Cecil

Fannie Mae Salter, about 65 years old, cleaning the lens of a lighthouse light

Fannie Mae Salter (1882 – 1966)
By Kathi Santora

Fannie Mae Salter began to serve as the head lighthouse keeper at Turkey Point Light after her husband and previous keeper, Clarence Walter “Harry” Salter, died in 1925. She retired in 1947 when the light was automated. Salter was the last female civilian light keeper in the U.S. when she retired in 1947 around the time that the light was automated.

Prior to when Clarence Salter assumed oversight of the Turkey Point Lighthouse in 1922, Fannie Mae Salter had assisted him in several other Chesapeake Bay stations in Virginia. In those days, it was customary for wives to assist their husbands in these duties, considering that it was a 24/7 assignment. However, despite this extensive experience, Salter had to petition Senator Ovington Weller to make her position official after her husband died.

Even in terms of lighthouses of the day, Turkey Point was an especially isolated location. This meant that the Salter family needed to be quite self-sufficient. They maintained a garden and livestock (turkeys, cows and sheep) in addition to round-the-clock lighthouse duties. Supplies came by way of winch from boat dock located at the foot of a cliff-side, 137-step stairway.

This collection of photos collected by the Turkey Point Light Station, Inc. gives a glimpse into the family life of Fannie Mae Salter as well as scenes of the lighthouse over the years.

Turkey Point Lighthouse projected light 13 miles down the Chesapeake Bay. Its fog bell stood on the edge of a steep cliff overlooking the Elk River. Mrs. Salter once manually rang the bell every 15 seconds for an hour during a lengthy passage of a steamship in dense fog.

Salter retired on October 1, 1947, at age 65, after 22 years of service. She once looked back on her career and said: “Oh, it was an easy-like chore, but my feet got tired, and climbing the tower has given me fallen arches.” Her retirement home was just miles from the Turkey Point Lighthouse and she could still look out the window to see the beam.

Fannie May Salter died of natural causes on March 11, 1966, at the Public Health Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland and is buried next to her husband in St. Paul’s Methodist Church Cemetery, in Susan, Virginia.

Sources:

Chesapeake Chapter, U.S. Lighthouse Society

Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/38758124/fannie-may-salter

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fannie_Salter

Image: USCG Historian’s Office, CG-09231