The first official Thanksgiving feast took place in Plymouth Colony. Founded by a group of separatists who later became known as the Pilgrims, Plymouth Colony was, along with Jamestown, Virginia, one of the first colonies to be founded by the English in North America. The first settlement was at New Plymouth, a location previously surveyed and named by Captain John Smith. This settlement, which served as the capital of the colony, is today the modern town of Plymouth, Massachusetts.