Was the first Thanksgiving held in the Sunshine State?
As I opined in an earlier commentary, the late Michael Gannon, a well-known historian at the University of Florida, made a good case that the first Thanksgiving took place in what is now St. Augustine in September, 1565.
If so, that would be 56 years before the Thanksgiving by English Pilgrims at Plymouth, Massachusetts in 162, and 42 years before the English colonized Jamestown
Some historians disagree with Mr. Gannon, as my earlier commentary noted. But his in-depth knowledge of Spanish colonial history offers an interesting view of Thanksgiving in St. Augustine, Florida, as we celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday in 2021.
Greg C. Truax is a documentary filmmaker, news commentator and publisher of AliveTampaBay.