City Directories and History: Enjoy added information on this National Register site.
The Coming Street Cemetery, established in 1762, is privately owned by Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim (Holy Congregation of the House of God), a congregation whose synagogue is itself a National Historic Landmark. This cemetery is the oldest Jewish burial ground in the South. It is also significant for its association with the history of the Beth Elohim, a congregation established in 1749 and the birthplace of Reform Judaism in America in 1824; as the chief cemetery for Charleston’s significant Jewish community since the colonial era; and for its fine examples of late-eighteenth century and early nineteenth century gravestone art. The cemetery contains some six hundred marble and brownstone gravestones, most dating from the last half of the eighteenth century or the first half of the nineteenth century. It includes many box tombs, table-top tombs, obelisks, and columns, several of them fine examples of late-eighteenth and nineteenth century gravestone art, and many signed by such prominent local sculptors and stonecutters as A.F. Chevreaux, M. Gannon, G. Rennie, D.A. Walker, Edward R. White, and William T. White. Many gravestones feature Hebrew inscriptions and/or Jewish religious motifs. A perimeter stuccoed brick wall, part of it original, is an important feature of the site and has been a major factor in keeping the cemetery intact for over two hundred years. Listed in the National Register November 5, 1996. [Courtesy of the SC Dept. of Archives and History]
For added information click here: Internet Archives
“The Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim Cemetery was originally the private burial ground of Isaac DaCosta, a Sephardic Jew who was Minister of Beth Elohim from 1750 to 1764. The property was transferred to the congregation Beth Elohim in 1764. lt is one of the country’s most historic burial grounds, with graves dating back to 1762. Moses Cohen, Beth Elohim’s first Rabbi, is buried here, along with Jews who served in the American Revolution and all subsequent America wars.” (Elzas, Jews of South Carolina , 34-35, 292. ) – CCPL
Other sources of interest: Charleston Tax Payers of Charleston, SC in 1860-61 and the Dwelling Houses of Charleston by Alice R.H. Smith – 1917 The HCF may also have additional data at: Past Perfect and further research can be uncovered at: Charleston 1861 Census Schedule or The Charleston City Guide of 1872
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