Built: 1881

Type: Metal Skeletal Tower 

Height: 132 feet

Status: Destroyed

Deactivated: 1912

Location: SW tip of Parris Island

Elevation: 120 feet

Lens: Steamer lens

Keepers: 

Notes: The rear range light was about two miles northwest of the front light. A keeper's house was located on a causeway midway between the two lights.
In 1878, the U.S. Congress authorized range lights on Parris Island. These were to be used with the Hilton Head Range Lights to guide ships coming into Port Royal Sound.
The Rear Light was a 132 feet (40 m) tall triangular, iron skeletal tower, manufactured by the Cooper Manufacturing of Mount Vernon, Ohio. John Michael Doyle, who was an employee of the manufacturer, supervised the erection of the tower on a concrete foundation. Doyle later supervised the erection of the shorter Bloody Point Rear Range Light. He also became the first light keeper at Bloody Point. A brick lamp house, which was also called a lens house, was built at the base of the tower to house the lamp during the day. At night, the locomotive or steamer lamp with parabolic reflector was raised on rails to a height of 120 feet (37 m). The Parris Island Range Lights were lit on 1881.
A wooden walkway was built to connect the lights. The keeper's house was built about midway between the front and rear light.