On October 30, 1880, a fire destroyed the wooden lighthouse leaving only the iron work and other un-burnable items.  The Lazaretto depot in Baltimore just happened to have another screwpile light ready to be delivered to Bell's Rock, Virginia.  This light was sent to Thimble Shoal instead to replace the light that had burned.  This new light was lit for the first time on December 24, 1880.

In March 1891 the screwpile was rammed by a steamer and damaged.  Then again in 1898 it was rammed by a coal barge.  This time there was considerable damage and extensive rebuilding was required.

In December of 1909 the hexagonal cottage was completely destroyed by fire and the pile foundation destroyed when it was rammed by the schooner "Malcom Baxter, Jr.".  This ship in tow hit the light so hard that it over turned the coal stove and the resultant fire completely destroyed the light.  The two keepers were able to escape in their small boat and survived the snow and gale force winds that night on the bay.

Congress appropriated funds for a new lighthouse at this site in 1910, but this new caisson structure was not ready to be installed until 1914.  It is three stories tall and stands 55 feet above the water.  When it was first lit, the light had a fourth-order Fresnel lens that had a clockworks that rotated an eclipser that flashed the light one for one-second and off for one-second.

In 1964 this light was automated with the instillation of a power cable from shore with a battery back-up.  In 1987 the electric cable was replaced by solar cells.

In 1988 the Coast Guard performed extensive restoration work the light including a new coat of paint.  This light is the last to still have its' canopy over the first-level.