Constructed in 1832, it continued to serve the area until 1892, when it was replaced by the Sharkfin Shoal Light.

In that year, it was included on the Augustine Herman map of the Chesapeake, although this map referred to the location as Phillips Point rather than Clay Island, and it was under that name that the location would appear in the novel Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe.

[1] Clay Island is at an important nautical location, as it sits where the Nanticoke River and Fishing Bay intersect near the mouth of the Wicomico River on the lower Eastern Shore of Maryland.

[1] This tower eventually enclosed a sixth order Fresnel lens, which displayed a white light 36 feet (11 m) above the mean high water mark.

The Lighthouse Board chose not to repair it, preferring instead to replace it with a more modern light located on Sharkfin Shoal nearby.