An interesting article appeared recently in the Hellenic News Of America about the settlers from Menorca and other parts of the Mediterranean who started one of the first colonies in Florida. Here’s an extract:

The courageous Mediterranean people who left the shores of Minorca in the eighteenth century to “seek a newer world” in Florida, were the largest group of white people to form their own colony in America. They began their extraordinary odyssey in 1768; the ambitious goal was to serve as laborers in a British colonial enterprise designed to grow the indigo plant, then more precious than gold. After completing seven years of servitude, the new colonists were promised fifty acres of their own land.

The project was conceived by a Scottish physician, Dr. Andrew Turnbull. He wanted to grow the precious indigo plant in hot and humid Florida swampland and he felt people who lived in the Mediterranean were best suited to work in this type of climate… Dr. Turnbull went to Minorca where he gathered 1,255 Minorcans, Italians, Greeks, and Corsicans, placed them on eight ships and embarked on a three-month journey to the Musquetos area of Southeast Volusia County. Records show that a total of 148 perished at sea. When the remaining 1,107 arrived they discovered there were provisions for only half that number and, furthermore, most had to build their own shelters.

The AHEPA Chapter in New Smyrna Beach, Fla., has honored the courageous Greek pioneers who died populating and trying to grow this colony with a magnificent sculpture called “The Odyssey Monument.” Built in 2000 with funds raised by AHEPA, the monument was designed by the late Argyros Xepappas, an architect who had an international reputation.

To read the full article click here

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