St. Photios National Shrine Executive Director Polly Hillier Recognized for Women's History Month
The St. Photios National Shrine congratulates its Executive Director Polly Hillier for being recognized by the St. Johns Cultural Council for Women's History Month!
Polly Maouris Hillier came to St. Augustine from New Zealand in 2005 to work at St. Photios National Shrine. A native of the Hudson Valley, she serves as the Executive Director of the Shrine, which is known affectionately by locals as the “Jewel of St. George Street.”
Her career in the not-for-profit sector, experience as an educator, love of Orthodox Christianity, and her interest in history were a perfect foundation for working at the first shrine of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.
She has a BA in Elementary Education and is a certified psychiatric rehabilitation counselor. Polly has worked in community mental health in New York, for the government of New Zealand, and has shared her passion for the history of Greeks in St. Augustine with thousands for the past 16 years.
The St. Photios National Shrine is dedicated not only to the memory of the first Greek Orthodox pioneers who arrived in the New World on June 26, 1768, but to all the following generations of immigrants who came to this New World seeking freedom, justice, and a better life for themselves and their children. Today, St. Photios is a sacred, educational center where those of Greek ancestry may celebrate their cultural heritage and a public place where all may honor and remember their own immigrant ancestors.
Exhibits and galleries tell about the life of early Greek settlers and the development of the Greek Orthodox Church in America. Located in the historic Averos House on St. George Street, visitors can view the shrine’s beautiful Saint Photios Chapel with hand-painted Byzantine murals depicting sacred icons on the walls and domed ceiling. The Avero House, originally built after a siege by the English in 1702, is also on view and is currently restored to its 1730s appearance.
