Martus, Florence, 1868-1943

Florence Martus (1868–1943), also known as "the Waving Girl", took it upon herself to be the unofficial greeter of all ships that entered and left the Port of Savannah, Georgia, between 1887 and 1931. A few years after she began waving at passing sailors, she moved in with her brother, a light keeper, at his small white cottage about five miles up the river from Fort Pulaski. From her rustic home on Elba Island, a tiny piece of land in the Savannah River near the Atlantic Ocean, Martus would wave a handkerchief by day and a lantern by night. According to legend, not a ship was missed in her forty-four years on watch. A statue of Martus by the sculptor Felix de Weldon has been erected in Morrell Park on the historic riverfront of Savannah.

Florence Margaret Martus; born August 7, 1868, Elba Island, near Savannah, Georgia; died February 8, 1943, Savannah, Georgia; American Folk Figure. She was the daughter of a Civil War veteran, George Martus, who was keeper of the lighthouse on Elba Island on the banks of the Savannah River. After her father died, she went to live on Elba Island with her brother, whp assumed the duty of lighthouse keeper. In 1887 she met a Naval Lieutenant and fell in love. Soon after, his ship sailed but he promised to return to Florence. Months went by and she heard nothing from him. She began to stand on the river's edge and wave a white handerchief at every ship that entered the Savannah River while sailing into port, a practice she kept up for the next 44 years. In 1931, her brother retired, taking Florence with him. To honor her, a statue was erected on the banks of the river, and ships now blow their horns when entering the river in honor of "Savannah's Waving Girl