Inscription
(Front) Sumter’s Jewish community, dating to 1815, has long been one of the largest and most influential in inland S.C. Mark Solomons, Franklin J. Moses, and Montgomery Moses brought their families to Sumter District from the old and well-established Jewish community in Charleston. Other families, from Spain, Germany, Poland, Russia, and other European nations, followed.
Two organizations founded shortly after the Civil War would later join to form a congregation. (Reverse) The Hebrew Cemetery Society was founded in 1874, the Sumter Hebrew Benevolent Society was founded before 1881, and the two societies agreed to merge that year. A formal merger in 1895 created the Sumter Society of Israelites, the official name of Congregation Sinai.
The first synagogue, a frame building constructed by 1900, burned. It was replaced in 1913 by this Moorish Revival brick synagogue, listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. Erected by the Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina, 2009
Location
Sources
More markers in Sumter
Site of Manchester
A flourishing town once stood here; settled before 1799; stage-coach relay; shipping center for cotton traffic by boat to Charleston; a...
Green Swamp Methodist Church
Sumter, SC
Site of First Methodist Church in vicinity of Sumter.
High Hills Baptist Church
Stateburg, SC
(Front) Organized by Rev. Joseph Reese, this church was established Jan. 4, 1772.
Salem (Black River) Presbyterian Church
(Front) This house of worship, commonly called Brick Church, was founded by Scotch-Irish settlers in 1759 on land given by Capt. David...
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church
Fulton Crossroads, SC
(Front) By Act of Assembly St. Mark's Parish was established in 1757.
