The channels approaching Charleston fork shortly after passing Fort Sumter, split by a large shoal extending southeast from Shutes' Folly Island.

The southern portion, known as the Middle Ground, was the site of the Civil War-era Fort Ripley, cobbled together on an artificial island.

The fort has since slumped beneath the waves; it is now evidenced by nothing more than a daymark and notation of submerged rocks on nautical charts.

In 1878 a screw-pile lighthouse was erected a short distance from the remains of the fort, to mark the shoal.

However, a much larger skeleton tower was erected on the same site to replace the old rear light of the Fort Sumter Range.