Both Sand Island Light, south of Mobile Bay, Alabama, and Morris Island Light, in North Carolina, as were many of the southern lights were quickly rebuilt or repaired and returned to service following the Civil War.
However, it wasn't until March 3, 1873 that funds were appropriated for a new tower on Morris Island. To provide a proper foundation for what would be a first order seacoast light, over two hundred wooden piles were driven fifty feet into the sand. Above the pilings, an eight-foot-thick concrete foundation was poured. The base of the foundation had a diameter of thirty-three feet and tapered to sixteen feet eight inches at its top. This sizable foundation was necessary to support the brick tower, which would rise over 150 feet into the air and weigh close to 4,000 tons.
A three-story dwelling was built for the keepers, and the light from the tower's first-order Fresnel lens was activated on October 1, 1876. The tower was built using the same plans as Bodie Island Lighthouse and was painted with the same horizontal black and white markings.