Jamestown Virginia and Plymouth Massachusetts are the first permanent English colonies in America.
104 men landed in Virginia in 1607 at a place on a river they called Jamestown, and thirteen years later, 102 settlers aboard the Mayflower landed in Massachusetts at a place they named Plymouth. They both offered something when they settled. Jamestown offered anchorage and good defensive position, warm climate and fertile soil allowed large plantations to prosper. Plymouth offered good anchorage and excellent harbor, cold climate and thin, rocky soil limited farm size.
The Virginia Company of London was set up as a joint stock company. The ships sailed in the Chesapeake Bay in the spring of 1607. The pilgrims left England and then Holland, where they joined the Mayflower on September 16, 1620, The differences between Jamestown and Plymouth were that the settlers from Jamestown were members of the Anglican faith, the official Church of England, and the Plymouth pilgrims were dissenters from the Church of England. The Massachusetts pilgrims established the Puritan or Congregational Church.
Some similarities that they have are that Jamestown and Plymouth both were English. In the very beginning they both were trying to stay alive and they only did this with the help of the natives. Jamestown and Plymouth both celebrated Thanksgiving but at different timing. Jamestown celebrated thanksgiving on December 4, 1619. They celebrated the first official Thanksgiving Day. In the fall of 1621, the pilgrims held a celebration to give thanks to God for his blessings. As we know of today this occasion was the origin of the traditional Thanksgiving.
There was competition and division among peoples at the founding of the English colonies but survival only came through cooperation. George Washington made a good decision by uniting the new nation when he declared Thanksgiving the first national holiday.
Source:
US.VA. History textbook
http://www.nps.gov/jame/historyculture/jamestown-and-plymouth-compare-and-contrast.htm