08/13/2026
2026 South Carolina Historic Preservation Awards Spotlight: Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim Synagogue
We are honored to celebrate Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim Synagogue, recipient of a Stewardship Award for its preservation and long-term care of Charleston’s Historic Coming Street Cemetery.
Hidden behind pre-Revolutionary War brick walls, the Historic Coming Street Cemetery is the oldest surviving Jewish cemetery in the South. Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim has been its steward since 1764, when the congregation purchased the cemetery from the Dacosta family.
Today, this remarkable one-acre site is an island of quiet reflection in the heart of Charleston—and an invaluable record of South Carolina’s Jewish history. More than 900 burial sites can be identified, including the graves of Revolutionary War patriots, veterans of the War of 1812, Civil War veterans, and many influential South Carolinians.
Among those resting here are trailblazers whose contributions helped shape Charleston and the state: industrialists, builders, merchants, physicians, lawyers, educators, and artists. The cemetery is also the final resting place of remarkable women such as Rachel Lazarus, an early female business owner, Penina Moise, one of the first American-born Jewish women to publish poetry, and Sally Lopez, an educator who established Charleston’s first Jewish school.
For 15 years, the Coming Street Cemetery Restoration Committee has worked to preserve this extraordinary place and ensure that its stories endure. Through careful restoration, the committee has completed work on two of the historic brick walls, approximately 200 grave markers, all existing ironwork, and the unique Lopez stone canopy tomb.
Volunteer docents share the cemetery’s history through tours and educational programs, welcoming students, visitors from across the United States, and international guests. Clemson University graduate students in historic preservation have also gained hands-on experience in stone restoration and cemetery maintenance at the site.
The restoration has been made possible through a combination of grants, private donations, community support, and the dedicated work of volunteers. The effort continues today, with additional grave marker restoration and plans to restore more of the cemetery’s historic walls.
Through generations of care, Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim has demonstrated what true historic stewardship looks like: protecting a sacred place, preserving the stories of those who came before us, and ensuring that future generations can learn from the history preserved there.
