Residents of St. Ypatios and Iphaistia who owned agriculture land in the area used to visit Plaka on a seasonal basis. After 1823, a few people began to settle there permanently, and by 1860, a large group had assembled to form a community. Simferoupolis was the village’s original name which was given by the archbishop of Lemnos, Joachim III whom the people of Agios Ypatios approached with their decision to form a new community. They had been obliged to leave Agios Ypatios for reasons of interest. The new name of the settlement came from the Plaka cape, which has impressive grey and black horizontal rocks.  Because the cape is situated in the centre of the straight line connecting Troas and Mount Athos, some believe it was the ancients’ ” Ermaion Lepas,” through which the news of Troy’s fall was conveyed by fire.

The presence of a fortified settlement in the Plaka region has been documented since 1355. It is most likely linked to the “Castle of the Kastriots,” where Kritovoulos landed from Imvros in 1459 and forced the Venetians off the island.

The remnants of an old sunken city were discovered in the southern portion of the Vriokastro peninsula, roughly 800 metres from the coast and east of the Vina reef. Another sunken ancient city has been discovered off the east coast of Greece in the Mythones sea region. Linking them to the Homeric islet of Chrysi, which sunk in 197 BC, Choiseul-Guffier was the first to refer to the ruins in 1785.