Part of the third lighthouse at the site, built in 1773, still stands as the bottom 60 feet (18 m) of the present lighthouse. The second lighthouse was built in 1742 when beach erosion threatened the first. The original lighthouse has been replaced several times. First built in 1736, the lighthouse was made of brick and wood, and stood 90 feet (27 m) tall, making it the highest structure in America at that time.

Tybee Island's strategic position near the mouth of the Savannah River has made the island's northern tip the ideal location for a lighthouse since Georgia's early settlement period. Augustine and Pensacola the Sea Islands were depopulated, allowing the establishment of new English settlements such as the colony of Georgia. After another invasion of Spanish Florida by South Carolina in 1704, the Spanish retreated to St. Augustine, but did destroy the Guale and Mocama missionary provinces. The invasion failed to take the capital of Florida, St. In 1702, James Moore of South Carolina led an invasion of Spanish Florida with an Indian army and a fleet of militia-manned ships. After the founding of South Carolina in 1670, warfare increased between the English and their pirate allies and the Spanish and their Native American allies.

Pirates later used the island's inland waterways for a fresh water source. During that time the island was frequented by pirates who used the island to hide from those who pursued them. It was at the northern end of the Guale missionary province of Spanish Florida. In 1520, the Spanish laid claim to what is now Tybee Island and named it Los Bajos. The Euchee tribe likely inhabited the island in the years preceding the arrival of the first Spanish explorers in the area in the 16th century. Native Americans, using dugout canoes to navigate the waterways, hunted and camped in Georgia's coastal islands for thousands of years. Though the 'Tybee Bomb' did not detonate (and, according to some reports, was not armed with a fuse), there has been ongoing concern, since the Mark 15 nuclear bomb lost during the mishap was never found. Air Force dropped an atomic bomb-by accident (during a botched 1958 military training exercise). It is one of the few locations where the U.S. Tybee Island is home to the first of what would eventually become the Days Inn chain of hotels, the oft-photographed Tybee Island Light Station, and the Fort Screven Historic District. (The name 'Savannah Beach' nevertheless appears on official state maps as far back as 1952 and as recently as the mid-1970s.) The small island, which has long been a quiet getaway for the residents of Savannah, has become a popular vacation spot with tourists from outside the Savannah metropolitan area. Officially renamed 'Savannah Beach' in a publicity move at the end of the 1950s, the city of Tybee Island has since reverted to its original name. The entire island is a part of the Savannah Metropolitan Statistical Area. The famous phrase 'From Rabun Gap to Tybee Light,' intended to illustrate the geographic diversity of Georgia, contrasts a mountain pass near the state's northernmost point with the coastal island's famous lighthouse.Īs of the 2020 census, the city's population was 3,114. The island is the easternmost point in Georgia. Though the name 'Tybee Island' is used for both the island and the city, geographically they are not identical: only part of the island's territory lies within the city. Tybee Island is a city and a barrier island located in Chatham County, Georgia, 18 miles (29 km) east of Savannah, United States.

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