1876 – Fort Ripley, Charleston Harbor, South Carolina.—An appropriation having been made for building a light-house on Fort Ripley Shoal, to take the place of Castle Pinckney light, the work will be taken in hand at an early day.

1877 – Fort Ripley, Charleston Harbor, South Carolina.—Cession of title to and jurisdiction over a submarine site of ten acres on Fort Ripley Shoal, have, after considerable delay, been secured from the State of South Carolina and the city of Charleston. Proposals have been invited for furnishing the metal-work for the foundation. It is expected that the work will be completed during the present season.

1878 – Fort Ripley Shoal, Charleston Harbor, South Carolina.—The insufficiency of the appropriation prevented this work from being completed within the past year. An additional appropriation of $5,000 having been made by the act approved June 20, 1878, for its completion, the work on the foundation will be commenced at once, and it is expected that the station will be ready for lighting by the 1st of November next.

1879 – Fort Ripley Shoal (screw-pile light), Charleston Harbor, South Carolina.—Under the appropriation of $5,000, made by Congress for completing this station, the work of putting down the foundation was commenced in July, 1878, and the station completed and lighted, on the 1st of the following December. The light-house stands about 500 feet southeast of the old foundation of Fort Ripley, in 8 ½ feet of water. It is a hexagonal structure, resting on one central and six periphery piles of wrought iron, with wrought-iron ties and braces, in two systems, the lower being vertical and the upper inclined. The station is fitted with a fog-bell, struck by machinery at intervals of ten seconds. On the exhibition of the light at Fort Ripley Shoal, the light at Castle Pinckney was extinguished.

1880 – Fort Ripley Shoal, Charleston Harbor, South Carolina.—The building at the station was repainted, and a fifth order lens put in place of the sixth-order, thus adding much to the efficiency of the light.

1890 – Fort Ripley Shoal, Middle Ground, Charleston Harbor, South Carolina.—Three boiler-iron water-tanks, 6 feet 6 inches high by 2 feet 6 inches in diameter, which were worn out, were replaced by three new ones of the same dimensions.

1932 – lighthouse deactivated.

Keepers:

• Head: B.F. Lytle (1878 – 1881), William McP. Christie (1881 – 1882), Andrew Anderson (1882 – 1897), Manuel Soria (1897 – 1900), August W. Henrikson (1900 – 1901), Joseph U. Smith (1902), Rupert H. Whiteley (1902), Halvor S. Svendsen, Jr. (1902 – 1905), James E. Swan (1905 – 1906), Oscar T. Holand (1906), St. Julien Mazyck (1906), Thomas F. Nielson (1906 – at least 1917), Kajetan E. Kremser (at least 1921), Albert E. Burn (at least 1930).
• Assistant: Andrew Anderson (1878 – 1880), Thomas P. O'Hagan (1880 – 1881), George F. McIntyre (1881), Quentin F. Byers (1881 – 1882).

A large modern light, known as the Fort Sumter Range Rear Light, stands at this location today.

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