Heritage Museum tells the story of Tarpon Springs

TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. — Christopher Still says he doesn’t see a lot of underwater paintings like the ones he’s showing at the Tarpon Springs Heritage Museum.

“That’s predominantly because you can’t sit and paint from it,” he said. “You are usually just only working from photographs.”

So, with the help of friends, the longtime Florida artist found a way — an airtight painter’s box.

“And it takes 100 pounds of weight on it to get it to go down,” said Still.

A weekly pill box holds the paints.

“And there is Velcro for the brushes,” said Still.

This allowed still to do studies of life underwater — to see how the light moves through this world.

In his work are reflections of Florida.

Just steps from the museum’s locale in Craig Park is Spring Bayou, where every Jan. 6, Greek Orthodox males aged 16 to 18 dive after a white cross to celebrate the Epiphany — the baptism of Jesus.

They’ve been doing it 120 years.

“They call Tarpon Springs the Greece of Florida,” said Megan McIntyre, the city’s interim director of cultural and civic services.

“These items are priceless,” she added.

The museum also focuses on what brought the Greek community to Tarpon Springs — the bounty of the area’s waters, where sponge divers flourished at the turn of the 20th century.

In the museum’s exhibits, the people and history of Tarpon Springs are all present.

“But it is so important,” McIntyre said. “Because without those stories, we lose where we come from.”