Greek family find home locally with The Schooner; their story part of upcoming Cultural Heritage Showcase
Published 12:24 am Wednesday, October 11, 2023
Constantine and Antonia Megas at The Schooner, 2017. (File photo)
The first photograph Constantine Megas ever took. The photo was sent to his Uncle Eugene to recognize him when he arrived in Texas. He was 14 in the picture. (Courtesy photo)
Antonia Megas in her high school uniform in Greece. (Courtesy photo)
Constantine and Antonia Megas at their wedding. (Courtesy photo)
Constantine and Antonia Megas after Antonia arrived in America. Photo taken in front of St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Port Arthur. (Courtesy photo)
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For Greek immigrants Constantine and Antonia Megas, Southeast Texas is home.
The Megas family is known as owners of The Schooner in Nederland and as proud Americans.
Antonia Megas is looking forward to participating in the upcoming Cultural Heritage Showcase, which is scheduled for 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday at Bow Bowers Civic Center in Port Arthur.
The Greater Port Arthur Chamber of Commerce is leading the City of Port Arthur’s 125th anniversary celebration.
“This is our home,” Antonia Megas said. “I’ve been here 53 years, my husband for 70. We raised our family here. We like to go back and visit, but this is our home.”
The Megas family’s journey to the area started with Constantine’s uncle, Eugene, who owned The Schooner with his wife Antigone. Constantine left Greece in 1951 at the age of 15 and arrived in the area, where he went to school and worked at the family restaurant, according to information from the family.
A few years later he heeded to California and worked with a family that owned several restaurants, thus honing his skills in the business and learning how to properly cut steaks, fillet fish and make sauces.
He came back to Texas in 1968 and bought The Schooner from his aunt after his uncle passed away.
Antonia is also from Greece. She attended school and helped her family farm crops. She was active in her village’s Greek Orthodox Church and apprenticed with a local seamstress.
“Constantine and Antonia are both from Tripolis, which is located in the Peloponnese region of Greece. It is roughly a two-hour drive from Athens,” daughter Maria Megas previously told Port Arthur Newsmedia.
Her parents, she said, had a matched marriage, so to speak.
Constantine went back to Greece in the summer of 1970 and while there came to meet Antonia through an arranged meeting. The two immediately liked each other and were later married.
Through the years they raised six children and operated a successful restaurant in a city they are grateful for.
