Volume 3, Issue 1
January 2010
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I’ve been fortunate enough to take my winter holiday in Naples over the last few years…no, not Italy but Naples on the Gulf coast of Florida in the USA. On the same coast, about 150 miles north, is a town called Tarpon Springs…notable for having the highest percentage of Greek-Americans of any city in the U.S! The region, with a series of rivers feeding into the Gulf of Mexico, first attracted attention as a place for winter homes about 1876. Some of the newly arrived visitors spotted Tarpons jumping out of the waters and dubbed the Location “Tarpon Springs.” The first Greek immigrants arrived during the 1880s, when they were hired to work as divers in the growing sponge harvesting industry. In 1905, John Cocoris introduced the technique of sponge diving to Tarpon Springs. He recruited
Greek sponge divers from the Dodecanese Islands, in particular Kalymnos, Symi and Halki, leading by the 1930s to a very productive sponge industry in Tarpon Springs, generating millions of dollars a year. The 1953 film Beneath the 12-Mile Reef, (starring Robert Wagner as Tony Petrakis) a “sponge diving adventure“, was filmed in Tarpon Springs.
When a red tide algae bloom occurred in 1947, wiping out the sponge fields in that region of the Gulf of Mexico, most of the sponge boats and divers switched to fishing and shrimping for a livelihood. The town then converted most of its sponge-related activities, especially the warehouses where they were
When a red tide algae bloom occurred in 1947, wiping out the sponge fields in that region of the Gulf of Mexico, most of the sponge boats and divers switched to fishing and shrimping for a livelihood. The town then converted most of its sponge-related activities, especially the warehouses where they were
have been made in recent years to revive local sponge harvesting. Led by local businessman George Billiris, in the late 1980s the sponge industry made a comeback and in 2007, a record harvest of sponges by a single boat was made. Recently Tarpon Springs Mayor, Beverley Billiris, established Sister City relationships with Kalymnos, Halki, Symi, and Cyprus, cementing the close historical link with these Greek islands. At the last count there were 11 Greek restaurants in Tarpon Springs. So perhaps this, together with its sponge industry heritage, really does convey a true “taste of Greece”, even in Florida!
sold, into tourist attractions. Today the Sponge Docks are mostly shops, restaurants, and museums dedicated to the memory of Tarpon Springs' earlier industry. Most sponges sold on the docks are now imports: While few sponges are harvested from the area, attempts
Greeks Abroad - Don McIntyre