By Dr. Nic Butler, reprinted with permission  |  It’s Thanksgiving season again, and for most people that means a day of rest, relaxation and feasting with close friends and family. As a historian working in an old city, I have learned that Thanksgiving also includes at least ten people asking me the same question: “When was the first Thanksgiving in Charleston?” I don’t mind the question at all, but the answer is generally more complex than most people care to hear.

The tradition of Thanksgiving existed long before the creation of the United States, and it wasn’t just celebrated by the “pilgrims” of early Massachusetts. Spanish explorers in the Americas, for example, celebrated an annual day of thanksgiving in the early 1500s. …