The shoals in this area were already marked by a stone daybeacon when the lighthouse board recommended construction of a light in 1871.

[2] The form of the structure remained essentially the same over the years: a small square house with a lantern and fog bell set on the roof, all perched on a pier of stone blocks scarcely larger than the house itself.

The building, however, had to be rebuilt or massively repaired several times over the years, due to damage from moving ice.

[3] The hurricane of 1938 was devastating to the low-sited lighthouses of the region, and Musselbed Shoals was no exception.

[3] The light was judged not worth repairing, and in the following year it was demolished and replaced with a skeleton tower which remains in service.