The First Greeks in America: In The Spotlight with Yanna Darilis

In this episode of In The Spotlight, host Yanna Darilis sits down with Carl Hollister of St. Photios Greek Orthodox National Shrine in St. Augustine, Florida, to explore one of the most remarkable and lesser-known stories in American history the arrival of the first Greek immigrants to the United States. Carl takes us back to 1768, when a group of Greek colonists journeyed to Florida and became part of the New Smyrna Colony, one of the largest single attempts at colonization in what would become the United States. Despite facing extraordinary hardship, these early settlers eventually found their way to St. Augustine, where they built the foundations of America's first Greek community and with it, the first Greek Orthodox presence in the country.