Since she could easily see the light from her bedroom, Salter would immediately go back to the top of the tower whenever that light went out or if there were any other problems with the navigational apparatus during the rest of the night. During the next few hours and before she went to her bedroom for the night, Salter would check on the lamp a couple of times to make sure that it was still lit. (The above 1946 photo shows her polishing the Fresnel lens at the lighthouse.) Starting in 1932, Salter was the last remaining female lighthouse keeper in the United States.įor most of her time as keeper, Salter’s daily routine included lighting a lamp at dusk, making her way up into the lighthouse tower, and placing the lamp within the lens located there. Over the next 22 years, Salter diligently carried out those duties. She vigorously appealed that decision, and ultimately President Coolidge stepped in to authorize her appointment as the new Turkey Point Light keeper. Fannie Salter sought to replace her late husband as the lighthouse’s keeper, but this request was initially turned down because of her age.
She worked alongside him at that lighthouse until his death only three years later. “Harry” Salter was assigned to serve as its keeper. The Virginia-born Salter had arrived at Turkey Point Light in 1922 after her husband Clarence W. In addition, she had been the fourth female lighthouse keeper to serve at Turkey Point Light in the time since it was first lit in 1835.
Since Turkey Point Light was fully automated soon thereafter, Salter had the distinction of being its last lighthouse keeper. In 1947, Fannie May Hudgins Salter (1883-1966) retired as the lighthouse keeper at Turkey Point Light at the head of the Chesapeake Bay in northeastern Maryland.
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