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Please note The Museum of the Reconstruction Era will be closed for house tours Wednesday, Feb. 1 - Friday, Feb. 3 due to garden renovations, and the Robert Mills House will be closed for tours on Thursday, Feb. 2 due to a private event on site.

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1300 Whaley Street

Beth Shalom Cemetery

Chartered on April 26, 1883 by the Hebrew Cemetery Society of Columbia, the “free cemetery or burial ground for Hebrews” was one of the earliest of its kind in America. Its founding officers were Philip Epstein (president), Barrett Visanska (vice-president) and William Robinson (treasurer). The cemetery’s original property, purchased on March 12, 1883 from Eliza S. Bailey, occupied an entire city block, bounded by Indigo (Whaley), Lower (Heyward), Marion and Sumter streets. The cemetery’s oldest extant marker designates the burial of Arthur Benedict of Abbeville.

In 1896, the society sold 3 1/2 acres of the original track to W. B. S. Whaley for $900, keeping only 1/2 acre for use as a cemetery. Whaley used his newly acquired land to build housing for employees of Richland Cotton Mills.

  • Beth Shalom Cemetery 2017

    Beth Shalom Cemetery, 2017. Historic Columbia collection

  • Sanborn from 1919 depicting cemetery

    Sanborn Fire Insurance map, 1919, showing the “Hebrew Cemetery” surrounded by mill housing. Image courtesy South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina

  • B. Visanska

    Barrett Visanska. Reprinted from The Tree of Life: Fifty Years of Congregational Life at the Tree of Life Synagogue, Columbia, S.C by Helen Kohn Hennig

  • P Epstein

    Philip Epstin. Reprinted from The Tree of Life: Fifty Years of Congregational Life at the Tree of Life Synagogue, Columbia, S.C by Helen Kohn Hennig

In 1911, the House of Peace (Beth Shalom) Synagogue assumed management of the cemetery, and over time, it became recognized as a burial ground primarily for the synagogue’s members. House of Peace member Gus Oppenheimer was the cemetery’s first caretaker, a position he held from 1934 until 1976. Due to a lack of space, land was purchased in Arcadia Lakes for the establishment of a new cemetery in 1995.

The University of South Carolina acquired the land surrounding the cemetery in 1969, and the Eugene E. Stone III Memorial Stadium was built in 1996. This soccer stadium is known as “The Graveyard” due to its proximity to the cemetery.

South Carolina Historical Marker

On January 15, 2017, the Columbia Jewish Heritage Initiative unveiled a South Carolina Historical Marker at the cemetery. Following the dedication, Aaron Small and Dr. Jonathan Leader led a tour of the cemetery.

South Carolina Historical Marker

33.9882791, -81.0259321

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Historic Columbia

© 2023 Historic Columbia

Administrative Offices
1601 Richland Street
Columbia, SC 29201

Tours
All historic house and garden tours start at the Gift Shop at Robert Mills.
1616 Blanding Street
Columbia, SC 29201

Questions? Call (803) 252-7742.

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