school for them at henriquez and moved between here and there on the regular basis and clearly had favorable, friendly relationships with them. as the story goes, it's in the 1622 massacre when this site was pulled up into the border

events. what was happening in the james river that, he saw his friendly indians. he went up to greet them and as part of massacre, the indians attacked him and killed him on the spot. i think he said, my children, what's the problem? and suffered a horrible fate. so i think i mean, this this place tells a story of those relations and hank, as events took over. and that's why now we have an empty field here as know that 12 of the settlers were were killed in the massacre. george thorpe, the probably would be about 50 or 60 of them living here at the time. so it would have been on quite a substantial scale. so obviously most of them escaped back to to jamestown, certainly brought to an end the settlement here.

the berkeley company off the 1620 to massacre carried on and attempted to trade in tobacco through jamestown. but clearly this wasn't particularly successful. a by about 1625, we had no more of it. i think one of the interesting aspects of this colony was the two particular features which which is famous for. the first is that we have good evidence that the promoter of the call, uncle john smith, who was a scientist, not the famous john smith from jamestown, but another one who was the he lived in berkeley and he was a scientist. he communicated with on the possibly who said that he has a particular type of apparatus could cure people from the diseases that they were likely to get here. this apparatus is almost certainly distillation.

and so fairly good evidence we have that they experimented with it here where we're standing this is the first place, if you like, the way where borbon was was distilled in america. the second thing that the colony is famous for is that this is the site of the first thanksgiving that is contained in the articles of instruction for the colonists when they came here and they had to say thanksgiving, both when their arrival and then annually on that date thereafter and sets aside a special day for it. what's interesting is that this idea of thanksgiving, i think, comes out of the christian ethos of the of the colony and was specifically part of the instructions that the and promoters of the company issued food for her so it gives an idea of that christian christian ethos that thanksgiving, what was intended. so yes, quite clearly i'm

convinced that they would have said in 16, 19 and presumably annually until 1622. i think that from a british perspective, we inevitably come to the story of early english colonization in america from a slightly different viewpoint than. north american archeologists and historians are working entirely within an american framework. i think of the things we learn is relative to how minor in terms of our history, this colonization process was. it was not the big thing that it occurs here. these things were what happened. the berkeley expeditions is hardly mentioned in english textbooks, english history books. it's completely forgotten about. i live very close to berkeley. nobody in my town has ever, ever heard of it.

it shows just how much it had written out of our history, what our work is trying to do is to, as it bring back some american history, push it within a proper perspective. back in england, what we want to do in our investigations is to find some tangible link to this period in 1619. it's becoming such an iconic year in virginia in history with all sorts of commemorations happening at this time. and so what we would like to do is provide some tangibility. we all know that thanksgiving happened here in 1619, where exactly? and that's what we're trying to find is actually the physical place on the ground where the colonists settled. you can watch this. and other american artifacts programs by visiting our web site at c-span dot org.

rosalynn carter do you remember when you and president carter started having conversations about him running for president? i do. what was that like? what was that conversation? it was very interesting. we had a frith