Beginning its life as a day marker, then upgraded to a lighthouse in 1848, this structure was rebuilt after it was damaged in an 1854 hurricane. Constructed on a shallow oyster bed (submerged at high tide) to mark the entrance to the south channel of the Savannah River, Norris’s design reused the unusual prowlike base of the earlier structure. The lighthouse was abandoned in 1909 when the south channel became unsuitable for shipping. South of the lighthouse, Lazaretto Creek, which defines the west boundary of Tybee Island, is named for the quarantine station once located near here. Stipulated as part of the 1750 legislation repealing Georgia’s antislavery provision in its founding charter, the lazaretto was located here from 1767 until 1785 and included several hospital buildings. The north shore of Tybee Island just east of Lazaretto Creek was the waterfront location of eleven Union batteries that bombarded Fort Pulaski in 1862.