Just as you think that this could be nothing more than another example of thousands of charming but identical villages that make up small-town America, you catch your first glimpse of the towering Byzantine edifice and sky scraping bell tower of the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral. St. Nicholas is the spiritual and cultural heart of Tarpon Springs. The entire building is a Byzantine-revival work of art. The interior is a place of serene beauty lit only by the glow of prayer candles and sunlight filtering through stained glass.
Standing proudly in the courtyard is a statue of a boy lifting a cross. This figure represents one of Tarpon Springs’ most defining events. Every January 6, Greek Orthodox young men gather at the Spring Bayou to celebrate Epiphany by diving into the often chilly water in an attempt to retrieve a cross — and with it, a year of blessing and good fortune. This past January, Dimitri Kalogiannis, 16, of New Port Richey, Fla., braved the icy cold waters and retrieved the cross seconds after it was tossed into the bayou. This reserved and determined young man saw the cross glimmering in the murky water and came up clutching it, giving his father, Georgio, a better birthday gift than he could have ever imagined. Tens of thousands of locals and visitors join the divers for a daylong festival of events. A white dove is released; the dive commences, immediately followed by feasting, music and dancing. Marking the pinnacle of this celebration, the statue of the young Greek man stands triumphant, determined and exultant: a perfect reflection of the spirit of this captivating, culturally rich little slice of sunshine.
Beneath the statue is a plinth dedicated to the Sons of Tarpon who served their community and their country in U.S. wars on foreign shores. Reading the predominantly Greek names, you can almost feel the presence of these men who left their adopted homeland to defeat an enemy that had already devastated and despoiled the home of their forebears. This hallowed pedestal is not the only place Greek heritage is celebrated in Tarpon Springs.
The spirit and culture of that ancient land have been the lifeblood of this community since John Cocoris recruited the first Greek sponge divers to settle here in 1905 and changed the face of this town and the sponge industry forever. These brave men brought their families and time-honored methods of sponge harvesting from the Dodecanese Islands of Greece, giving the most famous street in town its name and bequeathing their indomitable spirit, strong backs and stronger faith to their adoptive city. Today, this heritage is still evident in all that is said and done in Tarpon Springs.
The sponge industry began in 1852 when cargo schooner captain Walter Lowe made such a profit on a load of sponges that he went into the business full time.
By 1890, the Cheney Sponge Company was booking nearly $1 million in annual business. Then came Cocoris’ Sons of Dodecanese and their new method of harvesting. Already booming, the industry absolutely exploded. Sponging thrived for more than half a century in Tarpon Springs before, in 1947, a red tide bloom wiped out the sponge fields. Undaunted by the loss of their livelihood, many of the divers began to earn a living hauling nets or reeling lines. Fish and shrimp then became Tarpon Springs’ cash crop. But the tale of the sponge was far from finished.
The 1953 film “Beneath the 12-Mile Reef,” a movie filmed in Tarpon Springs and centered on the sponge diving community, brought the industry into the national limelight and opened the wider world to this charming little hamlet beside the sea. The city fathers began converting the former sponge warehouses and facilities into tourist destinations that celebrated the history and educated the public about the heritage of this exceptional town. In recent years, attempts have been made to re-establish the sponge industry in Tarpon Springs. In 2007 a record harvest of sponges by a single boat brought added momentum to those efforts.
Further connecting the town’s current residents with their Grecian birthright, in 2007, Mayor Beverly Billiris reached out to four Greek islands, establishing sister city relationships with Kalymnos, Halki, Symi and Cyprus.
Passing St. Nicholas and continuing your tour, the characteristic individuality of Tarpon Springs continues to unfold before your eyes. The sponge-diving scene etched into the doors at the chamber of commerce only hints at what awaits a little further down the road. The Pinellas Trail bisects the town, running parallel for 34 miles along the track once used by a rail line, whose depot is now a downtown historical museum. In 1907 a spark from that rail line burned the entire wooden frame depot and several surrounding buildings to the ground. A year later a brick structure was built in its place.
This tradition of heritage and reinvention is the hallmark of the little seaside town. Anson P.K. Safford was one of the driving forces behind Tarpon Springs’ early growth. He brought his family to Tarpon Springs in 1882 so he could more effectively represent Disston Enterprises, a development firm buying up large tracts of land in the area in and around what is now Tarpon Springs. Along with his wife and three children, Safford brought along his only sister, Mary Jane Safford, who became the first practicing female physician in the state of Florida. Among his many gifts to the town is a school and a large home he built to allow his sister to expand her practice.
Five years after Safford’s arrival, Tarpon Springs incorporated, becoming the first official city on Florida’s renowned Pinellas peninsula. The little town immediately began to draw praise from visitors. In her 1887 work, Oranges and Alligators, Iza Hardy had this to say:
“It is hard to realize how this bright, flourishing little town can have sprung up in so short a time. Only three years before it was a forest primeval! We have seen no prettier nor more promising young settlement in Florida, and certainly none more trim and neat.”
In December 1891, both Anson and Mary Jane Safford died. The Safford legacy, however, can be seen from one end of Tarpon Springs to the other, and those they left to carry on eagerly picked up the baton of leadership, carrying this wholesome, industrious town into the new century.
Now, yet another century later, the fruit of their dedication, wisdom and labor is found in the busy historical district, bustling with antique hunters, artists and history buffs, and the seaside novelty that is the Sponge Docks.
To say that there is nothing like it in the world is to commit gross understatement. Even on the Gulf Coast of Florida, where tourist kitsch and souvenir chic are made into an art form, the Tarpon Springs Sponge Docks stand alone. This charming combination of dignity and cheek draws you in and carries you away. The Sponge Docks are honor without pretension, ostentation without shame, pride without prejudice.
It is an attitude that permeates all that is Tarpon Springs. The residents of this enchanting village spread along the sparkling shores and pristine river that give the town its name. They are a people who are fiercely proud of who they are and where they have been. While at the same time, they are reaching out with legendary Greek hospitality, inviting you to — for a day or a lifetime — journey with them.