The Waving Girl

Flora Martus lived on Elba Isle near Savannah, Georgia, in the early 1900s. She, her brother, and her father were the lighthouse keepers there, and Flora loved watching the ships pass back and forth. But the life of a lighthouse keeper is a lonely one, and Flora missed playing with other children. Her father always comforted her with the idea that she would always be a light for others. For more than sixty years, Flora Martus happily waved to the passing ships, which were her nearest neighbors. It became a tradition for passing ships to honk their horns or blow their whistles at the girl, and then the woman, waving from the lighthouse. Flora's fame spread across the globe, and she sometimes received exotic gifts from far-off places, all addressed to "The Waving Girl." As time passed, Flora was left to run the lighthouse with her brother, and before long, it was time for someone else to run the lighthouse as they grew old. For Flora's seventieth birthday, Savannah honored its beloved waving girl by throwing a party for three thousand people. A bronze statue in her honor was erected on the south end of River Street in Savannah, Georgia, in 1971.