In the mid-1950s, gift shop owner Henry Dunseith wanted something to pull Cape Cod-bound travelers off Route 6 and into his store. He turned to local artist Theodore D. Tetreault, known around town for his mural and neon work — including the once-famous Paul Revere sign along I-195 — and Tetreault, with his son Teddy, built the giant seahorse in their own backyard in Fairhaven before installing it on the corner.

When Interstate 195 opened, it rerouted traffic and closed most of the old roadside gift shops, Dunseith's included. When Dunseith died in 1988, rather than let the land go commercial, he willed the 3.5-acre property to the Mattapoisett Land Trust. But Salty's future was still uncertain — for a time the Land Trust considered removing the aging sculpture, until a petition with hundreds of local signatures convinced them to save him instead.

He was restored and re-dedicated in 2000, and it was a Land Trust essay contest that finally gave him a name — two local schoolgirls, Ally Lacross and Maura Jones, submitted the winning entry: "Salty."