St Augustine - St Photios Shrine

St Photios Shrine honors the memory of the first colony of Greeks in the New World. In 1768, a boatload of 400 Greeks, 900 Minorcans and a few dozen Corsicans and Italians arrived in St Augustine en route to the ill-fated New Smyrna Colony. The new settlers found refuge in the 1749 Avero House, after living conditions in the colony became unbearable. They set up a place of worship here in 1777 and the present shrine was dedicated in 1971. The museum at St Photios contains historical information about the colony and other Greek Orthodox relics.