WATER & COAST
Tarpon Springs Sponge Docks
Pinellas County · Gulf Coast
The working sponge docks on Dodecanese Boulevard, built by Greek divers from 1905 and still the heart of the most Greek city in America.
ABOUT THIS PLACE
Sponging started here in the 1880s with hook boats. In 1905 John Cocoris brought in deep-water diving and recruited spongers from the Dodecanese Islands in Greece, and the town changed completely. Men in canvas suits and brass helmets walked the Gulf floor gathering sponges, and for a period it was Florida's leading export. George Billiris, whose family came in 1904, called it a gold rush. A blight and the arrival of synthetic sponges knocked the industry down, but boats still go out and sponges are still sold off the dock. More than one in ten residents claim Greek descent, the highest share of any city in the country, and the docks carry about 125 Greek-owned businesses, 25 restaurants and several bakeries. St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral is the center of the community, and its Epiphany celebration on January 6, when boys dive for a cross in Spring Bayou, is the largest in America
Keep comparing