Clearwater is a city located in Pinellas County, Florida, United States, northwest of Tampa and St. Petersburg. To the west of Clearwater lies the Gulf of Mexico and to the southeast lies Tampa Bay. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 107,685. Clearwater is the county seat of Pinellas County and is the smallest of the three principal cities in the Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater metropolitan area, most commonly referred to as the Tampa Bay Area.

Cleveland Street is one of the city's historic avenues, and the city includes BayCare Ballpark and Coachman Park. The city is separated by the Intracoastal Waterway from Clearwater Beach.

Clearwater is the home of Clearwater Marine Aquarium, where bottlenose dolphins Winter and Hope live.

The global headquarters of the Church of Scientology is located in Clearwater; the organization had tried to take over the city in what was called Project Normandy.

By the early 1900s, Clearwater's population had grown to around 400, ballooning to nearly 1,000 in the winter. Clearwater's oldest existing newspaper, the Clearwater Sun, was first published on March 14, 1914. Clearwater was reincorporated, this time as a city, on May 27, 1915, and was designated the county seat for Pinellas County, which broke from Hillsborough County in 1912. In 1915, a bridge was built across Clearwater Harbor, joining the city with Clearwater Beach to the west. Clearwater Beach, although located on a separate barrier island, belongs to the city of Clearwater and fronts the Gulf of Mexico. A new, much higher bridge now arcs over the bay, replacing the former drawbridge; the connecting road is part of State Road 60 and is called Clearwater Memorial Causeway.

During World War II, Clearwater became a major training base for US troops destined for Europe and the Pacific. Virtually every hotel in the area, including the Belleview Biltmore and the Fort Harrison Hotel, was used as a barracks for new recruits. Vehicle traffic was regularly stopped for companies of soldiers marching through downtown, and nighttime blackouts to confuse potential enemy bombers were common practice. The remote and isolated Dan's Island, now the highrise-dominated Sand Key, was used as a target by U.S. Army Air Corps fighter-bombers for strafing and bombing practice.

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clearwater,_Florida

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

Clearwater Beach includes a resort area and a residential area on the Gulf of Mexico in Pinellas County on the west-central coast of Florida. Located just west over the Intracoastal Waterway by way of the Clearwater Memorial Causeway from the city of Clearwater, Florida, of which it is part, Clearwater Beach is at a geographic latitude of 27.57 N and longitude 82.48 W.

Clearwater Beach is characterized by white sand beaches stretching for 2.5 miles (4 km) along the Gulf and sits on a barrier island. It has a full marina on the Intracoastal Waterway side and is linked on the south by a short bridge to another barrier island called Sand Key, where Sand Key Park is located.

The area offers shopping, restaurants, and activities such as parasailing, jet ski rentals, boat tours (with a common sighting of dolphins in the Gulf waters), miniature golf, fishing charters, and "pirate ship" cruises.

Clearwater has frequently been ranked one of the best beaches in the United States. Its Sandpearl resort was named one of the best beach resorts in the U.S. In January 2013, Clearwater Beach was awarded the designation of Florida's Best Beach Town by a USA Today reader poll ranking 10 Florida beach destinations. In February 2019, Clearwater Beach was named the best beach in the United States and the sixth-best in the world by TripAdvisor.

Pier 60, named for State Road 60 which terminates in Clearwater Beach, is a central spot for beachgoers and has a playground, a snack bar with an attached souvenir shop, and a long fishing pier. There are professional entertainers who perform on the pier every day, along with children's acts. It's the site of a daily event called Sunsets at Pier 60, which includes street performers and musical acts. On the pier, itself is a nightly display of goods sold by local artisans such as jewelry, candles, and other gift items.

Numerous restaurants and shops can be found adjacent to the beach, whose attractiveness was greatly improved in recent years with a beautification project called Beach Walk. The Beach Walk is located just south of Pier 60. There are drinking fountains, shower nozzles for beachcombers to rinse the sand off, and bicycle racks, as part of the upgrade. It also is a great spot for fishing. Beach "renourishment" efforts such as dune restoration enhance the area's natural beauty along a wide curving sidewalk. In addition, directly across from the pier is the Clearwater Municipal Marina, which offers deep-sea fishing and boating activities for visitors.

Clearwater Beach looking North from Pier 60

In July 2008 the long-anticipated Beach Walk project was completed, featuring a compact pedestrian zone with high-end hotels and condos. The beach is also known for its nightlife scene.

Shephard's Beach Resort and the Palm Pavilion Inn are two of the area's popular nightspots. There are also several Frenchy's restaurant locations and retail stores including Surf Style and Ron Jon Surf Shop.

A paved bicycle trail lined by mangrove trees is available nearby which parallels the Clearwater Memorial Causeway to the city.

Just up the causeway from the Beach, in the Island Estates area, is the Clearwater Marine Aquarium (home of Winter, the bottlenose dolphin featured in the movie Dolphin Tale), as well as a grocery store and other amenities.

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clearwater_Beach

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census estimate, the population was 271,842, making it the fifth-most populous city in Florida and the largest in the state that is not a county seat (the city of Clearwater is the seat of Pinellas County). St. Petersburg is the fifth-largest city in Florida and the second-largest city in the Tampa Bay Area, after Tampa. Together with Clearwater, these cities comprise the Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater Metropolitan Statistical Area, the second-largest in Florida with a population of around 2.8 million. St. Petersburg is located on the Pinellas peninsula between Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, and is connected to mainland Florida to the north.

St. Petersburg was founded in 1888 by John C. Williams, who purchased the land, and by Peter Demens who brought the railroad industry into the area. A coin toss bet was held between Williams and Demens to name this newly-formed community. Demens won the bet and subsequently named the land after Saint Petersburg, Russia. Williams was then granted the right to name the first hotel built (which he named the Detroit Hotel). Both named their winnings after their personal hometowns. St. Petersburg was incorporated as a town on February 29, 1892 and re-incorporated as a city on June 6, 1903.

The city is often referred to by locals as St. Pete. Neighboring St. Pete Beach formally shortened its name in 1994 after a vote by its residents. St. Petersburg is governed by a mayor and city council.

With an average of some 361 days of sunshine each year, and a Guinness World Record for logging the most consecutive days of sunshine (768 days between 1967 and 1969), it is nicknamed "The Sunshine City". Located on the Gulf of Mexico, the average water temperature is typically around 76 °F (24 °C). Due to its good weather and low cost of living, the city has long been a popular retirement destination, although in recent years the population has moved in a much more youthful direction.

American Style magazine ranked St. Petersburg its top mid-size city in 2011, citing its "vibrant" arts scene. The arts in St. Petersburg led the city to be named "One of the Best Street Art Cities in the World." St. Petersburg was also listed upon one of the top three places to visit in Florida. ranked the city as the seventh best place to retire, with 15 percent of the population over 65 years-old. In 2020, St. Petersburg was awarded a spot on of the top cities to visit in Conde Nast's 33rd annual Conde Nast Traveler 2020 Reader's Choice Awards. The city was recognized for being a "perfect" getaway because of its iconic beaches and historic destinations. St. Petersburg most recently joined 290 other cities as an "International City of Peace". This honor was granted by the International Cities of Peace and marks the second city in Florida to be given the title.

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Petersburg,_Florida#:~:text=S....

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral is a Greek Orthodox parish and center for Greek-American life in Tarpon Springs, Florida. Its noted Neo-Byzantine church is located at 36 North Pinellas Avenue.

St. Nicholas hosts an annual Epiphany celebration on January 6, in which Greek Orthodox boys aged 16 to 18 dive into Spring Bayou to retrieve a white wooden cross, said to bring the finder good luck for the year. It is the largest such event in the Western Hemisphere, with thousands in attendance. A statue of an epiphany diver is located in front of the church.

St. Nicholas hosts an annual Epiphany celebration on January 6, in which Greek Orthodox boys aged 16 to 18 dive into Spring Bayou to retrieve a white wooden cross, said to bring the finder good luck for the year. It is the largest such event in the Western

The domed main church building, designed by the Eugene Brothers of Chicago, was completed in 1943. Modeled in part after the Hagia Sophia in what is now Istanbul, it melds Byzantine and Gothic Revival styles. It is a local landmark that has been featured on postcards.

Noted features include 23 stained glass windows surrounding the dome depicting episodes in the life of Jesus and the saints, hand-painted by Joseph V. Llorens of Atlanta, and the sixty ton altar, made of Pentelic marble. Within the dome are three large chandeliers imported from Czechoslovakia. The altar was originally part of the Greek exhibit at the 1939 New York World's Fair. It, along with the cathedra, choir stalls, and other components were obtained with help from George Frantzis.[7] A new altar of Carrara marble was installed in 1965.

The interior is richly decorated with icons, many by Greek iconographer George Saklaridis. Forty-one icons, sponsored by various members of the parish, were delivered in 1952, with more added in subsequent years. On December 4, 1969, the icon of Saint Nicholas was observed to have drops of moisture, and some consider it a Weeping Icon.

The community traces its history to John Cocoris, a native of Leonidio in Arcadia, Greece, who settled in the area in 1896 and became a prosperous sponge diver and trader. The trade attracted Greek immigrants as well as Greeks from other parts of the U.S. By 1907, the population was large enough to support a Greek Orthodox church, a project put under the supervision of Nicholas Peppas, a native of Aegina. The first church, completed that year at a cost of $300 for the land and $3,500 for construction, was a wood frame structure painted white. Rev. Stamatis Koutouzis was appointed the first parish priest. The parish added a school in 1925.

By 1935, the parish had outgrown the first church and began raising funds toward the current structure. Construction began in 1941 and was completed in 1943 when it was consecrated by Archbishop Athenagoras (later Patriarch) at Epiphany. St. Nicholas was by then a significant center of community life as well, with major festivals surrounding Epiphany, Greek Independence Day, and Orthodox Easter. Honoring this, in 1975, the Tarpon Springs Board of Commissioners passed a resolution designating the city the "Epiphany City" of the United States.

St. Nicholas was elevated to cathedral status for West Florida on On January 6, 1976.

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Nicholas_Greek_Orthodox_Cathedral_(Tarpon_Springs,_Florida)

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census estimate, the population was 271,842, making it the fifth-most populous city in Florida and the largest in the state that is not a county seat (the city of Clearwater is the seat of Pinellas County). St. Petersburg is the fifth-largest city in Florida and the second-largest city in the Tampa Bay Area, after Tampa. Together with Clearwater, these cities comprise the Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater Metropolitan Statistical Area, the second-largest in Florida with a population of around 2.8 million. St. Petersburg is located on the Pinellas peninsula between Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, and is connected to mainland Florida to the north.

St. Petersburg was founded in 1888 by John C. Williams, who purchased the land, and by Peter Demens who brought the railroad industry into the area. A coin toss bet was held between Williams and Demens to name this newly-formed community. Demens won the bet and subsequently named the land after Saint Petersburg, Russia. Williams was then granted the right to name the first hotel built (which he named the Detroit Hotel). Both named their winnings after their personal hometowns. St. Petersburg was incorporated as a town on February 29, 1892 and re-incorporated as a city on June 6, 1903.

The city is often referred to by locals as St. Pete. Neighboring St. Pete Beach formally shortened its name in 1994 after a vote by its residents. St. Petersburg is governed by a mayor and city council.

With an average of some 361 days of sunshine each year, and a Guinness World Record for logging the most consecutive days of sunshine (768 days between 1967 and 1969), it is nicknamed "The Sunshine City". Located on the Gulf of Mexico, the average water temperature is typically around 76 °F (24 °C). Due to its good weather and low cost of living, the city has long been a popular retirement destination, although in recent years the population has moved in a much more youthful direction.

American Style magazine ranked St. Petersburg its top mid-size city in 2011, citing its "vibrant" arts scene. The arts in St. Petersburg led the city to be named "One of the Best Street Art Cities in the World." St. Petersburg was also listed upon one of the top three places to visit in Florida. ranked the city as the seventh best place to retire, with 15 percent of the population over 65 years-old. In 2020, St. Petersburg was awarded a spot on of the top cities to visit in Conde Nast's 33rd annual Conde Nast Traveler 2020 Reader's Choice Awards. The city was recognized for being a "perfect" getaway because of its iconic beaches and historic destinations. St. Petersburg most recently joined 290 other cities as an "International City of Peace". This honor was granted by the International Cities of Peace and marks the second city in Florida to be given the title.

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Petersburg,_Florida#:~:text=S....

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

Thank you for taking your time to view my photos.

St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral is a Greek Orthodox parish and center for Greek-American life in Tarpon Springs, Florida. Its noted Neo-Byzantine church is located at 36 North Pinellas Avenue.

St. Nicholas hosts an annual Epiphany celebration on January 6, in which Greek Orthodox boys aged 16 to 18 dive into Spring Bayou to retrieve a white wooden cross, said to bring the finder good luck for the year. It is the largest such event in the Western Hemisphere, with thousands in attendance. A statue of an epiphany diver is located in front of the church.

St. Nicholas hosts an annual Epiphany celebration on January 6, in which Greek Orthodox boys aged 16 to 18 dive into Spring Bayou to retrieve a white wooden cross, said to bring the finder good luck for the year. It is the largest such event in the Western

The domed main church building, designed by the Eugene Brothers of Chicago, was completed in 1943. Modeled in part after the Hagia Sophia in what is now Istanbul, it melds Byzantine and Gothic Revival styles. It is a local landmark that has been featured on postcards.

Noted features include 23 stained glass windows surrounding the dome depicting episodes in the life of Jesus and the saints, hand-painted by Joseph V. Llorens of Atlanta, and the sixty-ton altar, made of Pentelic marble. Within the dome are three large chandeliers imported from Czechoslovakia. The altar was originally part of the Greek exhibit at the 1939 New York World's Fair. It, along with the cathedra, choir stalls, and other components were obtained with help from George Frantzis. A new altar of Carrara marble was installed in 1965.

The interior is richly decorated with icons, many by Greek iconographer George Saklaridis. Forty-one icons, sponsored by various members of the parish, were delivered in 1952, with more added in subsequent years. On December 4, 1969, the icon of Saint Nicholas was observed to have drops of moisture, and some consider it a Weeping Icon.

The community traces its history to John Cocoris, a native of Leonidio in Arcadia, Greece, who settled in the area in 1896 and became a prosperous sponge diver and trader. The trade attracted Greek immigrants as well as Greeks from other parts of the U.S. By 1907, the population was large enough to support a Greek Orthodox church, a project put under the supervision of Nicholas Peppas, a native of Aegina. The first church, completed that year at a cost of $300 for the land and $3,500 for construction, was a wood frame structure painted white. Rev. Stamatis Koutouzis was appointed the first parish priest. The parish added a school in 1925.

By 1935, the parish had outgrown the first church and began raising funds toward the current structure. Construction began in 1941 and was completed in 1943 when it was consecrated by Archbishop Athenagoras (later Patriarch) at Epiphany. St. Nicholas was by then a significant center of community life as well, with major festivals surrounding Epiphany, Greek Independence Day, and Orthodox Easter. Honoring this, in 1975, the Tarpon Springs Board of Commissioners passed a resolution designating the city the "Epiphany City" of the United States.

St. Nicholas was elevated to cathedral status for West Florida on On January 6, 1976.

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Nicholas_Greek_Orthodox_Cathedral_(Tarpon_Springs,_Florida)

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

Tarpon Springs is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The population was 23,484 at the 2010 census. Tarpon Springs has the highest percentage of Greek Americans of any city in the US. Downtown Tarpon Springs has long been a focal point and is currently undergoing beautification.

The region, with a series of bayous feeding into the Gulf of Mexico, was first settled by white and black farmers and fishermen around 1876. Some of the newly arrived visitors spotted tarpon jumping out of the waters and so named the location Tarpon Springs. The name is said to have originated with a remark of Mrs. Ormond Boyer, an early settler from South Carolina, and who, while standing on the shore of the Bayou and seeing fish leaping exclaimed, "See the tarpon spring!' However, for the most part, the fish seen splashing here were mullets rather than tarpon. In 1882, Hamilton Disston, who in the previous year had purchased the land where the city of Tarpon Springs now stands, ordered the creation of a town plan for the future city.

On February 12, 1887, Tarpon Springs became the first incorporated city in what is now Pinellas County. Less than a year later on January 13, 1888, the Orange Belt Railway, the first railroad line to be built in what is now Pinellas County, arrived in the city. During this time the area was developed as a wintering spot for wealthy northerners.

In the 1880s, John K. Cheyney founded the first local sponge business. The industry continued to grow in the 1890s. Many people from Key West and the Bahamas settled in Tarpon Springs to hook sponges and then process them. A few Greek immigrants also arrived in this city during the 1890s to work in the sponge industry.

In 1905, John Cocoris introduced the technique of sponge diving to Tarpon Springs by recruiting divers and crew members from Greece. The first divers came from the Saronic Gulf islands of Aegina and Hydra, but they were soon outnumbered by those from the Dodecanese islands of Kalymnos, Symi, and Halki. The sponge industry soon became one of the leading maritime industries in Florida and the most important business in Tarpon Springs, generating millions of dollars a year. The 1953 film Beneath the 12-Mile Reef, depicting the sponge industry, takes place and was filmed in Tarpon Springs.

In 1947, red tide algae bloom wiped out the sponge fields in the Gulf of Mexico, causing many of the sponge boats and divers to switch to shrimping for their livelihood, while others left the business. Eventually, the sponges recovered, allowing for a smaller but consistent sponge industry today. In the 1980s, the sponge business experienced a boom due to a sponge disease that killed the Mediterranean sponges. Today there is still a small active sponge industry. Visitors can often view sponge fishermen working at the Sponge Docks on Dodecanese Boulevard. In addition, visitors can enjoy shops, restaurants, and museum exhibits that detail Tarpon Springs' Greek heritage.

In 2007 and 2008, the City of Tarpon Springs established Sister City relationships with Kalymnos, Halki, Symi, and Larnaca, Cyprus, honoring the close historical link with these Greek-speaking islands.

There are several districts or properties in Tarpon Springs that have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places:

Tarpon Springs Greektown Historic District

Tarpon Springs Historic District

Arcade Hotel

Old Tarpon Springs City Hall

Old Tarpon Springs High School

Safford House

Rose Hill Cemetery

Tarpon Springs Depot

Many sites related to the sponge industry within the Greektown District also have been recognized. They include but are not limited to two sponge packing houses:

E.R. Meres Sponge Packing House

N.G. Arfaras Sponge Packing House

And several boats:

N.K. Symi (Sponge Diving Boat)

St. Nicholas III (Sponge Diving Boat)

St. Nicholas VI (Sponge Diving Boat)

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarpon_Springs,_Florida

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

Tarpon Springs is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The population was 23,484 at the 2010 census. Tarpon Springs has the highest percentage of Greek Americans of any city in the US. Downtown Tarpon Springs has long been a focal point and is currently undergoing beautification.

The region, with a series of bayous feeding into the Gulf of Mexico, was first settled by white and black farmers and fishermen around 1876. Some of the newly arrived visitors spotted tarpon jumping out of the waters and so named the location Tarpon Springs. The name is said to have originated with a remark of Mrs. Ormond Boyer, an early settler from South Carolina, and who, while standing on the shore of the Bayou and seeing fish leaping exclaimed, "See the tarpon spring!' However, for the most part, the fish seen splashing here were mullets rather than tarpon. In 1882, Hamilton Disston, who in the previous year had purchased the land where the city of Tarpon Springs now stands, ordered the creation of a town plan for the future city.

On February 12, 1887, Tarpon Springs became the first incorporated city in what is now Pinellas County. Less than a year later on January 13, 1888, the Orange Belt Railway, the first railroad line to be built in what is now Pinellas County, arrived in the city. During this time the area was developed as a wintering spot for wealthy northerners.

In the 1880s, John K. Cheyney founded the first local sponge business. The industry continued to grow in the 1890s. Many people from Key West and the Bahamas settled in Tarpon Springs to hook sponges and then process them. A few Greek immigrants also arrived in this city during the 1890s to work in the sponge industry.

In 1905, John Cocoris introduced the technique of sponge diving to Tarpon Springs by recruiting divers and crew members from Greece. The first divers came from the Saronic Gulf islands of Aegina and Hydra, but they were soon outnumbered by those from the Dodecanese islands of Kalymnos, Symi, and Halki. The sponge industry soon became one of the leading maritime industries in Florida and the most important business in Tarpon Springs, generating millions of dollars a year. The 1953 film Beneath the 12-Mile Reef, depicting the sponge industry, takes place and was filmed in Tarpon Springs.

In 1947, red tide algae bloom wiped out the sponge fields in the Gulf of Mexico, causing many of the sponge boats and divers to switch to shrimping for their livelihood, while others left the business. Eventually, the sponges recovered, allowing for a smaller but consistent sponge industry today. In the 1980s, the sponge business experienced a boom due to a sponge disease that killed the Mediterranean sponges. Today there is still a small active sponge industry. Visitors can often view sponge fishermen working at the Sponge Docks on Dodecanese Boulevard. In addition, visitors can enjoy shops, restaurants, and museum exhibits that detail Tarpon Springs' Greek heritage.

In 2007 and 2008, the City of Tarpon Springs established Sister City relationships with Kalymnos, Halki, Symi, and Larnaca, Cyprus, honoring the close historical link with these Greek-speaking islands.

There are several districts or properties in Tarpon Springs that have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places:

Tarpon Springs Greektown Historic District

Tarpon Springs Historic District

Arcade Hotel

Old Tarpon Springs City Hall

Old Tarpon Springs High School

Safford House

Rose Hill Cemetery

Tarpon Springs Depot

Many sites related to the sponge industry within the Greektown District also have been recognized. They include but are not limited to two sponge packing houses:

E.R. Meres Sponge Packing House

N.G. Arfaras Sponge Packing House

And several boats:

N.K. Symi (Sponge Diving Boat)

St. Nicholas III (Sponge Diving Boat)

St. Nicholas VI (Sponge Diving Boat)

Credit for the data above is given to the following websites:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarpon_Springs,_Florida

www.pcpao.org/?pg=https://www.pcpao.org/general.php?strap...

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral is a Greek Orthodox parish and center for Greek-American life in Tarpon Springs, Florida. Its noted Neo-Byzantine church is located at 36 North Pinellas Avenue.

St. Nicholas hosts an annual Epiphany celebration on January 6, in which Greek Orthodox boys aged 16 to 18 dive into Spring Bayou to retrieve a white wooden cross, said to bring the finder good luck for the year. It is the largest such event in the Western Hemisphere, with thousands in attendance. A statue of an epiphany diver is located in front of the church.

St. Nicholas hosts an annual Epiphany celebration on January 6, in which Greek Orthodox boys aged 16 to 18 dive into Spring Bayou to retrieve a white wooden cross, said to bring the finder good luck for the year. It is the largest such event in the Western

The domed main church building, designed by the Eugene Brothers of Chicago, was completed in 1943. Modeled in part after the Hagia Sophia in what is now Istanbul, it melds Byzantine and Gothic Revival styles. It is a local landmark that has been featured on postcards.

Noted features include 23 stained glass windows surrounding the dome depicting episodes in the life of Jesus and the saints, hand-painted by Joseph V. Llorens of Atlanta, and the sixty ton altar, made of Pentelic marble. Within the dome are three large chandeliers imported from Czechoslovakia. The altar was originally part of the Greek exhibit at the 1939 New York World's Fair. It, along with the cathedra, choir stalls, and other components were obtained with help from George Frantzis.[7] A new altar of Carrara marble was installed in 1965.

The interior is richly decorated with icons, many by Greek iconographer George Saklaridis. Forty-one icons, sponsored by various members of the parish, were delivered in 1952, with more added in subsequent years. On December 4, 1969, the icon of Saint Nicholas was observed to have drops of moisture, and some consider it a Weeping Icon.

The community traces its history to John Cocoris, a native of Leonidio in Arcadia, Greece, who settled in the area in 1896 and became a prosperous sponge diver and trader. The trade attracted Greek immigrants as well as Greeks from other parts of the U.S. By 1907, the population was large enough to support a Greek Orthodox church, a project put under the supervision of Nicholas Peppas, a native of Aegina. The first church, completed that year at a cost of $300 for the land and $3,500 for construction, was a wood frame structure painted white. Rev. Stamatis Koutouzis was appointed the first parish priest. The parish added a school in 1925.

By 1935, the parish had outgrown the first church and began raising funds toward the current structure. Construction began in 1941 and was completed in 1943 when it was consecrated by Archbishop Athenagoras (later Patriarch) at Epiphany. St. Nicholas was by then a significant center of community life as well, with major festivals surrounding Epiphany, Greek Independence Day, and Orthodox Easter. Honoring this, in 1975, the Tarpon Springs Board of Commissioners passed a resolution designating the city the "Epiphany City" of the United States.

St. Nicholas was elevated to cathedral status for West Florida on On January 6, 1976.

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Nicholas_Greek_Orthodox_Cathedral_(Tarpon_Springs,_Florida)

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

Henry Plant’s original railroad in Pinellas County was the 3-ft gauge Orange Blossom Railroad. It was converted to standard gauge in the mid-1890s.

Tarpon Springs is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The population was 23,484 at the 2010 census. Tarpon Springs has the highest percentage of Greek Americans of any city in the US. Downtown Tarpon Springs has long been a focal point and is currently undergoing beautification.

The region, with a series of bayous feeding into the Gulf of Mexico, was first settled by white and black farmers and fishermen around 1876. Some of the newly arrived visitors spotted tarpon jumping out of the waters and so named the location Tarpon Springs. The name is said to have originated with a remark of Mrs. Ormond Boyer, an early settler from South Carolina, and who, while standing on the shore of the Bayou and seeing fish leaping exclaimed, "See the tarpon spring!' However, for the most part, the fish seen splashing here were mullets rather than tarpon. In 1882, Hamilton Disston, who in the previous year had purchased the land where the city of Tarpon Springs now stands, ordered the creation of a town plan for the future city.

On February 12, 1887, Tarpon Springs became the first incorporated city in what is now Pinellas County. Less than a year later on January 13, 1888, the Orange Belt Railway, the first railroad line to be built in what is now Pinellas County, arrived in the city. During this time the area was developed as a wintering spot for wealthy northerners.

In the 1880s, John K. Cheyney founded the first local sponge business. The industry continued to grow in the 1890s. Many people from Key West and the Bahamas settled in Tarpon Springs to hook sponges and then process them. A few Greek immigrants also arrived in this city during the 1890s to work in the sponge industry.

In 1905, John Cocoris introduced the technique of sponge diving to Tarpon Springs by recruiting divers and crew members from Greece. The first divers came from the Saronic Gulf islands of Aegina and Hydra, but they were soon outnumbered by those from the Dodecanese islands of Kalymnos, Symi, and Halki. The sponge industry soon became one of the leading maritime industries in Florida and the most important business in Tarpon Springs, generating millions of dollars a year. The 1953 film Beneath the 12-Mile Reef, depicting the sponge industry, takes place and was filmed in Tarpon Springs.

In 1947, red tide algae bloom wiped out the sponge fields in the Gulf of Mexico, causing many of the sponge boats and divers to switch to shrimping for their livelihood, while others left the business. Eventually, the sponges recovered, allowing for a smaller but consistent sponge industry today. In the 1980s, the sponge business experienced a boom due to a sponge disease that killed the Mediterranean sponges. Today there is still a small active sponge industry. Visitors can often view sponge fishermen working at the Sponge Docks on Dodecanese Boulevard. In addition, visitors can enjoy shops, restaurants, and museum exhibits that detail Tarpon Springs' Greek heritage.

In 2007 and 2008, the City of Tarpon Springs established Sister City relationships with Kalymnos, Halki, Symi, and Larnaca, Cyprus, honoring the close historical link with these Greek-speaking islands.

There are several districts or properties in Tarpon Springs that have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places:

Tarpon Springs Greektown Historic District

Tarpon Springs Historic District

Arcade Hotel

Old Tarpon Springs City Hall

Old Tarpon Springs High School

Safford House

Rose Hill Cemetery

Tarpon Springs Depot

Many sites related to the sponge industry within the Greektown District also have been recognized. They include but are not limited to two sponge packing houses:

E.R. Meres Sponge Packing House

N.G. Arfaras Sponge Packing House

And several boats:

N.K. Symi (Sponge Diving Boat)

St. Nicholas III (Sponge Diving Boat)

St. Nicholas VI (Sponge Diving Boat)

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarpon_Springs,_Florida

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

Clearwater is a city located in Pinellas County, Florida, United States, northwest of Tampa and St. Petersburg. To the west of Clearwater lies the Gulf of Mexico and to the southeast lies Tampa Bay. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 107,685. Clearwater is the county seat of Pinellas County and is the smallest of the three principal cities in the Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater metropolitan area, most commonly referred to as the Tampa Bay Area.

Cleveland Street is one of the city's historic avenues, and the city includes BayCare Ballpark and Coachman Park. The city is separated by the Intracoastal Waterway from Clearwater Beach.

Clearwater is the home of Clearwater Marine Aquarium, where bottlenose dolphins Winter and Hope live.

The global headquarters of the Church of Scientology is located in Clearwater; the organization had tried to take over the city in what was called Project Normandy.

By the early 1900s, Clearwater's population had grown to around 400, ballooning to nearly 1,000 in the winter. Clearwater's oldest existing newspaper, the Clearwater Sun, was first published on March 14, 1914. Clearwater was reincorporated, this time as a city, on May 27, 1915, and was designated the county seat for Pinellas County, which broke from Hillsborough County in 1912. In 1915, a bridge was built across Clearwater Harbor, joining the city with Clearwater Beach to the west. Clearwater Beach, although located on a separate barrier island, belongs to the city of Clearwater and fronts the Gulf of Mexico. A new, much higher bridge now arcs over the bay, replacing the former drawbridge; the connecting road is part of State Road 60 and is called Clearwater Memorial Causeway.

During World War II, Clearwater became a major training base for US troops destined for Europe and the Pacific. Virtually every hotel in the area, including the Belleview Biltmore and the Fort Harrison Hotel, was used as a barracks for new recruits. Vehicle traffic was regularly stopped for companies of soldiers marching through downtown, and nighttime blackouts to confuse potential enemy bombers were common practice. The remote and isolated Dan's Island, now the highrise-dominated Sand Key, was used as a target by U.S. Army Air Corps fighter-bombers for strafing and bombing practice.

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clearwater,_Florida

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

Tarpon Springs is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The population was 23,484 at the 2010 census. Tarpon Springs has the highest percentage of Greek Americans of any city in the US. Downtown Tarpon Springs has long been a focal point and is currently undergoing beautification.

The region, with a series of bayous feeding into the Gulf of Mexico, was first settled by white and black farmers and fishermen around 1876. Some of the newly arrived visitors spotted tarpon jumping out of the waters and so named the location Tarpon Springs. The name is said to have originated with a remark of Mrs. Ormond Boyer, an early settler from South Carolina, and who, while standing on the shore of the Bayou and seeing fish leaping exclaimed, "See the tarpon spring!' However, for the most part, the fish seen splashing here were mullets rather than tarpon. In 1882, Hamilton Disston, who in the previous year had purchased the land where the city of Tarpon Springs now stands, ordered the creation of a town plan for the future city.

On February 12, 1887, Tarpon Springs became the first incorporated city in what is now Pinellas County. Less than a year later on January 13, 1888, the Orange Belt Railway, the first railroad line to be built in what is now Pinellas County, arrived in the city. During this time the area was developed as a wintering spot for wealthy northerners.

In the 1880s, John K. Cheyney founded the first local sponge business. The industry continued to grow in the 1890s. Many people from Key West and the Bahamas settled in Tarpon Springs to hook sponges and then process them. A few Greek immigrants also arrived in this city during the 1890s to work in the sponge industry.

In 1905, John Cocoris introduced the technique of sponge diving to Tarpon Springs by recruiting divers and crew members from Greece. The first divers came from the Saronic Gulf islands of Aegina and Hydra, but they were soon outnumbered by those from the Dodecanese islands of Kalymnos, Symi, and Halki. The sponge industry soon became one of the leading maritime industries in Florida and the most important business in Tarpon Springs, generating millions of dollars a year. The 1953 film Beneath the 12-Mile Reef, depicting the sponge industry, takes place and was filmed in Tarpon Springs.

In 1947, red tide algae bloom wiped out the sponge fields in the Gulf of Mexico, causing many of the sponge boats and divers to switch to shrimping for their livelihood, while others left the business. Eventually, the sponges recovered, allowing for a smaller but consistent sponge industry today. In the 1980s, the sponge business experienced a boom due to a sponge disease that killed the Mediterranean sponges. Today there is still a small active sponge industry. Visitors can often view sponge fishermen working at the Sponge Docks on Dodecanese Boulevard. In addition, visitors can enjoy shops, restaurants, and museum exhibits that detail Tarpon Springs' Greek heritage.

In 2007 and 2008, the City of Tarpon Springs established Sister City relationships with Kalymnos, Halki, Symi, and Larnaca, Cyprus, honoring the close historical link with these Greek-speaking islands.

There are several districts or properties in Tarpon Springs that have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places:

Tarpon Springs Greektown Historic District

Tarpon Springs Historic District

Arcade Hotel

Old Tarpon Springs City Hall

Old Tarpon Springs High School

Safford House

Rose Hill Cemetery

Tarpon Springs Depot

Many sites related to the sponge industry within the Greektown District also have been recognized. They include but are not limited to two sponge packing houses:

E.R. Meres Sponge Packing House

N.G. Arfaras Sponge Packing House

And several boats:

N.K. Symi (Sponge Diving Boat)

St. Nicholas III (Sponge Diving Boat)

St. Nicholas VI (Sponge Diving Boat)

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarpon_Springs,_Florida

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

Thank you for taking your time to view my photos.

Tarpon Springs is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The population was 23,484 at the 2010 census. Tarpon Springs has the highest percentage of Greek Americans of any city in the US. Downtown Tarpon Springs has long been a focal point and is currently undergoing beautification.

The region, with a series of bayous feeding into the Gulf of Mexico, was first settled by white and black farmers and fishermen around 1876. Some of the newly arrived visitors spotted tarpon jumping out of the waters and so named the location Tarpon Springs. The name is said to have originated with a remark of Mrs. Ormond Boyer, an early settler from South Carolina, and who, while standing on the shore of the Bayou and seeing fish leaping exclaimed, "See the tarpon spring!' However, for the most part, the fish seen splashing here were mullets rather than tarpon. In 1882, Hamilton Disston, who in the previous year had purchased the land where the city of Tarpon Springs now stands, ordered the creation of a town plan for the future city.

On February 12, 1887, Tarpon Springs became the first incorporated city in what is now Pinellas County. Less than a year later on January 13, 1888, the Orange Belt Railway, the first railroad line to be built in what is now Pinellas County, arrived in the city. During this time the area was developed as a wintering spot for wealthy northerners.

In the 1880s, John K. Cheyney founded the first local sponge business. The industry continued to grow in the 1890s. Many people from Key West and the Bahamas settled in Tarpon Springs to hook sponges and then process them. A few Greek immigrants also arrived in this city during the 1890s to work in the sponge industry.

In 1905, John Cocoris introduced the technique of sponge diving to Tarpon Springs by recruiting divers and crew members from Greece. The first divers came from the Saronic Gulf islands of Aegina and Hydra, but they were soon outnumbered by those from the Dodecanese islands of Kalymnos, Symi, and Halki. The sponge industry soon became one of the leading maritime industries in Florida and the most important business in Tarpon Springs, generating millions of dollars a year. The 1953 film Beneath the 12-Mile Reef, depicting the sponge industry, takes place and was filmed in Tarpon Springs.

In 1947, red tide algae bloom wiped out the sponge fields in the Gulf of Mexico, causing many of the sponge boats and divers to switch to shrimping for their livelihood, while others left the business. Eventually, the sponges recovered, allowing for a smaller but consistent sponge industry today. In the 1980s, the sponge business experienced a boom due to a sponge disease that killed the Mediterranean sponges. Today there is still a small active sponge industry. Visitors can often view sponge fishermen working at the Sponge Docks on Dodecanese Boulevard. In addition, visitors can enjoy shops, restaurants, and museum exhibits that detail Tarpon Springs' Greek heritage.

In 2007 and 2008, the City of Tarpon Springs established Sister City relationships with Kalymnos, Halki, Symi, and Larnaca, Cyprus, honoring the close historical link with these Greek-speaking islands.

There are several districts or properties in Tarpon Springs that have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places:

Tarpon Springs Greektown Historic District

Tarpon Springs Historic District

Arcade Hotel

Old Tarpon Springs City Hall

Old Tarpon Springs High School

Safford House

Rose Hill Cemetery

Tarpon Springs Depot

Many sites related to the sponge industry within the Greektown District also have been recognized. They include but are not limited to two sponge packing houses:

E.R. Meres Sponge Packing House

N.G. Arfaras Sponge Packing House

And several boats:

N.K. Symi (Sponge Diving Boat)

St. Nicholas III (Sponge Diving Boat)

St. Nicholas VI (Sponge Diving Boat)

Credit for the data above is given to the following websites:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarpon_Springs,_Florida

www.pcpao.org/?pg=https://www.pcpao.org/general.php?strap...

usflibexhibits.omeka.net/exhibits/show/greek-community/ma...

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

Tarpon Springs is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The population was 23,484 at the 2010 census. Tarpon Springs has the highest percentage of Greek Americans of any city in the US. Downtown Tarpon Springs has long been a focal point and is currently undergoing beautification.

The region, with a series of bayous feeding into the Gulf of Mexico, was first settled by white and black farmers and fishermen around 1876. Some of the newly arrived visitors spotted tarpon jumping out of the waters and so named the location Tarpon Springs. The name is said to have originated with a remark of Mrs. Ormond Boyer, an early settler from South Carolina, and who, while standing on the shore of the Bayou and seeing fish leaping exclaimed, "See the tarpon spring!' However, for the most part, the fish seen splashing here were mullets rather than tarpon. In 1882, Hamilton Disston, who in the previous year had purchased the land where the city of Tarpon Springs now stands, ordered the creation of a town plan for the future city.

On February 12, 1887, Tarpon Springs became the first incorporated city in what is now Pinellas County. Less than a year later on January 13, 1888, the Orange Belt Railway, the first railroad line to be built in what is now Pinellas County, arrived in the city. During this time the area was developed as a wintering spot for wealthy northerners.

In the 1880s, John K. Cheyney founded the first local sponge business. The industry continued to grow in the 1890s. Many people from Key West and the Bahamas settled in Tarpon Springs to hook sponges and then process them. A few Greek immigrants also arrived in this city during the 1890s to work in the sponge industry.

In 1905, John Cocoris introduced the technique of sponge diving to Tarpon Springs by recruiting divers and crew members from Greece. The first divers came from the Saronic Gulf islands of Aegina and Hydra, but they were soon outnumbered by those from the Dodecanese islands of Kalymnos, Symi, and Halki. The sponge industry soon became one of the leading maritime industries in Florida and the most important business in Tarpon Springs, generating millions of dollars a year. The 1953 film Beneath the 12-Mile Reef, depicting the sponge industry, takes place and was filmed in Tarpon Springs.

In 1947, red tide algae bloom wiped out the sponge fields in the Gulf of Mexico, causing many of the sponge boats and divers to switch to shrimping for their livelihood, while others left the business. Eventually, the sponges recovered, allowing for a smaller but consistent sponge industry today. In the 1980s, the sponge business experienced a boom due to a sponge disease that killed the Mediterranean sponges. Today there is still a small active sponge industry. Visitors can often view sponge fishermen working at the Sponge Docks on Dodecanese Boulevard. In addition, visitors can enjoy shops, restaurants, and museum exhibits that detail Tarpon Springs' Greek heritage.

In 2007 and 2008, the City of Tarpon Springs established Sister City relationships with Kalymnos, Halki, Symi, and Larnaca, Cyprus, honoring the close historical link with these Greek-speaking islands.

There are several districts or properties in Tarpon Springs that have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places:

Tarpon Springs Greektown Historic District

Tarpon Springs Historic District

Arcade Hotel

Old Tarpon Springs City Hall

Old Tarpon Springs High School

Safford House

Rose Hill Cemetery

Tarpon Springs Depot

Many sites related to the sponge industry within the Greektown District also have been recognized. They include but are not limited to two sponge packing houses:

E.R. Meres Sponge Packing House

N.G. Arfaras Sponge Packing House

And several boats:

N.K. Symi (Sponge Diving Boat)

St. Nicholas III (Sponge Diving Boat)

St. Nicholas VI (Sponge Diving Boat)

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarpon_Springs,_Florida

mykonos.mapforfood.com/

www.pcpao.org/?pg=https://www.pcpao.org/general.php?strap...

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

Pinellas County Sheriff 3-83 Ford Crown Victoria cruiser Largo

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Tarpon Springs is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The population was 23,484 at the 2010 census. Tarpon Springs has the highest percentage of Greek Americans of any city in the US. Downtown Tarpon Springs has long been a focal point and is currently undergoing beautification.

The region, with a series of bayous feeding into the Gulf of Mexico, was first settled by white and black farmers and fishermen around 1876. Some of the newly arrived visitors spotted tarpon jumping out of the waters and so named the location Tarpon Springs. The name is said to have originated with a remark of Mrs. Ormond Boyer, an early settler from South Carolina, and who, while standing on the shore of the Bayou and seeing fish leaping exclaimed, "See the tarpon spring!' However, for the most part, the fish seen splashing here were mullets rather than tarpon. In 1882, Hamilton Disston, who in the previous year had purchased the land where the city of Tarpon Springs now stands, ordered the creation of a town plan for the future city.

On February 12, 1887, Tarpon Springs became the first incorporated city in what is now Pinellas County. Less than a year later on January 13, 1888, the Orange Belt Railway, the first railroad line to be built in what is now Pinellas County, arrived in the city. During this time the area was developed as a wintering spot for wealthy northerners.

In the 1880s, John K. Cheyney founded the first local sponge business. The industry continued to grow in the 1890s. Many people from Key West and the Bahamas settled in Tarpon Springs to hook sponges and then process them. A few Greek immigrants also arrived in this city during the 1890s to work in the sponge industry.

In 1905, John Cocoris introduced the technique of sponge diving to Tarpon Springs by recruiting divers and crew members from Greece. The first divers came from the Saronic Gulf islands of Aegina and Hydra, but they were soon outnumbered by those from the Dodecanese islands of Kalymnos, Symi, and Halki. The sponge industry soon became one of the leading maritime industries in Florida and the most important business in Tarpon Springs, generating millions of dollars a year. The 1953 film Beneath the 12-Mile Reef, depicting the sponge industry, takes place and was filmed in Tarpon Springs.

In 1947, red tide algae bloom wiped out the sponge fields in the Gulf of Mexico, causing many of the sponge boats and divers to switch to shrimping for their livelihood, while others left the business. Eventually, the sponges recovered, allowing for a smaller but consistent sponge industry today. In the 1980s, the sponge business experienced a boom due to a sponge disease that killed the Mediterranean sponges. Today there is still a small active sponge industry. Visitors can often view sponge fishermen working at the Sponge Docks on Dodecanese Boulevard. In addition, visitors can enjoy shops, restaurants, and museum exhibits that detail Tarpon Springs' Greek heritage.

In 2007 and 2008, the City of Tarpon Springs established Sister City relationships with Kalymnos, Halki, Symi, and Larnaca, Cyprus, honoring the close historical link with these Greek-speaking islands.

There are several districts or properties in Tarpon Springs that have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places:

Tarpon Springs Greektown Historic District

Tarpon Springs Historic District

Arcade Hotel

Old Tarpon Springs City Hall

Old Tarpon Springs High School

Safford House

Rose Hill Cemetery

Tarpon Springs Depot

Many sites related to the sponge industry within the Greektown District also have been recognized. They include but are not limited to two sponge packing houses:

E.R. Meres Sponge Packing House

N.G. Arfaras Sponge Packing House

And several boats:

N.K. Symi (Sponge Diving Boat)

St. Nicholas III (Sponge Diving Boat)

St. Nicholas VI (Sponge Diving Boat)

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarpon_Springs,_Florida

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

Clearwater is a city located in Pinellas County, Florida, United States, northwest of Tampa and St. Petersburg. To the west of Clearwater lies the Gulf of Mexico and to the southeast lies Tampa Bay. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 107,685. Clearwater is the county seat of Pinellas County and is the smallest of the three principal cities in the Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater metropolitan area, most commonly referred to as the Tampa Bay Area.

Cleveland Street is one of the city's historic avenues, and the city includes BayCare Ballpark and Coachman Park. The city is separated by the Intracoastal Waterway from Clearwater Beach.

Clearwater is the home of Clearwater Marine Aquarium, where bottlenose dolphins Winter and Hope live.

The global headquarters of the Church of Scientology is located in Clearwater; the organization had tried to take over the city in what was called Project Normandy.

By the early 1900s, Clearwater's population had grown to around 400, ballooning to nearly 1,000 in the winter. Clearwater's oldest existing newspaper, the Clearwater Sun, was first published on March 14, 1914. Clearwater was reincorporated, this time as a city, on May 27, 1915, and was designated the county seat for Pinellas County, which broke from Hillsborough County in 1912. In 1915, a bridge was built across Clearwater Harbor, joining the city with Clearwater Beach to the west. Clearwater Beach, although located on a separate barrier island, belongs to the city of Clearwater and fronts the Gulf of Mexico. A new, much higher bridge now arcs over the bay, replacing the former drawbridge; the connecting road is part of State Road 60 and is called Clearwater Memorial Causeway.

During World War II, Clearwater became a major training base for US troops destined for Europe and the Pacific. Virtually every hotel in the area, including the Belleview Biltmore and the Fort Harrison Hotel, was used as a barracks for new recruits. Vehicle traffic was regularly stopped for companies of soldiers marching through downtown, and nighttime blackouts to confuse potential enemy bombers were common practice. The remote and isolated Dan's Island, now the highrise-dominated Sand Key, was used as a target by U.S. Army Air Corps fighter-bombers for strafing and bombing practice.

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clearwater,_Florida

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

As I was walking the Dog this Morning (Friday Dec 6, 2019), we passed a Hawk High Up sitting on the branch of an Oak Tree. After I finished walking the Dog, I grabbed My Canon 40D DSLR Camera and walked back to where we passed the Hawk. Ninety Percent of the Time my Luck is nowhere this good, but to my surprise , the Hawk was still there and I was able to get several Photographs before it flew away. It flew away before I could reposition myself behind the Bird to photograph the Back View>

Thank You Brad Warnaar for Identifying this Bird !

The Photo was taken in Palm Harbor, Florida (Pinellas County) near John Chestnut Park and East Lake .

Tarpon Springs is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The population was 23,484 at the 2010 census. Tarpon Springs has the highest percentage of Greek Americans of any city in the US. Downtown Tarpon Springs has long been a focal point and is currently undergoing beautification.

The region, with a series of bayous feeding into the Gulf of Mexico, was first settled by white and black farmers and fishermen around 1876. Some of the newly arrived visitors spotted tarpon jumping out of the waters and so named the location Tarpon Springs. The name is said to have originated with a remark of Mrs. Ormond Boyer, an early settler from South Carolina, and who, while standing on the shore of the Bayou and seeing fish leaping exclaimed, "See the tarpon spring!' However, for the most part, the fish seen splashing here were mullets rather than tarpon. In 1882, Hamilton Disston, who in the previous year had purchased the land where the city of Tarpon Springs now stands, ordered the creation of a town plan for the future city.

On February 12, 1887, Tarpon Springs became the first incorporated city in what is now Pinellas County. Less than a year later on January 13, 1888, the Orange Belt Railway, the first railroad line to be built in what is now Pinellas County, arrived in the city. During this time the area was developed as a wintering spot for wealthy northerners.

In the 1880s, John K. Cheyney founded the first local sponge business. The industry continued to grow in the 1890s. Many people from Key West and the Bahamas settled in Tarpon Springs to hook sponges and then process them. A few Greek immigrants also arrived in this city during the 1890s to work in the sponge industry.

In 1905, John Cocoris introduced the technique of sponge diving to Tarpon Springs by recruiting divers and crew members from Greece. The first divers came from the Saronic Gulf islands of Aegina and Hydra, but they were soon outnumbered by those from the Dodecanese islands of Kalymnos, Symi, and Halki. The sponge industry soon became one of the leading maritime industries in Florida and the most important business in Tarpon Springs, generating millions of dollars a year. The 1953 film Beneath the 12-Mile Reef, depicting the sponge industry, takes place and was filmed in Tarpon Springs.

In 1947, red tide algae bloom wiped out the sponge fields in the Gulf of Mexico, causing many of the sponge boats and divers to switch to shrimping for their livelihood, while others left the business. Eventually, the sponges recovered, allowing for a smaller but consistent sponge industry today. In the 1980s, the sponge business experienced a boom due to a sponge disease that killed the Mediterranean sponges. Today there is still a small active sponge industry. Visitors can often view sponge fishermen working at the Sponge Docks on Dodecanese Boulevard. In addition, visitors can enjoy shops, restaurants, and museum exhibits that detail Tarpon Springs' Greek heritage.

In 2007 and 2008, the City of Tarpon Springs established Sister City relationships with Kalymnos, Halki, Symi, and Larnaca, Cyprus, honoring the close historical link with these Greek-speaking islands.

There are several districts or properties in Tarpon Springs that have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places:

Tarpon Springs Greektown Historic District

Tarpon Springs Historic District

Arcade Hotel

Old Tarpon Springs City Hall

Old Tarpon Springs High School

Safford House

Rose Hill Cemetery

Tarpon Springs Depot

Many sites related to the sponge industry within the Greektown District also have been recognized. They include but are not limited to two sponge packing houses:

E.R. Meres Sponge Packing House

N.G. Arfaras Sponge Packing House

And several boats:

N.K. Symi (Sponge Diving Boat)

St. Nicholas III (Sponge Diving Boat)

St. Nicholas VI (Sponge Diving Boat)

Credit for the data above is given to the following websites:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarpon_Springs,_Florida

www.pcpao.org/?pg=https://www.pcpao.org/general.php?strap...

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census estimate, the population was 271,842, making it the fifth-most populous city in Florida and the largest in the state that is not a county seat (the city of Clearwater is the seat of Pinellas County). St. Petersburg is the fifth-largest city in Florida and the second-largest city in the Tampa Bay Area, after Tampa. Together with Clearwater, these cities comprise the Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater Metropolitan Statistical Area, the second-largest in Florida with a population of around 2.8 million. St. Petersburg is located on the Pinellas peninsula between Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, and is connected to mainland Florida to the north.

St. Petersburg was founded in 1888 by John C. Williams, who purchased the land, and by Peter Demens who brought the railroad industry into the area. A coin toss bet was held between Williams and Demens to name this newly-formed community. Demens won the bet and subsequently named the land after Saint Petersburg, Russia. Williams was then granted the right to name the first hotel built (which he named the Detroit Hotel). Both named their winnings after their personal hometowns. St. Petersburg was incorporated as a town on February 29, 1892 and re-incorporated as a city on June 6, 1903.

The city is often referred to by locals as St. Pete. Neighboring St. Pete Beach formally shortened its name in 1994 after a vote by its residents. St. Petersburg is governed by a mayor and city council.

With an average of some 361 days of sunshine each year, and a Guinness World Record for logging the most consecutive days of sunshine (768 days between 1967 and 1969), it is nicknamed "The Sunshine City". Located on the Gulf of Mexico, the average water temperature is typically around 76 °F (24 °C). Due to its good weather and low cost of living, the city has long been a popular retirement destination, although in recent years the population has moved in a much more youthful direction.

American Style magazine ranked St. Petersburg its top mid-size city in 2011, citing its "vibrant" arts scene. The arts in St. Petersburg led the city to be named "One of the Best Street Art Cities in the World." St. Petersburg was also listed upon one of the top three places to visit in Florida. ranked the city as the seventh best place to retire, with 15 percent of the population over 65 years-old. In 2020, St. Petersburg was awarded a spot on of the top cities to visit in Conde Nast's 33rd annual Conde Nast Traveler 2020 Reader's Choice Awards. The city was recognized for being a "perfect" getaway because of its iconic beaches and historic destinations. St. Petersburg most recently joined 290 other cities as an "International City of Peace". This honor was granted by the International Cities of Peace and marks the second city in Florida to be given the title.

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Petersburg,_Florida#:~:text=S....

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

Tarpon Springs is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The population was 23,484 at the 2010 census. Tarpon Springs has the highest percentage of Greek Americans of any city in the US. Downtown Tarpon Springs has long been a focal point and is currently undergoing beautification.

The region, with a series of bayous feeding into the Gulf of Mexico, was first settled by white and black farmers and fishermen around 1876. Some of the newly arrived visitors spotted tarpon jumping out of the waters and so named the location Tarpon Springs. The name is said to have originated with a remark of Mrs. Ormond Boyer, an early settler from South Carolina, and who, while standing on the shore of the Bayou and seeing fish leaping exclaimed, "See the tarpon spring!' However, for the most part, the fish seen splashing here were mullets rather than tarpon. In 1882, Hamilton Disston, who in the previous year had purchased the land where the city of Tarpon Springs now stands, ordered the creation of a town plan for the future city.

On February 12, 1887, Tarpon Springs became the first incorporated city in what is now Pinellas County. Less than a year later on January 13, 1888, the Orange Belt Railway, the first railroad line to be built in what is now Pinellas County, arrived in the city. During this time the area was developed as a wintering spot for wealthy northerners.

In the 1880s, John K. Cheyney founded the first local sponge business. The industry continued to grow in the 1890s. Many people from Key West and the Bahamas settled in Tarpon Springs to hook sponges and then process them. A few Greek immigrants also arrived in this city during the 1890s to work in the sponge industry.

In 1905, John Cocoris introduced the technique of sponge diving to Tarpon Springs by recruiting divers and crew members from Greece. The first divers came from the Saronic Gulf islands of Aegina and Hydra, but they were soon outnumbered by those from the Dodecanese islands of Kalymnos, Symi, and Halki. The sponge industry soon became one of the leading maritime industries in Florida and the most important business in Tarpon Springs, generating millions of dollars a year. The 1953 film Beneath the 12-Mile Reef, depicting the sponge industry, takes place and was filmed in Tarpon Springs.

In 1947, red tide algae bloom wiped out the sponge fields in the Gulf of Mexico, causing many of the sponge boats and divers to switch to shrimping for their livelihood, while others left the business. Eventually, the sponges recovered, allowing for a smaller but consistent sponge industry today. In the 1980s, the sponge business experienced a boom due to a sponge disease that killed the Mediterranean sponges. Today there is still a small active sponge industry. Visitors can often view sponge fishermen working at the Sponge Docks on Dodecanese Boulevard. In addition, visitors can enjoy shops, restaurants, and museum exhibits that detail Tarpon Springs' Greek heritage.

In 2007 and 2008, the City of Tarpon Springs established Sister City relationships with Kalymnos, Halki, Symi, and Larnaca, Cyprus, honoring the close historical link with these Greek-speaking islands.

There are several districts or properties in Tarpon Springs that have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places:

Tarpon Springs Greektown Historic District

Tarpon Springs Historic District

Arcade Hotel

Old Tarpon Springs City Hall

Old Tarpon Springs High School

Safford House

Rose Hill Cemetery

Tarpon Springs Depot

Many sites related to the sponge industry within the Greektown District also have been recognized. They include but are not limited to two sponge packing houses:

E.R. Meres Sponge Packing House

N.G. Arfaras Sponge Packing House

And several boats:

N.K. Symi (Sponge Diving Boat)

St. Nicholas III (Sponge Diving Boat)

St. Nicholas VI (Sponge Diving Boat)

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarpon_Springs,_Florida

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

Clearwater is a city located in Pinellas County, Florida, United States, northwest of Tampa and St. Petersburg. To the west of Clearwater lies the Gulf of Mexico and to the southeast lies Tampa Bay. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 107,685. Clearwater is the county seat of Pinellas County and is the smallest of the three principal cities in the Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater metropolitan area, most commonly referred to as the Tampa Bay Area.

Cleveland Street is one of the city's historic avenues, and the city includes BayCare Ballpark and Coachman Park. The city is separated by the Intracoastal Waterway from Clearwater Beach.

Clearwater is the home of Clearwater Marine Aquarium, where bottlenose dolphins Winter and Hope live.

The global headquarters of the Church of Scientology is located in Clearwater; the organization had tried to take over the city in what was called Project Normandy.

By the early 1900s, Clearwater's population had grown to around 400, ballooning to nearly 1,000 in the winter. Clearwater's oldest existing newspaper, the Clearwater Sun, was first published on March 14, 1914. Clearwater was reincorporated, this time as a city, on May 27, 1915, and was designated the county seat for Pinellas County, which broke from Hillsborough County in 1912. In 1915, a bridge was built across Clearwater Harbor, joining the city with Clearwater Beach to the west. Clearwater Beach, although located on a separate barrier island, belongs to the city of Clearwater and fronts the Gulf of Mexico. A new, much higher bridge now arcs over the bay, replacing the former drawbridge; the connecting road is part of State Road 60 and is called Clearwater Memorial Causeway.

During World War II, Clearwater became a major training base for US troops destined for Europe and the Pacific. Virtually every hotel in the area, including the Belleview Biltmore and the Fort Harrison Hotel, was used as a barracks for new recruits. Vehicle traffic was regularly stopped for companies of soldiers marching through downtown, and nighttime blackouts to confuse potential enemy bombers were common practice. The remote and isolated Dan's Island, now the highrise-dominated Sand Key, was used as a target by U.S. Army Air Corps fighter-bombers for strafing and bombing practice.

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clearwater,_Florida

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral is a Greek Orthodox parish and center for Greek-American life in Tarpon Springs, Florida. Its noted Neo-Byzantine church is located at 36 North Pinellas Avenue.

St. Nicholas hosts an annual Epiphany celebration on January 6, in which Greek Orthodox boys aged 16 to 18 dive into Spring Bayou to retrieve a white wooden cross, said to bring the finder good luck for the year. It is the largest such event in the Western Hemisphere, with thousands in attendance. A statue of an epiphany diver is located in front of the church.

St. Nicholas hosts an annual Epiphany celebration on January 6, in which Greek Orthodox boys aged 16 to 18 dive into Spring Bayou to retrieve a white wooden cross, said to bring the finder good luck for the year. It is the largest such event in the Western

The domed main church building, designed by the Eugene Brothers of Chicago, was completed in 1943. Modeled in part after the Hagia Sophia in what is now Istanbul, it melds Byzantine and Gothic Revival styles. It is a local landmark that has been featured on postcards.

Noted features include 23 stained glass windows surrounding the dome depicting episodes in the life of Jesus and the saints, hand-painted by Joseph V. Llorens of Atlanta, and the sixty-ton altar, made of Pentelic marble. Within the dome are three large chandeliers imported from Czechoslovakia. The altar was originally part of the Greek exhibit at the 1939 New York World's Fair. It, along with the cathedra, choir stalls, and other components were obtained with help from George Frantzis. A new altar of Carrara marble was installed in 1965.

The interior is richly decorated with icons, many by Greek iconographer George Saklaridis. Forty-one icons, sponsored by various members of the parish, were delivered in 1952, with more added in subsequent years. On December 4, 1969, the icon of Saint Nicholas was observed to have drops of moisture, and some consider it a Weeping Icon.

The community traces its history to John Cocoris, a native of Leonidio in Arcadia, Greece, who settled in the area in 1896 and became a prosperous sponge diver and trader. The trade attracted Greek immigrants as well as Greeks from other parts of the U.S. By 1907, the population was large enough to support a Greek Orthodox church, a project put under the supervision of Nicholas Peppas, a native of Aegina. The first church, completed that year at a cost of $300 for the land and $3,500 for construction, was a wood frame structure painted white. Rev. Stamatis Koutouzis was appointed the first parish priest. The parish added a school in 1925.

By 1935, the parish had outgrown the first church and began raising funds toward the current structure. Construction began in 1941 and was completed in 1943 when it was consecrated by Archbishop Athenagoras (later Patriarch) at Epiphany. St. Nicholas was by then a significant center of community life as well, with major festivals surrounding Epiphany, Greek Independence Day, and Orthodox Easter. Honoring this, in 1975, the Tarpon Springs Board of Commissioners passed a resolution designating the city the "Epiphany City" of the United States.

St. Nicholas was elevated to cathedral status for West Florida on On January 6, 1976.

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Nicholas_Greek_Orthodox_Cathedral_(Tarpon_Springs,_Florida)

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

Tarpon Springs is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The population was 23,484 at the 2010 census. Tarpon Springs has the highest percentage of Greek Americans of any city in the US. Downtown Tarpon Springs has long been a focal point and is currently undergoing beautification.

The region, with a series of bayous feeding into the Gulf of Mexico, was first settled by white and black farmers and fishermen around 1876. Some of the newly arrived visitors spotted tarpon jumping out of the waters and so named the location Tarpon Springs. The name is said to have originated with a remark of Mrs. Ormond Boyer, an early settler from South Carolina, and who, while standing on the shore of the Bayou and seeing fish leaping exclaimed, "See the tarpon spring!' However, for the most part, the fish seen splashing here were mullets rather than tarpon. In 1882, Hamilton Disston, who in the previous year had purchased the land where the city of Tarpon Springs now stands, ordered the creation of a town plan for the future city.

On February 12, 1887, Tarpon Springs became the first incorporated city in what is now Pinellas County. Less than a year later on January 13, 1888, the Orange Belt Railway, the first railroad line to be built in what is now Pinellas County, arrived in the city. During this time the area was developed as a wintering spot for wealthy northerners.

In the 1880s, John K. Cheyney founded the first local sponge business. The industry continued to grow in the 1890s. Many people from Key West and the Bahamas settled in Tarpon Springs to hook sponges and then process them. A few Greek immigrants also arrived in this city during the 1890s to work in the sponge industry.

In 1905, John Cocoris introduced the technique of sponge diving to Tarpon Springs by recruiting divers and crew members from Greece. The first divers came from the Saronic Gulf islands of Aegina and Hydra, but they were soon outnumbered by those from the Dodecanese islands of Kalymnos, Symi, and Halki. The sponge industry soon became one of the leading maritime industries in Florida and the most important business in Tarpon Springs, generating millions of dollars a year. The 1953 film Beneath the 12-Mile Reef, depicting the sponge industry, takes place and was filmed in Tarpon Springs.

In 1947, red tide algae bloom wiped out the sponge fields in the Gulf of Mexico, causing many of the sponge boats and divers to switch to shrimping for their livelihood, while others left the business. Eventually, the sponges recovered, allowing for a smaller but consistent sponge industry today. In the 1980s, the sponge business experienced a boom due to a sponge disease that killed the Mediterranean sponges. Today there is still a small active sponge industry. Visitors can often view sponge fishermen working at the Sponge Docks on Dodecanese Boulevard. In addition, visitors can enjoy shops, restaurants, and museum exhibits that detail Tarpon Springs' Greek heritage.

In 2007 and 2008, the City of Tarpon Springs established Sister City relationships with Kalymnos, Halki, Symi, and Larnaca, Cyprus, honoring the close historical link with these Greek-speaking islands.

There are several districts or properties in Tarpon Springs that have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places:

Tarpon Springs Greektown Historic District

Tarpon Springs Historic District

Arcade Hotel

Old Tarpon Springs City Hall

Old Tarpon Springs High School

Safford House

Rose Hill Cemetery

Tarpon Springs Depot

Many sites related to the sponge industry within the Greektown District also have been recognized. They include but are not limited to two sponge packing houses:

E.R. Meres Sponge Packing House

N.G. Arfaras Sponge Packing House

And several boats:

N.K. Symi (Sponge Diving Boat)

St. Nicholas III (Sponge Diving Boat)

St. Nicholas VI (Sponge Diving Boat)

Credit for the data above is given to the following websites:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarpon_Springs,_Florida

www.pcpao.org/?pg=https://www.pcpao.org/general.php?strap...

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

Tarpon Springs is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The population was 23,484 at the 2010 census. Tarpon Springs has the highest percentage of Greek Americans of any city in the US. Downtown Tarpon Springs has long been a focal point and is currently undergoing beautification.

The region, with a series of bayous feeding into the Gulf of Mexico, was first settled by white and black farmers and fishermen around 1876. Some of the newly arrived visitors spotted tarpon jumping out of the waters and so named the location Tarpon Springs. The name is said to have originated with a remark of Mrs. Ormond Boyer, an early settler from South Carolina, and who, while standing on the shore of the Bayou and seeing fish leaping exclaimed, "See the tarpon spring!' However, for the most part, the fish seen splashing here were mullets rather than tarpon. In 1882, Hamilton Disston, who in the previous year had purchased the land where the city of Tarpon Springs now stands, ordered the creation of a town plan for the future city.

On February 12, 1887, Tarpon Springs became the first incorporated city in what is now Pinellas County. Less than a year later on January 13, 1888, the Orange Belt Railway, the first railroad line to be built in what is now Pinellas County, arrived in the city. During this time the area was developed as a wintering spot for wealthy northerners.

In the 1880s, John K. Cheyney founded the first local sponge business. The industry continued to grow in the 1890s. Many people from Key West and the Bahamas settled in Tarpon Springs to hook sponges and then process them. A few Greek immigrants also arrived in this city during the 1890s to work in the sponge industry.

In 1905, John Cocoris introduced the technique of sponge diving to Tarpon Springs by recruiting divers and crew members from Greece. The first divers came from the Saronic Gulf islands of Aegina and Hydra, but they were soon outnumbered by those from the Dodecanese islands of Kalymnos, Symi, and Halki. The sponge industry soon became one of the leading maritime industries in Florida and the most important business in Tarpon Springs, generating millions of dollars a year. The 1953 film Beneath the 12-Mile Reef, depicting the sponge industry, takes place and was filmed in Tarpon Springs.

In 1947, red tide algae bloom wiped out the sponge fields in the Gulf of Mexico, causing many of the sponge boats and divers to switch to shrimping for their livelihood, while others left the business. Eventually, the sponges recovered, allowing for a smaller but consistent sponge industry today. In the 1980s, the sponge business experienced a boom due to a sponge disease that killed the Mediterranean sponges. Today there is still a small active sponge industry. Visitors can often view sponge fishermen working at the Sponge Docks on Dodecanese Boulevard. In addition, visitors can enjoy shops, restaurants, and museum exhibits that detail Tarpon Springs' Greek heritage.

In 2007 and 2008, the City of Tarpon Springs established Sister City relationships with Kalymnos, Halki, Symi, and Larnaca, Cyprus, honoring the close historical link with these Greek-speaking islands.

There are several districts or properties in Tarpon Springs that have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places:

Tarpon Springs Greektown Historic District

Tarpon Springs Historic District

Arcade Hotel

Old Tarpon Springs City Hall

Old Tarpon Springs High School

Safford House

Rose Hill Cemetery

Tarpon Springs Depot

Many sites related to the sponge industry within the Greektown District also have been recognized. They include but are not limited to two sponge packing houses:

E.R. Meres Sponge Packing House

N.G. Arfaras Sponge Packing House

And several boats:

N.K. Symi (Sponge Diving Boat)

St. Nicholas III (Sponge Diving Boat)

St. Nicholas VI (Sponge Diving Boat)

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarpon_Springs,_Florida

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

Tarpon Springs is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The population was 23,484 at the 2010 census. Tarpon Springs has the highest percentage of Greek Americans of any city in the US. Downtown Tarpon Springs has long been a focal point and is currently undergoing beautification.

The region, with a series of bayous feeding into the Gulf of Mexico, was first settled by white and black farmers and fishermen around 1876. Some of the newly arrived visitors spotted tarpon jumping out of the waters and so named the location Tarpon Springs. The name is said to have originated with a remark of Mrs. Ormond Boyer, an early settler from South Carolina, and who, while standing on the shore of the Bayou and seeing fish leaping exclaimed, "See the tarpon spring!' However, for the most part, the fish seen splashing here were mullets rather than tarpon. In 1882, Hamilton Disston, who in the previous year had purchased the land where the city of Tarpon Springs now stands, ordered the creation of a town plan for the future city.

On February 12, 1887, Tarpon Springs became the first incorporated city in what is now Pinellas County. Less than a year later on January 13, 1888, the Orange Belt Railway, the first railroad line to be built in what is now Pinellas County, arrived in the city. During this time the area was developed as a wintering spot for wealthy northerners.

In the 1880s, John K. Cheyney founded the first local sponge business. The industry continued to grow in the 1890s. Many people from Key West and the Bahamas settled in Tarpon Springs to hook sponges and then process them. A few Greek immigrants also arrived in this city during the 1890s to work in the sponge industry.

In 1905, John Cocoris introduced the technique of sponge diving to Tarpon Springs by recruiting divers and crew members from Greece. The first divers came from the Saronic Gulf islands of Aegina and Hydra, but they were soon outnumbered by those from the Dodecanese islands of Kalymnos, Symi, and Halki. The sponge industry soon became one of the leading maritime industries in Florida and the most important business in Tarpon Springs, generating millions of dollars a year. The 1953 film Beneath the 12-Mile Reef, depicting the sponge industry, takes place and was filmed in Tarpon Springs.

In 1947, red tide algae bloom wiped out the sponge fields in the Gulf of Mexico, causing many of the sponge boats and divers to switch to shrimping for their livelihood, while others left the business. Eventually, the sponges recovered, allowing for a smaller but consistent sponge industry today. In the 1980s, the sponge business experienced a boom due to a sponge disease that killed the Mediterranean sponges. Today there is still a small active sponge industry. Visitors can often view sponge fishermen working at the Sponge Docks on Dodecanese Boulevard. In addition, visitors can enjoy shops, restaurants, and museum exhibits that detail Tarpon Springs' Greek heritage.

In 2007 and 2008, the City of Tarpon Springs established Sister City relationships with Kalymnos, Halki, Symi, and Larnaca, Cyprus, honoring the close historical link with these Greek-speaking islands.

There are several districts or properties in Tarpon Springs that have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places:

Tarpon Springs Greektown Historic District

Tarpon Springs Historic District

Arcade Hotel

Old Tarpon Springs City Hall

Old Tarpon Springs High School

Safford House

Rose Hill Cemetery

Tarpon Springs Depot

Many sites related to the sponge industry within the Greektown District also have been recognized. They include but are not limited to two sponge packing houses:

E.R. Meres Sponge Packing House

N.G. Arfaras Sponge Packing House

And several boats:

N.K. Symi (Sponge Diving Boat)

St. Nicholas III (Sponge Diving Boat)

St. Nicholas VI (Sponge Diving Boat)

Credit for the data above is given to the following websites:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarpon_Springs,_Florida

www.pcpao.org/?pg=https://www.pcpao.org/general.php?strap...

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral is a Greek Orthodox parish and center for Greek-American life in Tarpon Springs, Florida. Its noted Neo-Byzantine church is located at 36 North Pinellas Avenue.

St. Nicholas hosts an annual Epiphany celebration on January 6, in which Greek Orthodox boys aged 16 to 18 dive into Spring Bayou to retrieve a white wooden cross, said to bring the finder good luck for the year. It is the largest such event in the Western Hemisphere, with thousands in attendance. A statue of an epiphany diver is located in front of the church.

St. Nicholas hosts an annual Epiphany celebration on January 6, in which Greek Orthodox boys aged 16 to 18 dive into Spring Bayou to retrieve a white wooden cross, said to bring the finder good luck for the year. It is the largest such event in the Western

The domed main church building, designed by the Eugene Brothers of Chicago, was completed in 1943. Modeled in part after the Hagia Sophia in what is now Istanbul, it melds Byzantine and Gothic Revival styles. It is a local landmark that has been featured on postcards.

Noted features include 23 stained glass windows surrounding the dome depicting episodes in the life of Jesus and the saints, hand-painted by Joseph V. Llorens of Atlanta, and the sixty ton altar, made of Pentelic marble. Within the dome are three large chandeliers imported from Czechoslovakia. The altar was originally part of the Greek exhibit at the 1939 New York World's Fair. It, along with the cathedra, choir stalls, and other components were obtained with help from George Frantzis.[7] A new altar of Carrara marble was installed in 1965.

The interior is richly decorated with icons, many by Greek iconographer George Saklaridis. Forty-one icons, sponsored by various members of the parish, were delivered in 1952, with more added in subsequent years. On December 4, 1969, the icon of Saint Nicholas was observed to have drops of moisture, and some consider it a Weeping Icon.

The community traces its history to John Cocoris, a native of Leonidio in Arcadia, Greece, who settled in the area in 1896 and became a prosperous sponge diver and trader. The trade attracted Greek immigrants as well as Greeks from other parts of the U.S. By 1907, the population was large enough to support a Greek Orthodox church, a project put under the supervision of Nicholas Peppas, a native of Aegina. The first church, completed that year at a cost of $300 for the land and $3,500 for construction, was a wood frame structure painted white. Rev. Stamatis Koutouzis was appointed the first parish priest. The parish added a school in 1925.

By 1935, the parish had outgrown the first church and began raising funds toward the current structure. Construction began in 1941 and was completed in 1943 when it was consecrated by Archbishop Athenagoras (later Patriarch) at Epiphany. St. Nicholas was by then a significant center of community life as well, with major festivals surrounding Epiphany, Greek Independence Day, and Orthodox Easter. Honoring this, in 1975, the Tarpon Springs Board of Commissioners passed a resolution designating the city the "Epiphany City" of the United States.

St. Nicholas was elevated to cathedral status for West Florida on On January 6, 1976.

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Nicholas_Greek_Orthodox_Cathedral_(Tarpon_Springs,_Florida)

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

Thank you for taking your time to view my photos.

Clearwater is a city located in Pinellas County, Florida, United States, northwest of Tampa and St. Petersburg. To the west of Clearwater lies the Gulf of Mexico and to the southeast lies Tampa Bay. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 107,685. Clearwater is the county seat of Pinellas County and is the smallest of the three principal cities in the Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater metropolitan area, most commonly referred to as the Tampa Bay Area.

Cleveland Street is one of the city's historic avenues, and the city includes BayCare Ballpark and Coachman Park. The city is separated by the Intracoastal Waterway from Clearwater Beach.

Clearwater is the home of Clearwater Marine Aquarium, where bottlenose dolphins Winter and Hope live.

The global headquarters of the Church of Scientology is located in Clearwater; the organization had tried to take over the city in what was called Project Normandy.

By the early 1900s, Clearwater's population had grown to around 400, ballooning to nearly 1,000 in the winter. Clearwater's oldest existing newspaper, the Clearwater Sun, was first published on March 14, 1914. Clearwater was reincorporated, this time as a city, on May 27, 1915, and was designated the county seat for Pinellas County, which broke from Hillsborough County in 1912. In 1915, a bridge was built across Clearwater Harbor, joining the city with Clearwater Beach to the west. Clearwater Beach, although located on a separate barrier island, belongs to the city of Clearwater and fronts the Gulf of Mexico. A new, much higher bridge now arcs over the bay, replacing the former drawbridge; the connecting road is part of State Road 60 and is called Clearwater Memorial Causeway.

During World War II, Clearwater became a major training base for US troops destined for Europe and the Pacific. Virtually every hotel in the area, including the Belleview Biltmore and the Fort Harrison Hotel, was used as a barracks for new recruits. Vehicle traffic was regularly stopped for companies of soldiers marching through downtown, and nighttime blackouts to confuse potential enemy bombers were common practice. The remote and isolated Dan's Island, now the highrise-dominated Sand Key, was used as a target by U.S. Army Air Corps fighter-bombers for strafing and bombing practice.

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clearwater,_Florida

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

Clearwater is a city located in Pinellas County, Florida, United States, northwest of Tampa and St. Petersburg. To the west of Clearwater lies the Gulf of Mexico and to the southeast lies Tampa Bay. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 107,685. Clearwater is the county seat of Pinellas County and is the smallest of the three principal cities in the Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater metropolitan area, most commonly referred to as the Tampa Bay Area.

Cleveland Street is one of the city's historic avenues, and the city includes BayCare Ballpark and Coachman Park. The city is separated by the Intracoastal Waterway from Clearwater Beach.

Clearwater is the home of Clearwater Marine Aquarium, where bottlenose dolphins Winter and Hope live.

The global headquarters of the Church of Scientology is located in Clearwater; the organization had tried to take over the city in what was called Project Normandy.

By the early 1900s, Clearwater's population had grown to around 400, ballooning to nearly 1,000 in the winter. Clearwater's oldest existing newspaper, the Clearwater Sun, was first published on March 14, 1914. Clearwater was reincorporated, this time as a city, on May 27, 1915, and was designated the county seat for Pinellas County, which broke from Hillsborough County in 1912. In 1915, a bridge was built across Clearwater Harbor, joining the city with Clearwater Beach to the west. Clearwater Beach, although located on a separate barrier island, belongs to the city of Clearwater and fronts the Gulf of Mexico. A new, much higher bridge now arcs over the bay, replacing the former drawbridge; the connecting road is part of State Road 60 and is called Clearwater Memorial Causeway.

During World War II, Clearwater became a major training base for US troops destined for Europe and the Pacific. Virtually every hotel in the area, including the Belleview Biltmore and the Fort Harrison Hotel, was used as a barracks for new recruits. Vehicle traffic was regularly stopped for companies of soldiers marching through downtown, and nighttime blackouts to confuse potential enemy bombers were common practice. The remote and isolated Dan's Island, now the highrise-dominated Sand Key, was used as a target by U.S. Army Air Corps fighter-bombers for strafing and bombing practice.

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clearwater,_Florida

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

Tarpon Springs is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The population was 23,484 at the 2010 census. Tarpon Springs has the highest percentage of Greek Americans of any city in the US. Downtown Tarpon Springs has long been a focal point and is currently undergoing beautification.

The region, with a series of bayous feeding into the Gulf of Mexico, was first settled by white and black farmers and fishermen around 1876. Some of the newly arrived visitors spotted tarpon jumping out of the waters and so named the location Tarpon Springs. The name is said to have originated with a remark of Mrs. Ormond Boyer, an early settler from South Carolina, and who, while standing on the shore of the Bayou and seeing fish leaping exclaimed, "See the tarpon spring!' However, for the most part, the fish seen splashing here were mullets rather than tarpon. In 1882, Hamilton Disston, who in the previous year had purchased the land where the city of Tarpon Springs now stands, ordered the creation of a town plan for the future city.

On February 12, 1887, Tarpon Springs became the first incorporated city in what is now Pinellas County. Less than a year later on January 13, 1888, the Orange Belt Railway, the first railroad line to be built in what is now Pinellas County, arrived in the city. During this time the area was developed as a wintering spot for wealthy northerners.

In the 1880s, John K. Cheyney founded the first local sponge business. The industry continued to grow in the 1890s. Many people from Key West and the Bahamas settled in Tarpon Springs to hook sponges and then process them. A few Greek immigrants also arrived in this city during the 1890s to work in the sponge industry.

In 1905, John Cocoris introduced the technique of sponge diving to Tarpon Springs by recruiting divers and crew members from Greece. The first divers came from the Saronic Gulf islands of Aegina and Hydra, but they were soon outnumbered by those from the Dodecanese islands of Kalymnos, Symi, and Halki. The sponge industry soon became one of the leading maritime industries in Florida and the most important business in Tarpon Springs, generating millions of dollars a year. The 1953 film Beneath the 12-Mile Reef, depicting the sponge industry, takes place and was filmed in Tarpon Springs.

In 1947, red tide algae bloom wiped out the sponge fields in the Gulf of Mexico, causing many of the sponge boats and divers to switch to shrimping for their livelihood, while others left the business. Eventually, the sponges recovered, allowing for a smaller but consistent sponge industry today. In the 1980s, the sponge business experienced a boom due to a sponge disease that killed the Mediterranean sponges. Today there is still a small active sponge industry. Visitors can often view sponge fishermen working at the Sponge Docks on Dodecanese Boulevard. In addition, visitors can enjoy shops, restaurants, and museum exhibits that detail Tarpon Springs' Greek heritage.

In 2007 and 2008, the City of Tarpon Springs established Sister City relationships with Kalymnos, Halki, Symi, and Larnaca, Cyprus, honoring the close historical link with these Greek-speaking islands.

There are several districts or properties in Tarpon Springs that have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places:

Tarpon Springs Greektown Historic District

Tarpon Springs Historic District

Arcade Hotel

Old Tarpon Springs City Hall

Old Tarpon Springs High School

Safford House

Rose Hill Cemetery

Tarpon Springs Depot

Many sites related to the sponge industry within the Greektown District also have been recognized. They include but are not limited to two sponge packing houses:

E.R. Meres Sponge Packing House

N.G. Arfaras Sponge Packing House

And several boats:

N.K. Symi (Sponge Diving Boat)

St. Nicholas III (Sponge Diving Boat)

St. Nicholas VI (Sponge Diving Boat)

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarpon_Springs,_Florida

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

Tarpon Springs is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The population was 23,484 at the 2010 census. Tarpon Springs has the highest percentage of Greek Americans of any city in the US. Downtown Tarpon Springs has long been a focal point and is currently undergoing beautification.

The region, with a series of bayous feeding into the Gulf of Mexico, was first settled by white and black farmers and fishermen around 1876. Some of the newly arrived visitors spotted tarpon jumping out of the waters and so named the location Tarpon Springs. The name is said to have originated with a remark of Mrs. Ormond Boyer, an early settler from South Carolina, and who, while standing on the shore of the Bayou and seeing fish leaping exclaimed, "See the tarpon spring!' However, for the most part, the fish seen splashing here were mullets rather than tarpon. In 1882, Hamilton Disston, who in the previous year had purchased the land where the city of Tarpon Springs now stands, ordered the creation of a town plan for the future city.

On February 12, 1887, Tarpon Springs became the first incorporated city in what is now Pinellas County. Less than a year later on January 13, 1888, the Orange Belt Railway, the first railroad line to be built in what is now Pinellas County, arrived in the city. During this time the area was developed as a wintering spot for wealthy northerners.

In the 1880s, John K. Cheyney founded the first local sponge business. The industry continued to grow in the 1890s. Many people from Key West and the Bahamas settled in Tarpon Springs to hook sponges and then process them. A few Greek immigrants also arrived in this city during the 1890s to work in the sponge industry.

In 1905, John Cocoris introduced the technique of sponge diving to Tarpon Springs by recruiting divers and crew members from Greece. The first divers came from the Saronic Gulf islands of Aegina and Hydra, but they were soon outnumbered by those from the Dodecanese islands of Kalymnos, Symi, and Halki. The sponge industry soon became one of the leading maritime industries in Florida and the most important business in Tarpon Springs, generating millions of dollars a year. The 1953 film Beneath the 12-Mile Reef, depicting the sponge industry, takes place and was filmed in Tarpon Springs.

In 1947, red tide algae bloom wiped out the sponge fields in the Gulf of Mexico, causing many of the sponge boats and divers to switch to shrimping for their livelihood, while others left the business. Eventually, the sponges recovered, allowing for a smaller but consistent sponge industry today. In the 1980s, the sponge business experienced a boom due to a sponge disease that killed the Mediterranean sponges. Today there is still a small active sponge industry. Visitors can often view sponge fishermen working at the Sponge Docks on Dodecanese Boulevard. In addition, visitors can enjoy shops, restaurants, and museum exhibits that detail Tarpon Springs' Greek heritage.

In 2007 and 2008, the City of Tarpon Springs established Sister City relationships with Kalymnos, Halki, Symi, and Larnaca, Cyprus, honoring the close historical link with these Greek-speaking islands.

There are several districts or properties in Tarpon Springs that have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places:

Tarpon Springs Greektown Historic District

Tarpon Springs Historic District

Arcade Hotel

Old Tarpon Springs City Hall

Old Tarpon Springs High School

Safford House

Rose Hill Cemetery

Tarpon Springs Depot

Many sites related to the sponge industry within the Greektown District also have been recognized. They include but are not limited to two sponge packing houses:

E.R. Meres Sponge Packing House

N.G. Arfaras Sponge Packing House

And several boats:

N.K. Symi (Sponge Diving Boat)

St. Nicholas III (Sponge Diving Boat)

St. Nicholas VI (Sponge Diving Boat)

Credit for the data above is given to the following websites:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarpon_Springs,_Florida

www.pcpao.org/?pg=https://www.pcpao.org/general.php?strap...

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

Tarpon Springs is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The population was 23,484 at the 2010 census. Tarpon Springs has the highest percentage of Greek Americans of any city in the US. Downtown Tarpon Springs has long been a focal point and is currently undergoing beautification.

The region, with a series of bayous feeding into the Gulf of Mexico, was first settled by white and black farmers and fishermen around 1876. Some of the newly arrived visitors spotted tarpon jumping out of the waters and so named the location Tarpon Springs. The name is said to have originated with a remark of Mrs. Ormond Boyer, an early settler from South Carolina, and who, while standing on the shore of the Bayou and seeing fish leaping exclaimed, "See the tarpon spring!' However, for the most part, the fish seen splashing here were mullets rather than tarpon. In 1882, Hamilton Disston, who in the previous year had purchased the land where the city of Tarpon Springs now stands, ordered the creation of a town plan for the future city.

On February 12, 1887, Tarpon Springs became the first incorporated city in what is now Pinellas County. Less than a year later on January 13, 1888, the Orange Belt Railway, the first railroad line to be built in what is now Pinellas County, arrived in the city. During this time the area was developed as a wintering spot for wealthy northerners.

In the 1880s, John K. Cheyney founded the first local sponge business. The industry continued to grow in the 1890s. Many people from Key West and the Bahamas settled in Tarpon Springs to hook sponges and then process them. A few Greek immigrants also arrived in this city during the 1890s to work in the sponge industry.

In 1905, John Cocoris introduced the technique of sponge diving to Tarpon Springs by recruiting divers and crew members from Greece. The first divers came from the Saronic Gulf islands of Aegina and Hydra, but they were soon outnumbered by those from the Dodecanese islands of Kalymnos, Symi, and Halki. The sponge industry soon became one of the leading maritime industries in Florida and the most important business in Tarpon Springs, generating millions of dollars a year. The 1953 film Beneath the 12-Mile Reef, depicting the sponge industry, takes place and was filmed in Tarpon Springs.

In 1947, red tide algae bloom wiped out the sponge fields in the Gulf of Mexico, causing many of the sponge boats and divers to switch to shrimping for their livelihood, while others left the business. Eventually, the sponges recovered, allowing for a smaller but consistent sponge industry today. In the 1980s, the sponge business experienced a boom due to a sponge disease that killed the Mediterranean sponges. Today there is still a small active sponge industry. Visitors can often view sponge fishermen working at the Sponge Docks on Dodecanese Boulevard. In addition, visitors can enjoy shops, restaurants, and museum exhibits that detail Tarpon Springs' Greek heritage.

In 2007 and 2008, the City of Tarpon Springs established Sister City relationships with Kalymnos, Halki, Symi, and Larnaca, Cyprus, honoring the close historical link with these Greek-speaking islands.

There are several districts or properties in Tarpon Springs that have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places:

Tarpon Springs Greektown Historic District

Tarpon Springs Historic District

Arcade Hotel

Old Tarpon Springs City Hall

Old Tarpon Springs High School

Safford House

Rose Hill Cemetery

Tarpon Springs Depot

Many sites related to the sponge industry within the Greektown District also have been recognized. They include but are not limited to two sponge packing houses:

E.R. Meres Sponge Packing House

N.G. Arfaras Sponge Packing House

And several boats:

N.K. Symi (Sponge Diving Boat)

St. Nicholas III (Sponge Diving Boat)

St. Nicholas VI (Sponge Diving Boat)

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarpon_Springs,_Florida

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census estimate, the population was 271,842, making it the fifth-most populous city in Florida and the largest in the state that is not a county seat (the city of Clearwater is the seat of Pinellas County). St. Petersburg is the fifth-largest city in Florida and the second-largest city in the Tampa Bay Area, after Tampa. Together with Clearwater, these cities comprise the Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater Metropolitan Statistical Area, the second-largest in Florida with a population of around 2.8 million. St. Petersburg is located on the Pinellas peninsula between Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, and is connected to mainland Florida to the north.

St. Petersburg was founded in 1888 by John C. Williams, who purchased the land, and by Peter Demens who brought the railroad industry into the area. A coin toss bet was held between Williams and Demens to name this newly-formed community. Demens won the bet and subsequently named the land after Saint Petersburg, Russia. Williams was then granted the right to name the first hotel built (which he named the Detroit Hotel). Both named their winnings after their personal hometowns. St. Petersburg was incorporated as a town on February 29, 1892 and re-incorporated as a city on June 6, 1903.

The city is often referred to by locals as St. Pete. Neighboring St. Pete Beach formally shortened its name in 1994 after a vote by its residents. St. Petersburg is governed by a mayor and city council.

With an average of some 361 days of sunshine each year, and a Guinness World Record for logging the most consecutive days of sunshine (768 days between 1967 and 1969), it is nicknamed "The Sunshine City". Located on the Gulf of Mexico, the average water temperature is typically around 76 °F (24 °C). Due to its good weather and low cost of living, the city has long been a popular retirement destination, although in recent years the population has moved in a much more youthful direction.

American Style magazine ranked St. Petersburg its top mid-size city in 2011, citing its "vibrant" arts scene. The arts in St. Petersburg led the city to be named "One of the Best Street Art Cities in the World." St. Petersburg was also listed upon one of the top three places to visit in Florida. ranked the city as the seventh best place to retire, with 15 percent of the population over 65 years-old. In 2020, St. Petersburg was awarded a spot on of the top cities to visit in Conde Nast's 33rd annual Conde Nast Traveler 2020 Reader's Choice Awards. The city was recognized for being a "perfect" getaway because of its iconic beaches and historic destinations. St. Petersburg most recently joined 290 other cities as an "International City of Peace". This honor was granted by the International Cities of Peace and marks the second city in Florida to be given the title.

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Petersburg,_Florida#:~:text=S....

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

Clearwater is a city located in Pinellas County, Florida, United States, northwest of Tampa and St. Petersburg. To the west of Clearwater lies the Gulf of Mexico and to the southeast lies Tampa Bay. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 107,685. Clearwater is the county seat of Pinellas County and is the smallest of the three principal cities in the Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater metropolitan area, most commonly referred to as the Tampa Bay Area.

Cleveland Street is one of the city's historic avenues, and the city includes BayCare Ballpark and Coachman Park. The city is separated by the Intracoastal Waterway from Clearwater Beach.

Clearwater is the home of Clearwater Marine Aquarium, where bottlenose dolphins Winter and Hope live.

The global headquarters of the Church of Scientology is located in Clearwater; the organization had tried to take over the city in what was called Project Normandy.

By the early 1900s, Clearwater's population had grown to around 400, ballooning to nearly 1,000 in the winter. Clearwater's oldest existing newspaper, the Clearwater Sun, was first published on March 14, 1914. Clearwater was reincorporated, this time as a city, on May 27, 1915, and was designated the county seat for Pinellas County, which broke from Hillsborough County in 1912. In 1915, a bridge was built across Clearwater Harbor, joining the city with Clearwater Beach to the west. Clearwater Beach, although located on a separate barrier island, belongs to the city of Clearwater and fronts the Gulf of Mexico. A new, much higher bridge now arcs over the bay, replacing the former drawbridge; the connecting road is part of State Road 60 and is called Clearwater Memorial Causeway.

During World War II, Clearwater became a major training base for US troops destined for Europe and the Pacific. Virtually every hotel in the area, including the Belleview Biltmore and the Fort Harrison Hotel, was used as a barracks for new recruits. Vehicle traffic was regularly stopped for companies of soldiers marching through downtown, and nighttime blackouts to confuse potential enemy bombers were common practice. The remote and isolated Dan's Island, now the highrise-dominated Sand Key, was used as a target by U.S. Army Air Corps fighter-bombers for strafing and bombing practice.

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clearwater,_Florida

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral is a Greek Orthodox parish and center for Greek-American life in Tarpon Springs, Florida. Its noted Neo-Byzantine church is located at 36 North Pinellas Avenue.

St. Nicholas hosts an annual Epiphany celebration on January 6, in which Greek Orthodox boys aged 16 to 18 dive into Spring Bayou to retrieve a white wooden cross, said to bring the finder good luck for the year. It is the largest such event in the Western Hemisphere, with thousands in attendance. A statue of an epiphany diver is located in front of the church.

St. Nicholas hosts an annual Epiphany celebration on January 6, in which Greek Orthodox boys aged 16 to 18 dive into Spring Bayou to retrieve a white wooden cross, said to bring the finder good luck for the year. It is the largest such event in the Western

The domed main church building, designed by the Eugene Brothers of Chicago, was completed in 1943. Modeled in part after the Hagia Sophia in what is now Istanbul, it melds Byzantine and Gothic Revival styles. It is a local landmark that has been featured on postcards.

Noted features include 23 stained glass windows surrounding the dome depicting episodes in the life of Jesus and the saints, hand-painted by Joseph V. Llorens of Atlanta, and the sixty-ton altar, made of Pentelic marble. Within the dome are three large chandeliers imported from Czechoslovakia. The altar was originally part of the Greek exhibit at the 1939 New York World's Fair. It, along with the cathedra, choir stalls, and other components were obtained with help from George Frantzis. A new altar of Carrara marble was installed in 1965.

The interior is richly decorated with icons, many by Greek iconographer George Saklaridis. Forty-one icons, sponsored by various members of the parish, were delivered in 1952, with more added in subsequent years. On December 4, 1969, the icon of Saint Nicholas was observed to have drops of moisture, and some consider it a Weeping Icon.

The community traces its history to John Cocoris, a native of Leonidio in Arcadia, Greece, who settled in the area in 1896 and became a prosperous sponge diver and trader. The trade attracted Greek immigrants as well as Greeks from other parts of the U.S. By 1907, the population was large enough to support a Greek Orthodox church, a project put under the supervision of Nicholas Peppas, a native of Aegina. The first church, completed that year at a cost of $300 for the land and $3,500 for construction, was a wood frame structure painted white. Rev. Stamatis Koutouzis was appointed the first parish priest. The parish added a school in 1925.

By 1935, the parish had outgrown the first church and began raising funds toward the current structure. Construction began in 1941 and was completed in 1943 when it was consecrated by Archbishop Athenagoras (later Patriarch) at Epiphany. St. Nicholas was by then a significant center of community life as well, with major festivals surrounding Epiphany, Greek Independence Day, and Orthodox Easter. Honoring this, in 1975, the Tarpon Springs Board of Commissioners passed a resolution designating the city the "Epiphany City" of the United States.

St. Nicholas was elevated to cathedral status for West Florida on On January 6, 1976.

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Nicholas_Greek_Orthodox_Cathedral_(Tarpon_Springs,_Florida)

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

Tarpon Springs is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The population was 23,484 at the 2010 census. Tarpon Springs has the highest percentage of Greek Americans of any city in the US. Downtown Tarpon Springs has long been a focal point and is currently undergoing beautification.

The region, with a series of bayous feeding into the Gulf of Mexico, was first settled by white and black farmers and fishermen around 1876. Some of the newly arrived visitors spotted tarpon jumping out of the waters and so named the location Tarpon Springs. The name is said to have originated with a remark of Mrs. Ormond Boyer, an early settler from South Carolina, and who, while standing on the shore of the Bayou and seeing fish leaping exclaimed, "See the tarpon spring!' However, for the most part, the fish seen splashing here were mullets rather than tarpon. In 1882, Hamilton Disston, who in the previous year had purchased the land where the city of Tarpon Springs now stands, ordered the creation of a town plan for the future city.

On February 12, 1887, Tarpon Springs became the first incorporated city in what is now Pinellas County. Less than a year later on January 13, 1888, the Orange Belt Railway, the first railroad line to be built in what is now Pinellas County, arrived in the city. During this time the area was developed as a wintering spot for wealthy northerners.

In the 1880s, John K. Cheyney founded the first local sponge business. The industry continued to grow in the 1890s. Many people from Key West and the Bahamas settled in Tarpon Springs to hook sponges and then process them. A few Greek immigrants also arrived in this city during the 1890s to work in the sponge industry.

In 1905, John Cocoris introduced the technique of sponge diving to Tarpon Springs by recruiting divers and crew members from Greece. The first divers came from the Saronic Gulf islands of Aegina and Hydra, but they were soon outnumbered by those from the Dodecanese islands of Kalymnos, Symi, and Halki. The sponge industry soon became one of the leading maritime industries in Florida and the most important business in Tarpon Springs, generating millions of dollars a year. The 1953 film Beneath the 12-Mile Reef, depicting the sponge industry, takes place and was filmed in Tarpon Springs.

In 1947, red tide algae bloom wiped out the sponge fields in the Gulf of Mexico, causing many of the sponge boats and divers to switch to shrimping for their livelihood, while others left the business. Eventually, the sponges recovered, allowing for a smaller but consistent sponge industry today. In the 1980s, the sponge business experienced a boom due to a sponge disease that killed the Mediterranean sponges. Today there is still a small active sponge industry. Visitors can often view sponge fishermen working at the Sponge Docks on Dodecanese Boulevard. In addition, visitors can enjoy shops, restaurants, and museum exhibits that detail Tarpon Springs' Greek heritage.

In 2007 and 2008, the City of Tarpon Springs established Sister City relationships with Kalymnos, Halki, Symi, and Larnaca, Cyprus, honoring the close historical link with these Greek-speaking islands.

There are several districts or properties in Tarpon Springs that have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places:

Tarpon Springs Greektown Historic District

Tarpon Springs Historic District

Arcade Hotel

Old Tarpon Springs City Hall

Old Tarpon Springs High School

Safford House

Rose Hill Cemetery

Tarpon Springs Depot

Many sites related to the sponge industry within the Greektown District also have been recognized. They include but are not limited to two sponge packing houses:

E.R. Meres Sponge Packing House

N.G. Arfaras Sponge Packing House

And several boats:

N.K. Symi (Sponge Diving Boat)

St. Nicholas III (Sponge Diving Boat)

St. Nicholas VI (Sponge Diving Boat)

Credit for the data above is given to the following websites:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarpon_Springs,_Florida

www.pcpao.org/?pg=https://www.pcpao.org/general.php?strap...

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

Tarpon Springs is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The population was 23,484 at the 2010 census. Tarpon Springs has the highest percentage of Greek Americans of any city in the US. Downtown Tarpon Springs has long been a focal point and is currently undergoing beautification.

The region, with a series of bayous feeding into the Gulf of Mexico, was first settled by white and black farmers and fishermen around 1876. Some of the newly arrived visitors spotted tarpon jumping out of the waters and so named the location Tarpon Springs. The name is said to have originated with a remark of Mrs. Ormond Boyer, an early settler from South Carolina, and who, while standing on the shore of the Bayou and seeing fish leaping exclaimed, "See the tarpon spring!' However, for the most part, the fish seen splashing here were mullets rather than tarpon. In 1882, Hamilton Disston, who in the previous year had purchased the land where the city of Tarpon Springs now stands, ordered the creation of a town plan for the future city.

On February 12, 1887, Tarpon Springs became the first incorporated city in what is now Pinellas County. Less than a year later on January 13, 1888, the Orange Belt Railway, the first railroad line to be built in what is now Pinellas County, arrived in the city. During this time the area was developed as a wintering spot for wealthy northerners.

In the 1880s, John K. Cheyney founded the first local sponge business. The industry continued to grow in the 1890s. Many people from Key West and the Bahamas settled in Tarpon Springs to hook sponges and then process them. A few Greek immigrants also arrived in this city during the 1890s to work in the sponge industry.

In 1905, John Cocoris introduced the technique of sponge diving to Tarpon Springs by recruiting divers and crew members from Greece. The first divers came from the Saronic Gulf islands of Aegina and Hydra, but they were soon outnumbered by those from the Dodecanese islands of Kalymnos, Symi, and Halki. The sponge industry soon became one of the leading maritime industries in Florida and the most important business in Tarpon Springs, generating millions of dollars a year. The 1953 film Beneath the 12-Mile Reef, depicting the sponge industry, takes place and was filmed in Tarpon Springs.

In 1947, red tide algae bloom wiped out the sponge fields in the Gulf of Mexico, causing many of the sponge boats and divers to switch to shrimping for their livelihood, while others left the business. Eventually, the sponges recovered, allowing for a smaller but consistent sponge industry today. In the 1980s, the sponge business experienced a boom due to a sponge disease that killed the Mediterranean sponges. Today there is still a small active sponge industry. Visitors can often view sponge fishermen working at the Sponge Docks on Dodecanese Boulevard. In addition, visitors can enjoy shops, restaurants, and museum exhibits that detail Tarpon Springs' Greek heritage.

In 2007 and 2008, the City of Tarpon Springs established Sister City relationships with Kalymnos, Halki, Symi, and Larnaca, Cyprus, honoring the close historical link with these Greek-speaking islands.

There are several districts or properties in Tarpon Springs that have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places:

Tarpon Springs Greektown Historic District

Tarpon Springs Historic District

Arcade Hotel

Old Tarpon Springs City Hall

Old Tarpon Springs High School

Safford House

Rose Hill Cemetery

Tarpon Springs Depot

Many sites related to the sponge industry within the Greektown District also have been recognized. They include but are not limited to two sponge packing houses:

E.R. Meres Sponge Packing House

N.G. Arfaras Sponge Packing House

And several boats:

N.K. Symi (Sponge Diving Boat)

St. Nicholas III (Sponge Diving Boat)

St. Nicholas VI (Sponge Diving Boat)

Credit for the data above is given to the following websites:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarpon_Springs,_Florida

www.pcpao.org/?pg=https://www.pcpao.org/general.php?strap...

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

Tarpon Springs is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The population was 23,484 at the 2010 census. Tarpon Springs has the highest percentage of Greek Americans of any city in the US. Downtown Tarpon Springs has long been a focal point and is currently undergoing beautification.

The region, with a series of bayous feeding into the Gulf of Mexico, was first settled by white and black farmers and fishermen around 1876. Some of the newly arrived visitors spotted tarpon jumping out of the waters and so named the location Tarpon Springs. The name is said to have originated with a remark of Mrs. Ormond Boyer, an early settler from South Carolina, and who, while standing on the shore of the Bayou and seeing fish leaping exclaimed, "See the tarpon spring!' However, for the most part, the fish seen splashing here were mullets rather than tarpon. In 1882, Hamilton Disston, who in the previous year had purchased the land where the city of Tarpon Springs now stands, ordered the creation of a town plan for the future city.

On February 12, 1887, Tarpon Springs became the first incorporated city in what is now Pinellas County. Less than a year later on January 13, 1888, the Orange Belt Railway, the first railroad line to be built in what is now Pinellas County, arrived in the city. During this time the area was developed as a wintering spot for wealthy northerners.

In the 1880s, John K. Cheyney founded the first local sponge business. The industry continued to grow in the 1890s. Many people from Key West and the Bahamas settled in Tarpon Springs to hook sponges and then process them. A few Greek immigrants also arrived in this city during the 1890s to work in the sponge industry.

In 1905, John Cocoris introduced the technique of sponge diving to Tarpon Springs by recruiting divers and crew members from Greece. The first divers came from the Saronic Gulf islands of Aegina and Hydra, but they were soon outnumbered by those from the Dodecanese islands of Kalymnos, Symi, and Halki. The sponge industry soon became one of the leading maritime industries in Florida and the most important business in Tarpon Springs, generating millions of dollars a year. The 1953 film Beneath the 12-Mile Reef, depicting the sponge industry, takes place and was filmed in Tarpon Springs.

In 1947, red tide algae bloom wiped out the sponge fields in the Gulf of Mexico, causing many of the sponge boats and divers to switch to shrimping for their livelihood, while others left the business. Eventually, the sponges recovered, allowing for a smaller but consistent sponge industry today. In the 1980s, the sponge business experienced a boom due to a sponge disease that killed the Mediterranean sponges. Today there is still a small active sponge industry. Visitors can often view sponge fishermen working at the Sponge Docks on Dodecanese Boulevard. In addition, visitors can enjoy shops, restaurants, and museum exhibits that detail Tarpon Springs' Greek heritage.

In 2007 and 2008, the City of Tarpon Springs established Sister City relationships with Kalymnos, Halki, Symi, and Larnaca, Cyprus, honoring the close historical link with these Greek-speaking islands.

There are several districts or properties in Tarpon Springs that have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places:

Tarpon Springs Greektown Historic District

Tarpon Springs Historic District

Arcade Hotel

Old Tarpon Springs City Hall

Old Tarpon Springs High School

Safford House

Rose Hill Cemetery

Tarpon Springs Depot

Many sites related to the sponge industry within the Greektown District also have been recognized. They include but are not limited to two sponge packing houses:

E.R. Meres Sponge Packing House

N.G. Arfaras Sponge Packing House

And several boats:

N.K. Symi (Sponge Diving Boat)

St. Nicholas III (Sponge Diving Boat)

St. Nicholas VI (Sponge Diving Boat)

Credit for the data above is given to the following websites:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarpon_Springs,_Florida

www.pcpao.org/?pg=https://www.pcpao.org/general.php?strap...

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

Tarpon Springs is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The population was 23,484 at the 2010 census. Tarpon Springs has the highest percentage of Greek Americans of any city in the US. Downtown Tarpon Springs has long been a focal point and is currently undergoing beautification.

The region, with a series of bayous feeding into the Gulf of Mexico, was first settled by white and black farmers and fishermen around 1876. Some of the newly arrived visitors spotted tarpon jumping out of the waters and so named the location Tarpon Springs. The name is said to have originated with a remark of Mrs. Ormond Boyer, an early settler from South Carolina, and who, while standing on the shore of the Bayou and seeing fish leaping exclaimed, "See the tarpon spring!' However, for the most part, the fish seen splashing here were mullets rather than tarpon. In 1882, Hamilton Disston, who in the previous year had purchased the land where the city of Tarpon Springs now stands, ordered the creation of a town plan for the future city.

On February 12, 1887, Tarpon Springs became the first incorporated city in what is now Pinellas County. Less than a year later on January 13, 1888, the Orange Belt Railway, the first railroad line to be built in what is now Pinellas County, arrived in the city. During this time the area was developed as a wintering spot for wealthy northerners.

In the 1880s, John K. Cheyney founded the first local sponge business. The industry continued to grow in the 1890s. Many people from Key West and the Bahamas settled in Tarpon Springs to hook sponges and then process them. A few Greek immigrants also arrived in this city during the 1890s to work in the sponge industry.

In 1905, John Cocoris introduced the technique of sponge diving to Tarpon Springs by recruiting divers and crew members from Greece. The first divers came from the Saronic Gulf islands of Aegina and Hydra, but they were soon outnumbered by those from the Dodecanese islands of Kalymnos, Symi, and Halki. The sponge industry soon became one of the leading maritime industries in Florida and the most important business in Tarpon Springs, generating millions of dollars a year. The 1953 film Beneath the 12-Mile Reef, depicting the sponge industry, takes place and was filmed in Tarpon Springs.

In 1947, red tide algae bloom wiped out the sponge fields in the Gulf of Mexico, causing many of the sponge boats and divers to switch to shrimping for their livelihood, while others left the business. Eventually, the sponges recovered, allowing for a smaller but consistent sponge industry today. In the 1980s, the sponge business experienced a boom due to a sponge disease that killed the Mediterranean sponges. Today there is still a small active sponge industry. Visitors can often view sponge fishermen working at the Sponge Docks on Dodecanese Boulevard. In addition, visitors can enjoy shops, restaurants, and museum exhibits that detail Tarpon Springs' Greek heritage.

In 2007 and 2008, the City of Tarpon Springs established Sister City relationships with Kalymnos, Halki, Symi, and Larnaca, Cyprus, honoring the close historical link with these Greek-speaking islands.

There are several districts or properties in Tarpon Springs that have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places:

Tarpon Springs Greektown Historic District

Tarpon Springs Historic District

Arcade Hotel

Old Tarpon Springs City Hall

Old Tarpon Springs High School

Safford House

Rose Hill Cemetery

Tarpon Springs Depot

Many sites related to the sponge industry within the Greektown District also have been recognized. They include but are not limited to two sponge packing houses:

E.R. Meres Sponge Packing House

N.G. Arfaras Sponge Packing House

And several boats:

N.K. Symi (Sponge Diving Boat)

St. Nicholas III (Sponge Diving Boat)

St. Nicholas VI (Sponge Diving Boat)

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarpon_Springs,_Florida

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral is a Greek Orthodox parish and center for Greek-American life in Tarpon Springs, Florida. Its noted Neo-Byzantine church is located at 36 North Pinellas Avenue.

St. Nicholas hosts an annual Epiphany celebration on January 6, in which Greek Orthodox boys aged 16 to 18 dive into Spring Bayou to retrieve a white wooden cross, said to bring the finder good luck for the year. It is the largest such event in the Western Hemisphere, with thousands in attendance. A statue of an epiphany diver is located in front of the church.

St. Nicholas hosts an annual Epiphany celebration on January 6, in which Greek Orthodox boys aged 16 to 18 dive into Spring Bayou to retrieve a white wooden cross, said to bring the finder good luck for the year. It is the largest such event in the Western

The domed main church building, designed by the Eugene Brothers of Chicago, was completed in 1943. Modeled in part after the Hagia Sophia in what is now Istanbul, it melds Byzantine and Gothic Revival styles. It is a local landmark that has been featured on postcards.

Noted features include 23 stained glass windows surrounding the dome depicting episodes in the life of Jesus and the saints, hand-painted by Joseph V. Llorens of Atlanta, and the sixty ton altar, made of Pentelic marble. Within the dome are three large chandeliers imported from Czechoslovakia. The altar was originally part of the Greek exhibit at the 1939 New York World's Fair. It, along with the cathedra, choir stalls, and other components were obtained with help from George Frantzis.[7] A new altar of Carrara marble was installed in 1965.

The interior is richly decorated with icons, many by Greek iconographer George Saklaridis. Forty-one icons, sponsored by various members of the parish, were delivered in 1952, with more added in subsequent years. On December 4, 1969, the icon of Saint Nicholas was observed to have drops of moisture, and some consider it a Weeping Icon.

The community traces its history to John Cocoris, a native of Leonidio in Arcadia, Greece, who settled in the area in 1896 and became a prosperous sponge diver and trader. The trade attracted Greek immigrants as well as Greeks from other parts of the U.S. By 1907, the population was large enough to support a Greek Orthodox church, a project put under the supervision of Nicholas Peppas, a native of Aegina. The first church, completed that year at a cost of $300 for the land and $3,500 for construction, was a wood frame structure painted white. Rev. Stamatis Koutouzis was appointed the first parish priest. The parish added a school in 1925.

By 1935, the parish had outgrown the first church and began raising funds toward the current structure. Construction began in 1941 and was completed in 1943 when it was consecrated by Archbishop Athenagoras (later Patriarch) at Epiphany. St. Nicholas was by then a significant center of community life as well, with major festivals surrounding Epiphany, Greek Independence Day, and Orthodox Easter. Honoring this, in 1975, the Tarpon Springs Board of Commissioners passed a resolution designating the city the "Epiphany City" of the United States.

St. Nicholas was elevated to cathedral status for West Florida on On January 6, 1976.

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Nicholas_Greek_Orthodox_Cathedral_(Tarpon_Springs,_Florida)

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral is a Greek Orthodox parish and center for Greek-American life in Tarpon Springs, Florida. Its noted Neo-Byzantine church is located at 36 North Pinellas Avenue.

St. Nicholas hosts an annual Epiphany celebration on January 6, in which Greek Orthodox boys aged 16 to 18 dive into Spring Bayou to retrieve a white wooden cross, said to bring the finder good luck for the year. It is the largest such event in the Western Hemisphere, with thousands in attendance. A statue of an epiphany diver is located in front of the church.

St. Nicholas hosts an annual Epiphany celebration on January 6, in which Greek Orthodox boys aged 16 to 18 dive into Spring Bayou to retrieve a white wooden cross, said to bring the finder good luck for the year. It is the largest such event in the Western

The domed main church building, designed by the Eugene Brothers of Chicago, was completed in 1943. Modeled in part after the Hagia Sophia in what is now Istanbul, it melds Byzantine and Gothic Revival styles. It is a local landmark that has been featured on postcards.

Noted features include 23 stained glass windows surrounding the dome depicting episodes in the life of Jesus and the saints, hand-painted by Joseph V. Llorens of Atlanta, and the sixty-ton altar, made of Pentelic marble. Within the dome are three large chandeliers imported from Czechoslovakia. The altar was originally part of the Greek exhibit at the 1939 New York World's Fair. It, along with the cathedra, choir stalls, and other components were obtained with help from George Frantzis. A new altar of Carrara marble was installed in 1965.

The interior is richly decorated with icons, many by Greek iconographer George Saklaridis. Forty-one icons, sponsored by various members of the parish, were delivered in 1952, with more added in subsequent years. On December 4, 1969, the icon of Saint Nicholas was observed to have drops of moisture, and some consider it a Weeping Icon.

The community traces its history to John Cocoris, a native of Leonidio in Arcadia, Greece, who settled in the area in 1896 and became a prosperous sponge diver and trader. The trade attracted Greek immigrants as well as Greeks from other parts of the U.S. By 1907, the population was large enough to support a Greek Orthodox church, a project put under the supervision of Nicholas Peppas, a native of Aegina. The first church, completed that year at a cost of $300 for the land and $3,500 for construction, was a wood frame structure painted white. Rev. Stamatis Koutouzis was appointed the first parish priest. The parish added a school in 1925.

By 1935, the parish had outgrown the first church and began raising funds toward the current structure. Construction began in 1941 and was completed in 1943 when it was consecrated by Archbishop Athenagoras (later Patriarch) at Epiphany. St. Nicholas was by then a significant center of community life as well, with major festivals surrounding Epiphany, Greek Independence Day, and Orthodox Easter. Honoring this, in 1975, the Tarpon Springs Board of Commissioners passed a resolution designating the city the "Epiphany City" of the United States.

St. Nicholas was elevated to cathedral status for West Florida on On January 6, 1976.

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Nicholas_Greek_Orthodox_Cathedral_(Tarpon_Springs,_Florida)

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

Tarpon Springs is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The population was 23,484 at the 2010 census. Tarpon Springs has the highest percentage of Greek Americans of any city in the US. Downtown Tarpon Springs has long been a focal point and is currently undergoing beautification.

The region, with a series of bayous feeding into the Gulf of Mexico, was first settled by white and black farmers and fishermen around 1876. Some of the newly arrived visitors spotted tarpon jumping out of the waters and so named the location Tarpon Springs. The name is said to have originated with a remark of Mrs. Ormond Boyer, an early settler from South Carolina, and who, while standing on the shore of the Bayou and seeing fish leaping exclaimed, "See the tarpon spring!' However, for the most part, the fish seen splashing here were mullets rather than tarpon. In 1882, Hamilton Disston, who in the previous year had purchased the land where the city of Tarpon Springs now stands, ordered the creation of a town plan for the future city.

On February 12, 1887, Tarpon Springs became the first incorporated city in what is now Pinellas County. Less than a year later on January 13, 1888, the Orange Belt Railway, the first railroad line to be built in what is now Pinellas County, arrived in the city. During this time the area was developed as a wintering spot for wealthy northerners.

In the 1880s, John K. Cheyney founded the first local sponge business. The industry continued to grow in the 1890s. Many people from Key West and the Bahamas settled in Tarpon Springs to hook sponges and then process them. A few Greek immigrants also arrived in this city during the 1890s to work in the sponge industry.

In 1905, John Cocoris introduced the technique of sponge diving to Tarpon Springs by recruiting divers and crew members from Greece. The first divers came from the Saronic Gulf islands of Aegina and Hydra, but they were soon outnumbered by those from the Dodecanese islands of Kalymnos, Symi, and Halki. The sponge industry soon became one of the leading maritime industries in Florida and the most important business in Tarpon Springs, generating millions of dollars a year. The 1953 film Beneath the 12-Mile Reef, depicting the sponge industry, takes place and was filmed in Tarpon Springs.

In 1947, red tide algae bloom wiped out the sponge fields in the Gulf of Mexico, causing many of the sponge boats and divers to switch to shrimping for their livelihood, while others left the business. Eventually, the sponges recovered, allowing for a smaller but consistent sponge industry today. In the 1980s, the sponge business experienced a boom due to a sponge disease that killed the Mediterranean sponges. Today there is still a small active sponge industry. Visitors can often view sponge fishermen working at the Sponge Docks on Dodecanese Boulevard. In addition, visitors can enjoy shops, restaurants, and museum exhibits that detail Tarpon Springs' Greek heritage.

In 2007 and 2008, the City of Tarpon Springs established Sister City relationships with Kalymnos, Halki, Symi, and Larnaca, Cyprus, honoring the close historical link with these Greek-speaking islands.

There are several districts or properties in Tarpon Springs that have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places:

Tarpon Springs Greektown Historic District

Tarpon Springs Historic District

Arcade Hotel

Old Tarpon Springs City Hall

Old Tarpon Springs High School

Safford House

Rose Hill Cemetery

Tarpon Springs Depot

Many sites related to the sponge industry within the Greektown District also have been recognized. They include but are not limited to two sponge packing houses:

E.R. Meres Sponge Packing House

N.G. Arfaras Sponge Packing House

And several boats:

N.K. Symi (Sponge Diving Boat)

St. Nicholas III (Sponge Diving Boat)

St. Nicholas VI (Sponge Diving Boat)

Credit for the data above is given to the following websites:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarpon_Springs,_Florida

www.pcpao.org/?pg=https://www.pcpao.org/general.php?strap...

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

Tarpon Springs is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The population was 23,484 at the 2010 census. Tarpon Springs has the highest percentage of Greek Americans of any city in the US. Downtown Tarpon Springs has long been a focal point and is currently undergoing beautification.

The region, with a series of bayous feeding into the Gulf of Mexico, was first settled by white and black farmers and fishermen around 1876. Some of the newly arrived visitors spotted tarpon jumping out of the waters and so named the location Tarpon Springs. The name is said to have originated with a remark of Mrs. Ormond Boyer, an early settler from South Carolina, and who, while standing on the shore of the Bayou and seeing fish leaping exclaimed, "See the tarpon spring!' However, for the most part, the fish seen splashing here were mullets rather than tarpon. In 1882, Hamilton Disston, who in the previous year had purchased the land where the city of Tarpon Springs now stands, ordered the creation of a town plan for the future city.

On February 12, 1887, Tarpon Springs became the first incorporated city in what is now Pinellas County. Less than a year later on January 13, 1888, the Orange Belt Railway, the first railroad line to be built in what is now Pinellas County, arrived in the city. During this time the area was developed as a wintering spot for wealthy northerners.

In the 1880s, John K. Cheyney founded the first local sponge business. The industry continued to grow in the 1890s. Many people from Key West and the Bahamas settled in Tarpon Springs to hook sponges and then process them. A few Greek immigrants also arrived in this city during the 1890s to work in the sponge industry.

In 1905, John Cocoris introduced the technique of sponge diving to Tarpon Springs by recruiting divers and crew members from Greece. The first divers came from the Saronic Gulf islands of Aegina and Hydra, but they were soon outnumbered by those from the Dodecanese islands of Kalymnos, Symi, and Halki. The sponge industry soon became one of the leading maritime industries in Florida and the most important business in Tarpon Springs, generating millions of dollars a year. The 1953 film Beneath the 12-Mile Reef, depicting the sponge industry, takes place and was filmed in Tarpon Springs.

In 1947, red tide algae bloom wiped out the sponge fields in the Gulf of Mexico, causing many of the sponge boats and divers to switch to shrimping for their livelihood, while others left the business. Eventually, the sponges recovered, allowing for a smaller but consistent sponge industry today. In the 1980s, the sponge business experienced a boom due to a sponge disease that killed the Mediterranean sponges. Today there is still a small active sponge industry. Visitors can often view sponge fishermen working at the Sponge Docks on Dodecanese Boulevard. In addition, visitors can enjoy shops, restaurants, and museum exhibits that detail Tarpon Springs' Greek heritage.

In 2007 and 2008, the City of Tarpon Springs established Sister City relationships with Kalymnos, Halki, Symi, and Larnaca, Cyprus, honoring the close historical link with these Greek-speaking islands.

There are several districts or properties in Tarpon Springs that have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places:

Tarpon Springs Greektown Historic District

Tarpon Springs Historic District

Arcade Hotel

Old Tarpon Springs City Hall

Old Tarpon Springs High School

Safford House

Rose Hill Cemetery

Tarpon Springs Depot

Many sites related to the sponge industry within the Greektown District also have been recognized. They include but are not limited to two sponge packing houses:

E.R. Meres Sponge Packing House

N.G. Arfaras Sponge Packing House

And several boats:

N.K. Symi (Sponge Diving Boat)

St. Nicholas III (Sponge Diving Boat)

St. Nicholas VI (Sponge Diving Boat)

Credit for the data above is given to the following websites:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarpon_Springs,_Florida

www.pcpao.org/?pg=https://www.pcpao.org/general.php?strap...

www.pcpao.org/?pg=https://www.pcpao.org/general.php?strap...

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

Clearwater is a city located in Pinellas County, Florida, United States, northwest of Tampa and St. Petersburg. To the west of Clearwater lies the Gulf of Mexico and to the southeast lies Tampa Bay. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 107,685. Clearwater is the county seat of Pinellas County and is the smallest of the three principal cities in the Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater metropolitan area, most commonly referred to as the Tampa Bay Area.

Cleveland Street is one of the city's historic avenues, and the city includes BayCare Ballpark and Coachman Park. The city is separated by the Intracoastal Waterway from Clearwater Beach.

Clearwater is the home of Clearwater Marine Aquarium, where bottlenose dolphins Winter and Hope live.

The global headquarters of the Church of Scientology is located in Clearwater; the organization had tried to take over the city in what was called Project Normandy.

By the early 1900s, Clearwater's population had grown to around 400, ballooning to nearly 1,000 in the winter. Clearwater's oldest existing newspaper, the Clearwater Sun, was first published on March 14, 1914. Clearwater was reincorporated, this time as a city, on May 27, 1915, and was designated the county seat for Pinellas County, which broke from Hillsborough County in 1912. In 1915, a bridge was built across Clearwater Harbor, joining the city with Clearwater Beach to the west. Clearwater Beach, although located on a separate barrier island, belongs to the city of Clearwater and fronts the Gulf of Mexico. A new, much higher bridge now arcs over the bay, replacing the former drawbridge; the connecting road is part of State Road 60 and is called Clearwater Memorial Causeway.

During World War II, Clearwater became a major training base for US troops destined for Europe and the Pacific. Virtually every hotel in the area, including the Belleview Biltmore and the Fort Harrison Hotel, was used as a barracks for new recruits. Vehicle traffic was regularly stopped for companies of soldiers marching through downtown, and nighttime blackouts to confuse potential enemy bombers were common practice. The remote and isolated Dan's Island, now the highrise-dominated Sand Key, was used as a target by U.S. Army Air Corps fighter-bombers for strafing and bombing practice.

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clearwater,_Florida

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

Clearwater is a city located in Pinellas County, Florida, United States, northwest of Tampa and St. Petersburg. To the west of Clearwater lies the Gulf of Mexico and to the southeast lies Tampa Bay. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 107,685. Clearwater is the county seat of Pinellas County and is the smallest of the three principal cities in the Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater metropolitan area, most commonly referred to as the Tampa Bay Area.

Cleveland Street is one of the city's historic avenues, and the city includes BayCare Ballpark and Coachman Park. The city is separated by the Intracoastal Waterway from Clearwater Beach.

Clearwater is the home of Clearwater Marine Aquarium, where bottlenose dolphins Winter and Hope live.

The global headquarters of the Church of Scientology is located in Clearwater; the organization had tried to take over the city in what was called Project Normandy.

By the early 1900s, Clearwater's population had grown to around 400, ballooning to nearly 1,000 in the winter. Clearwater's oldest existing newspaper, the Clearwater Sun, was first published on March 14, 1914. Clearwater was reincorporated, this time as a city, on May 27, 1915, and was designated the county seat for Pinellas County, which broke from Hillsborough County in 1912. In 1915, a bridge was built across Clearwater Harbor, joining the city with Clearwater Beach to the west. Clearwater Beach, although located on a separate barrier island, belongs to the city of Clearwater and fronts the Gulf of Mexico. A new, much higher bridge now arcs over the bay, replacing the former drawbridge; the connecting road is part of State Road 60 and is called Clearwater Memorial Causeway.

During World War II, Clearwater became a major training base for US troops destined for Europe and the Pacific. Virtually every hotel in the area, including the Belleview Biltmore and the Fort Harrison Hotel, was used as a barracks for new recruits. Vehicle traffic was regularly stopped for companies of soldiers marching through downtown, and nighttime blackouts to confuse potential enemy bombers were common practice. The remote and isolated Dan's Island, now the highrise-dominated Sand Key, was used as a target by U.S. Army Air Corps fighter-bombers for strafing and bombing practice.

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clearwater,_Florida

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

Completed in 1916, the Old Tarpon Springs City Hall is a historic site in Tarpon Springs, Florida. This brick building is located at 101 South Pinellas Avenue in downtown Tarpon Springs. On August 10, 1990, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. It was designed by renowned architect Ernest D. Cook in the neoclassical style. The 1-story north wing was constructed in 1947. The building is currently used as the Tarpon Springs Cultural Center.

Credit for the data above is given to the following websites:

www.pcpao.org/?pg=https://www.pcpao.org/general.php?strap...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Tarpon_Springs_City_Hall

web.archive.org/web/20140927014957/http://www.flheritage....

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarpon_Springs_Cultural_Center

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.