Beth Shalom Cemetery

Front inscription

In 1883 members of Columbia’s Jewish community founded the Hebrew Cemetery Society of Columbia as an alternative to the Hebrew Benevolent Society’s cemetery, which had been established in 1822. The organization purchased a 4-acre tract bounded by Indigo (Whaley), Lower (Heyward), Marion, and Sumter streets as a free cemetery for Hebrew burials. In 1896 the Society sold 3 acres to W.B. Smith Whaley for textile mill development.

Reverse inscription

By 1911 the Society deeded cemetery oversight to the Beth Shalom (House of Peace) synagogue. Early burials included Orthodox Jews from Columbia and elsewhere. This site later became identified as a place specifically for synagogue members. As the Univ. of S.C. expanded in the 1960s it grew around the cemetery. Jewish migration into Forest Acres and fewer available plots here led to the creation of Arcadia Lakes Cemetery in 1995.