Instructions:
1....Print this file.
2....At its end, click on "rules" to see a copy of the trail rules, print it, and then click where indicated at the end of the 3-page rules and patch order form to get back to the list of Florida trails.
3....If you want a hand-drawn map showing the locations of all of the sites, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to Steve Rajtar, 1614 Bimini Dr., Orlando, FL 32806.
4....Hike the trail and order whatever patches you like (optional).
WARNING - This trail may pass through one or more neighborhoods which, although full of history, may now be unsafe for individuals on foot, or which may make you feel unsafe there. Hikers have been approached by individuals who have asked for handouts or who have inquired (not always in a friendly manner) why the hikers are in their neighborhood. Drugs and other inappropriate items have been found by hikers in some neighborhoods. It is suggested that you drive the hike routes first to see if you will feel comfortable walking them and, if you don't think it's a good place for you walk, you might want to consider (1) traveling with a large group, (2) doing the route on bicycles, or (3) choosing another hike route. The degree of comfort will vary with the individual and with the time and season of the hike, so you need to make the determination using your best judgment. If you hike the trail, you accept all risks involved.
About three miles west northwest of this park is the Anclote Key Lighthouse, which sits on the southern tip of a 180-acre island about 2.5 miles long.
The lighthouse was approved by Congress in 1885, which appropriated $35,000 for it. It was built in 1887 with a kerosene light that could be seen for 16 miles out in the Gulf of Mexico. It had a square concrete foundation with a pyramid-shaped iron tower. In the middle was a hollow cylinder inside of which was a sprial staircase. The revolving turret 101 feet above the ground was turned by weights that had to be wound each day.
Two families initially lived on the island to tend the light. They had a small cannon for self-defense during the Spanish-American War, but never had to use it. During the 1920s, the kerosene was replaced by kerosene vapor, and later by 56 batteries which supplied 32 volts to power the 250 watt light. The light was seen intermittently, to distinguish it from the one on Egmont Key to the south.
The lighthouse was eliminted as an aid to navigation when a tall industrical smokestack was erected on the mainland and lighted with strobe lights. The lighthouse was abandoned by the Coast Guard, which had taken it over in 1939, and the island became part of the Caladesi Island State Park.
The word "anclote" has a Spanish origin and means "anchor, grapnel, kedge". It is sometimes loosely translated as "safe harbor". It is the name of this river, an island in the Gulf of Mexico, and an early settlement across the river. In 1867, brothers Frederic and Franklin B. Meyer came here from the Ocala area and built log cabins on the riverbank about 100 yards west of the present Anclote Cemetery. Around them grew the settlement of Anclote, with a school, ferry, post office and general store.
Sponge harvesting was an active industry here since about 1840. However, it was not a big business until John K. Cheyney opened his first warehouse in 1890 at Bailey's Bluff, named after its first settler, surveyor P.K. Bailey. It was later owned by Samuel Baker, who leased it to Cheyney. Later, Baker leased it to Wyatt Meyer for a sponge market. At the time, the method used for gathering sponges was hooking them with 20-foot hooks.
In addition to the Cheyney warehouse, there was also the busy William Wallace Kingsbury Decker sponge house during the 1890s on the south shore. That firm also ran a hardware store and a shop for plain and fancy edibles.
This was the most prestigious single development within Tarpon Springs, the Sunset Hills Country Club. The Alex Lonnquist Company of Chicago started it in 1924, then sold it to Edgar J. Phillips of Evanston, Illinois. The club opened on December 15, 1926, but only lasted three years.
For a time, it was used as a year-round baseball school. In the late 1940s, it was the Upham House hotel. In 1953, it became part of the Anclote Psychiatric Center, known as Anclote Manor.
In 1864, a group of deserters from Fort Brooke in Tampa and escaping slaves made their way to the mouth of the Anclote River. In an effort to attract a rescue boat, they built a huge bonfire on the highest point of land they could find. Instead of attracting the Union boat, it caught the attention of a Confederate captain and his soldiers, who captured and hanged them all. The hill became known as Deserters Hill, and later became a favorite picnic spot.
The First Baptist Church congregation built its first church at the corner of E. Tarpon and Ring Aves. Dee Diamandis then bought it and converted it into an apartment house, with the church moving to this location in 1926. They later moved to another location.
This home was built at Chesapake Point in 1899, and was floated here in about 1905. It was known as the Bigelow Cottage because of its bungalow appearance, and because of its relatively small size, when compared to the larger homes on the bayou.
This was the home of Hayes and Carolyn Bigelow from Brattleboro, Vermont. They came here initially to visit his mother, Mary Bigelow, who lived in a larger home on the bayou. His photographs have preserved much of the history of Tarpon Springs.
This was the home of Mrs. Gertrude Reidinger, built in the mid-1880s on land bought from James Kreamer. It was later the home of Leon Fernald.
This Greek Revival style home with Ionic columns was built in 1889.
Wilber DeGolier came from Bradford, Pennsylvania, and bought this land in early 1883. The home was built soon after. Much of the original ornamental woodwork is now missing from the house. DeGolier, a retired businessman who invested widely in real estate, was the first mayor of Tarpon Springs.
Marshall H. Alworth made his fortune in iron ore in the fabulously rich Vermillion range which he discovered in northern Minnesota. He chose Tarpon Springs for his winter home. The home was built in 1895 of cypress and hard pine, with curly pine paneling. The house has 12 rooms, three fireplaces, and a staircase that reputedly took 12 months to build. There was a guest house in the back.
This 1902 building originally stood behind the Clemson house, for use with the main dwelling. It was a laundry house with rooms for two servants and chauffeur's quarters. Later, it was moved to this spot for use as an independent residence.
George Clemson, who made his fortune in hacksaw blades in Middletown, New York, built this home in 1902 on the site previously occupied by the Safford house. He brought in master carpenters and craftsmen from the North to construct his $70,000 mansion. The home was later owned by Royal D. Alworth.
There are four main bedrooms, three bedrooms for the children and their governess, plus a school room. The original windows were plate glass. Chandeliers were equipped to use either gas or electricity. The basement had a cistern and a pump. The five fireplaces were supplemented by a furnace that accommodated four-foot logs.
Hamilton Disston in 1881 purchased four million acres of Florida for $.25 per acre. This made him the largest individual landowner in the U.S. Some of the land was located near the Anclote River and Lake Butler (now Lake Tarpon). The development site was chosen by Disston's agent, W.R. Marks. The Lake Butler Villa Company was established for the purpose of selling lots.
The original home on this site was begun in the mid-1880s by Sam and Martha Rogers. They sold it to Dr. Richard J. Levis and his wife, Harriet, in 1889 for $3,000, and they used it during the winters. In 1892, following Dr. Levis' death, Mrs. Levis sold the home to George Innes, Jr. for $3,500. His widow later sold it to Thomas Blanche Lowry in 1941.
Innes had his main home in Cragsmoor, New York, and spent his winters here. Born and educated in France, he became famous as a painter. His works hang in the nearby Universalist Church.
The home has 7,800 square feet of living area, including 27 rooms, 7 bathrooms, 9 porches, 123 windows and 89 doors. The many rooms came in handy for Innes' students, who often stayed with him to study his painting technique.
The house was later converted to a bed and breakfast known as Innes Manor.
Ernest and Emma Meres built this home in 1901. Mr. Meres was a leading sponge broker and an original member of the Sponge Exchange.
The first St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Tarpon Springs was a wooden frame structure which seated about 150. It was built in 1907 and served the Greek community until 1943. It was named for the patron saint of ships and seafaring men.
This yellow brick Neo-Byzantine style church opened in January of 1943. The marble was quarried in Greece and was originally part of the Greek Pavilion at the New York World's Fair in 1939. For just the cost of shipping it to Tarpon Springs, the congregation acquired 15 tons of marble.
This church is modeled after the St. Sophia Church in Constantinople, with colorful icons, centered dome, arches, rich carvings, chandeliers, vigil lamps and candles.
Anson P.K. Safford, the former governor of the Arizona Territory, came to this area in 1882. He had a financial interest in Hamilton Disston's company, and came here to oversee the development. With him came his sister, Mary, Florida's first woman doctor. His wife, Soledad Bonillas de Safford founded the Women's Town Improvement Society in 1892. It was reorganized as the Civic Club in 1904, and as the Woman's Club in 1906.
This house, called "Ansonia", began as a simple twin-gabled pioneer cottage at the corner of Spring and Grand Blvds., but after the house was built, it was raised so a lower story could be added. He also added a cupola and porches. After Mr. Safford died, Mrs. Safford sold the corner lot on which the house sat, and had it moved about a block to its present site.
The house was used as The Miramar, a boarding house operated by Mother Meres, beginning in about 1910. After a period of neglect, it was later renovated and returned to use as a private residence. The home was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
When Rev. Henry de Lafayette Webster of Oak Park, Illinois, and Anson Peacely-Killen Safford met and discovered that each was a Universalist, they agreed that a church should be established. Fourteen charter members met in a hall, and in 1886 for $1,500 built its first chapel on E. Tarpon Ave. between Safford and Ring Aves. on land donated by the Lake Butler Villa Company.
It was used by various congregations until it burned in 1908, and was replaced in 1909 by the present structure at this location. In 1918, a hurricane blew out three windows, and artist George Innes, Jr. painted a beautiful landscape triptych based on the 23rd Psalm to temporarily replace them.
Over the next eight years, he added five other paintings. The last one was completed the day before his death in 1926 at the age of 72. Later, two earlier Innes works were added.
This was the home of Rev. Henry De Lafayette Webster of Oak Park, Illinois, who was a co-founder and the first pastor of the nearby Universalist Church. He composed the Civil War era song, "Lorena".
This little chapel was built by parents out of gratitude for their child's miraculous recovery from meningitis.
John Cocoris, a native of Greece who worked for the Lembesis Sponge Company, came to Tarpon Springs to buy sponges. Cocoris went to work for John K. Cheyney, and recognized that diving for sponges, as some Greek spongers did in the 1890s in Key West, would be a superior method. The first Greek sponge diver in this area was Dimosthenis Kavasilas, who emerged after a ten-minute dive thoroughly convinced that the nearby sponge beds could supply the whole world.
With his brother, and supported by Cheyney, Cocoris acquired from Greece divers and equipment to outfit the first diving boat. Many Greek immigrants soon followed, with 1500 spongers arriving during the first year. Within two years, the spongers had about 50 diving boats and 55 hook boats. By 1939, the fleet was about twice that size.
The sponge docks built by the city here were originally erected in the 1920s for the unloading of sponge cargo.
Tarpon Springs prospered as sponging grew to be a multi-million dollar business. This area soon surpassed Key West as the nation's main sponging center. The peak year was 1936.
Then, from 1943 to 1949, a mysterious disease known as the "red tide" killed a large portion of the sponges, and consumers began using synthetic sponges. That nearly eliminated the industry.
The sponge docks were designated as a National Historic Landmark on July 24, 1972.
Louis Pappamichalopoulos of Sparta, the chef for Gen. Pershing during World War I, opened his Riverside Cafe here in 1925. The Pappas Riverside Restaurant opened in August of 1975.
The first bridge to cross the river was built at the foot of Huey St. to the east. Later, a two-span plank bridge was built here, with an island in the middle. Near the bridge was McCreary's "fish house". West of here in the early days were two marshy lakes, Lutea and Mimosa.
The Sponge Exchange was founded in 1907 to remedy the extreme confusion at Bailey's Bluff. A small percentage of the profits of the Sponge Exchange went to support the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church. The sponge exchange building was erected in about 1908 to store sponges until they were sold. The original frame building was replaced in 1939 with one of cement and iron.
This was the site of an early sawmill owned by N.S. Patten who arrived in Tarpon Springs in 1880. The sawmill was later acquired by Mr. Alderman. To the east of this spot was Patten's Quarters, where part of the black population lived.
Land near here owned by A.P.K. Safford was the site of a low, roughly circular hill, about 128 feet across and six feet high. It was explored in 1879 by S.T. Walker, who found skulls and pottery. Frank Hamilton Cushing more thoroughly explored it in 1896. The Indian mound was eliminated in the 1920s to make room for residential development.
Edwin Newton Knapp is the individual who called the meeting on February 12, 1887, at which Tarpon Springs was incorporated as a city. At that meeting, 33 out of 46 registered voters voted in favor of incorporation.
This building formerly was Tarpon Springs High School and later was the Tarpon Springs Performing Arts Center.
The first Roman Catholic chapel in Tarpon Springs was built in 1888 on land donated by A.P.K. Safford. It was a project of Mrs. Safford, who had a concern to bring her faith to the residents of her new home town. It was dedicated to Saint Ignatius of Antioch.
This congregation was established by 1885, and occupied a sanctuary at the corner of Orange and Hibiscus Sts. In 1950, they moved to this new building.
This house was built by the Cretekos family of Georgia brick in 1916, at a time that most homes in Tarpon Springs were made of wood. During winters, cousin Maria Callas, the singer, often visited as a child.
Bult in 1911, this was the home of Levin Dent Vinson, who opened the first general store in Tarpon Springs in 1880. It later became the L.D. Vinson Funeral Home.
When built in 1905, this was the second home of the First Baptist Church, which organized in 1892 and held its early services northeast of Tarpon Springs. The church moved to another location in 1926 and this building was converted to the Gable House Apartments.
The Old Reliable Drug Store was founded at approximately this location in 1886 by Capt. Charles Dix Webster, a former paymaster in the Union Army. He and his nephew Webster Little operated it.
Judge D.P. Boyer built this structure in about 1910.
This 1911 building with the curvilinear parapet is an example of the Masonry Vernacular style.
This one-story building was erected in 1909 as United Divers, a supply house for divers. It later became a bank.
This building with a cast stone exterior was built in 1905. It was used for the fight scenes in the 1953 movie, "Beneath the Twelve-Mile Reef", starring Robert Wagner and Gilbert Roland.
In 1887, the railroad arrived in Tarpon Springs, bypassing the older settlement of Anclote. The first railroad station served Peter Demens' Orange Belt Railroad, and the station was sold to the Atlantic Coast Line. It burned down in 1908 and was replaced by the present structure.
This is now the Tarpon Springs Area Historical Soceity Museum.
This two-story masonry building was erected in 1912.
This store with its rusticated block walls was built in 1905.
This building was constructed in 1909.
This store was built with a recessed entryway in 1895.
This store is the oldest continuous business in Tarpon Springs. The building was erected in 1912.
This building was designed and erected for G.W. Fernald in 1894 by architect Willis Castaing of New Orleans. Fernald began with a general store, and later concentrated on hay, feed and grain, and builders' hardware and supplies.
Ten years before, J.M. Vinson had come from Tallahassee and established a general merchandise business here.
This building was erected in 1905.
This building erected in 1910 once was the home of movie seats and pool tables.
During the 1880s, Mr. Brenner had a bakery shop here. This store building was erected in 1902.
In the 1880s, a drug store was operated here by George McAroy and his daughter, the town's first female pharmacist. A great fire destroyed this business section in 1894 and a new drug store was built here in 1896.
This large commercial building was built in 1914.
This store building was constructed in 1913.
When this was the center of "downtown", which consisted of Tarpon Ave. from the railroad station to the city dock, what is now Pinellas Ave. to the south was known as Citron St., and to the north of Orange St. it was known as Eagle St. It had not been cut through between Tarpon Ave. and Citron St.
Sitting on part of the later right of way was the three-story 70-room Tarpon Springs Hotel and some substantial cottages. The hotel, with a veranda on three sides, was heated by steam and lighted by electricity. All lumber for the hotel was cut at Atlantic City, New Jersey, where Hamilton Disston had sawmill interests.
In 1889, the Occidental Land Company bought a substantial amount of property from the Lake Butler Villa Company and took over the hotel. The hotel burned down in 1896.
The Tropical Hotel was managed by Amelia Petzold Meres, who came here from Elmira, New York, and was renamed The Ferns. After her 1923 death, a tall floral urn inscribed "Mother Meres" was placed on the site of her home and garden, which is now the city parking lot.
At this corner was the residence of John K. Cheyney, built in 1890.
The first hotel in Tarpon Springs was the Long House, initially the stable of the Boyer family. The horses were moved out to make room for human guests. It was later improved and renamed The Tropical, and was acquired by Mr. and Mrs. Walter Meres.
The hotel was two stories, with a veranda on the north and east sides. In addition to being a seasonal hotel, it also served as sort of a community building.
The first bank in Tarpon Springs was located near this site during the 1880s, with Leandro Safford as the cashier. The town's first brass band assembled upstairs from the bank.
The present building was erected in 1905 as an auxiliary to the Tarpon Inn. It later became a bed and breakfast.
Approximately here, Ed Blum erected a two-story building in the 1880s with a general merchandise store downstairs and living quarters upstairs.
In the 1880s, this was the site of a millinery shop operated by Mrs. George. Between it and the Blum Grocery Store to the east was the post office with Ed Blum as the first postmaster, beginning in 1884.
On this corner in the 1880s were a cold drink and confectionery store operated by G.E. Noblit and an oyster house owned by H.F. Pent.
The Tarpon Inn was built here in 1912 for $150,000. It burned down in 1927 and later the two-story Gondolier Hotel took its place.
In the early days, to get to Tarpon Springs one had to take the train to Cedar Key and come the rest of the way by boat. A pier was built here during the 1880s by Ed Blum, along with a large warehouse for storing merchandise. This is now the site of the annual Epiphany rites on January 6.
A mineral spring was discovered near here, just below the tide level. Those who drank from it seemed to derive benefits, and Tarpon Springs gained a reputation as a health resort.
This home was built in about 1890 by William T. Flemming of Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania. He was related by marriage to the Disston family.
The style is typical late Victorian, but with an unexpected Chinese curve to the roof over the front steps. The gazebo in the side yard is typical of the period.
Later, this was the winter residence of Mr. Bendinger, an officer of the Lehigh Railroad. The family arrived each fall in their own railroad car. Abe Tarapani later purchased the home, and for over 20 years was the commander of the local American Legion post.
Edwin Newton Knapp designed this V-shaped home, built in about 1886. Knapp was active in the hardware business in Hiawatha, Kansas, and as the commodore of the local yacht club was known as "The Admiral". He liked taking long cruises and had a feeling about curves and crescents, which was reflected in the curving porch, small oval windows in the tower, a crescent design on the interior woodwork, and a decorative lightning rod. No rooms are square. The home was appropriately known as "The Crescent Place".
This home was built in the mid-1900s with unsapped pine for Rev. Miles Standish.
This was the site of a large house owned by senator Ebenezer B. Hawkins, whose yacht "Itasca" was used by the U.S. government during World War I. The home, after being damaged by storms and gutted by fire, was torn down.
D.J. Murphy was the town's first undertaker, and he had his office here. Murphy also built the first Catholic Church in Tarpon Springs.
This brick building formerly served as the city hall, built in 1914 with a Neo-Classical style and domed clock. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Arcade Hotel, a part of the Spanish Mission style Shaw Arcade building, was erected in 1926 for a cost of $100,000, and was covered with pink stucco. Designed by Wolpert and Brown, this was the city's major hotel until World War II. The arcaded loggia on the front, below the gallery, was restored in 1984. This building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
In the 1880s, John Boyer and his mother came to Tarpon Springs from the Bahamas, joining her son Joshua who had come in 1877. The home they built here stood until the 1960s.
Tarpon Springs' first permanent settler, A.W. Ormond, built a log cabin here in 1876. The following year, Joshua Boyer also arrived and married Ormond's daughter, Mary. In 1879, Mary exclaimed "See the tarpon in the springs", and that became the basis for the settlement's name. Boyer ran a livery stable on the nearby site later occupied by a Publix supermarket.
The first dairy in Tarpon Springs was started here by D.S. Buchanan, who was later bought out by Sam Boyette. Boyette moved the operation to a site on S. Grosse Ave. near Boyer St.
A Walking Tour of Tarpon Springs Golden Crescent, (The Tarpon Springs Area Historical Society 1993)
An Uncommon Guide to Florida, by Nina McGuire (Tailored Tours Publications, Inc. 1992)
Discover Florida: A Guide to Unique Sites and Sights, by Robert Tolf (Manatee Books 1982)
Florida Lighthouses, by Kevin M. McCarthy (University of Florida Press 1990)
Florida's Pinellas Peninsula, by June Hurley Young (Byron Kennedy and Co. 1984)
History of Tarpon Springs, by R.F. Pent (Great Outdoors Publishing Co. 1964)
The Illustrated Guide to the Florida West Coast, by M.C. Bob Leonard (Purple Islands Production 1992)
Inventory of the Church Archives of Florida: Baptist Bodies, 25. Pinellas County Baptist Association, (The Florida Historical Records Survey Report 1940)
The New History of Florida, by Michael Gannon (University Press of Florida 1996)
St. Petersburg and Its People, by Walter P. Fuller (Great Outdoors Publishing Co. 1972)
Sponge Docks, by Eileen and Lou Rozee (1973)
Strangers at Ithaca, by George Th. Frantzis (Great Outdoors Publishing Co. 1962)
Tarpon Springs, Florida: The Early Years, by Gertrude K. Stoughton (Tri-Arts Studo 1975)
Click here for a copy of the trail rules.