It’s one of Savannah’s most enduring — and endearing — stories.
For 44 years, Florence Margaret Martus (1868-1943) lived on nearby Elba Island with her brother, the Cockspur Island lighthouse keeper.
From 1887 until 1893, so the story goes, no ship arrived in Savannah nor departed without Martus on the bank, waving a handkerchief by day or a lantern by night.
Throughout the years, returning ships watched for and saluted the quiet, slightly built woman with waves and blasts of their ships’ horns as she welcomed them or wished them Godspeed.
Few people ever met her, but as word of her faithful greetings spread to ports all over the world, she became the source of a number of romantic legends.
According to the most popular one, Martus fell in love with a sailor who promised to marry her when he returned to Savannah. He gave her his handkerchief, bade her farewell and sailed off to sea, never to return.
In anticipation of his homecoming, Martus would stand on the riverbank with her collie and wave the handkerchief at ships steaming up and down the river.
While Martus never denied the story about the sailor, she never confirmed it either, and most historians believe her reasons for greeting the ships had more to do with loneliness and isolation than lost love.
Regardless, it’s estimated she greeted more than 50,000 ships during her lifetime, earning a number of tributes in the process.
The SS Florence Martus, a Liberty ship built in Savannah in 1943, was named for her. And in honor of her 70th birthday, the Propeller Club of Savannah sponsored a celebration on Cockspur Island.
In 1972, the Waving Girl statue was erected in Morrell Park overlooking the river.
It was commissioned by the Altrusa Club and designed by sculptor Felix De Weldon — best known for his Iwo Jima monument in Arlington, Va.
Designed to be seen from passing ships, the monument served its purpose well for almost 25 years.
Then came the 1996 Summer Olympics, with its sailing venue in Savannah.
“When Olympic Park was built on the waterfront, it extended the walkway, pushing the pier out some 25 to 30 feet,” according to Tom Wright, secretary of the Propeller Club of Savannah.
“So, while the statue itself didn’t move, the new walkway and growth of the landscaping that was also added has made it very difficult to see the Waving Girl from the river,” Wright said.
The Propeller Club has been working for years to remedy that situation.
The first idea was to move the monument closer to the river, but that was scrapped, according to Jason Ball, a Propeller Club member and engineer with Moffatt & Nichol, who looked into the option.
“It would have been very expensive, but the main reason was that the statue is so heavy, it wouldn’t be good to have it that much closer to the bulkhead,” he said.
So the Propeller Club began looking at another option — redoing the landscaping to make the monument more visible.
In the meantime, the project came to the attention of Chris Novack, director of engineering and facilities maintenance at Georgia Ports, whose son Jack was looking for an Eagle Scout project.
“Jack took on the Waving Girl project, meeting with all the appropriate officials, from the Park and Tree Commission to the mayor’s office,” Ball said. “He even solicited bids from landscaping companies and has made some real progress.”
After designing the project in two phases, Novack already has completed the first phase, which removed four of the eight crape myrtle trees and cleared out underbrush that had overgrown to the point of becoming a haven for the homeless.
“Unfortunately, while it looks better, it didn’t make much difference as far as the line of sight from the river is concerned,” Ball said. “So, we’re looking at Phase Two.
Going beyond the first phase has drawn concern from the nonprofit Savannah Tree Foundation, which is hesitant to see mature trees taken down.
“I support the idea of making the monument visible from the river, but I’m not sure the shade trees are inhibiting that view,” said Karen Jenkins, executive director of the tree foundation.
“This is a big project, one that could really benefit from the expertise of a professional landscape architect,” she said. “And if you do remove trees, it needs to be a net zero proposition, with at least one tree planted for each removed.”
On Thursday, Novack and the Propeller Club will take the proposal for Phase Two before City Council.
The whole point of the monument is that it be visible to passing ships, continuing the “welcoming tradition Florence Martus started so many years ago,” said the Propeller Club’s McLeod Rominger, who has been running point on the project since its inception.
In his Phase Two proposal, Novack will bring two possible scenarios to City Council: Either take down the Willow Oaks that block the monument and plant Live Oaks along River Street between the sidewalk and the monument, or relocate the current trees to a different spot. In either case, the Propeller Club would foot the bill.
I’ll report on how Jack’s proposal was received in next week’s column.
Senior business reporter Mary Carr Mayle covers the ports for the Savannah Morning News and savannahnow. She can be reached at 912-652-0324 or at mary.mayle@savannahnow.com.
Shipping Schedule
Following are the ships expected to call on Georgia Ports Authority’s Garden City and Ocean terminals this week. Schedules are supplied by GPA and are subject to change.
TERMINAL VESSEL ETA
GCT SEOUL EXPRESS Today
GCT NORTHERN DEDICATION Today
GCT MAERSK DAMIETTA Today
GCT YM MARCH Today
GCT SEATTLE EXPRESS Today
GCT ZIM SAVANNAH Today
GCT MSC SAO PAULO Today
GCT BARGE KIRBY 22750 Today
OT GRANDE GUINEA Today
GCT MOL PARAMOUNT Saturday
GCT HANJIN ATLANTA Saturday
GCT YORKTOWN EXPRESS Saturday
GCT HANJIN DUESSELDORF Saturday
GCT CMA CGM NEW JERSEY Saturday
OT TALISMAN Saturday
GCT NEW DELHI EXPRESS Sunday
GCT MSC SHANGHAI Sunday
GCT MSC TAMARA Sunday
GCT ADRIAN MAERSK Sunday
OT TAMESIS Sunday
GCT PETROCHEM TRADER Monday
GCT XIN TAI CANG Monday
GCT HOECHST EXPRESS Monday
GCT AL FARAHIDI Monday
GCT MAERSK ATLANTA Monday
GCT HELVETIA Monday
GCT ZIM QINGDAO Tuesday
GCT EVER DEVOTE Tuesday
GCT NAVARINO Tuesday
GCT MSC LUDOVICA Tuesday
GCT MARGRIT RICKMERS Tuesday
GCT STUTTGART EXPRESS Wednesday
GCT JAMES RIVER BRIDGE Wednesday
GCT ZIM ONTARIO Wednesday
GCT MARY Wednesday
GCT CMA CGM L’ETOILE Wednesday
GCT SHIPPAN ISLAND Wednesday
GCT EVER SUMMIT Wednesday
OT TONSBERG Wednesday
GCT CGM UTRILLO Thursday
GCT VENICE BRIDGE Thursday
GCT HANJIN DURBAN Thursday
GCT MAERSK IOWA Thursday
GCT STADT GERA Thursday
GCT ZIM BEIJING Thursday
GCT CSAV LEBU Thursday
OT SALOME Thursday