Our Cemeteries
Historic Coming Street Cemetery
KKBE's Coming St. Cemetery at 189 Coming Street is the oldest surviving Jewish cemetery in the South. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Buried here are:
- nine congregants who fought in the American Revolution,
- six soldiers of the War of 1812,
- two soldiers in the Seminole Wars in Florida,
- 21 Civil War participants, of whom eight died in the Confederate cause,
- six rabbis of the congregation,
- 18 past presidents of the congregation.
- Four of the eleven founders of the Supreme Council of Scottish Rite Masonry in 1801.Bronze plaques placed on some tombstones in 1964 identify notable personages.
The Cemetery contains over 500 graves; many are not marked. The oldest identifiable grave is that of Moses D. Cohen, the first religious leader of Beth Elohim, who died in 1762.
See more pictures of the Coming Street Cemetery Restoration Project.
The Coming Street Cemetery's Restoration Projects are funded thanks to generous support from the Charleston Jewish Federation, Stanley B. Farbstein Endowments, and the Henry and Sylvia Yaschik Foundation.
To learn more about supporting the Coming Street Cemetery, please contact KKBE's Executive Director Mark Swick at director@kkbe.org. Thank you!
The Coming Street Cemetery has three sections:
A. This area is the original congregational cemetery and dates from 1754; it was the DaCosta family graveyard.
B. This part was developed by members of Beth Elohim who had seceded in 1841 over the installation of an organ and other reforms and formed Orthodox Congregation Shearith Israel. When the two congregations merged after the Civil War, a dividing wall was taken down.
C. The Lopez family plot was established in 1843 when Shearith Israel refused burial to David Lopez's first wife who had not converted to Judaism.
Visitation to the Coming Street Cemetery must be made by appointment. Please Click Here to request a tour.
An $18 donation per person to the Coming Street Cemetery Restoration Fund is requested for tours.
For more information about some of the famous Jewish Charlestonians buried in the historic Coming Street Cemetery, visit www.JHSSC.org.
Check out this article from the Charleston Mercury.
Huguenin Avenue Cemetery
Except for a few family plots, all present-day burials occur in Beth Elohim's Huguenin Avenue Cemetery, which was established in 1887 with the purchase of the land from the Washington Light Infantry.
Directions
From Calhoun Street take East Bay St. North and pass under the Cooper River Bridge. The street name changes and becomes Morrison Drive. On the right you will pass the recycling center and a noticeably pink, small building. At the next traffic light, which is Brigade Street, make a right. Cross the railroad tracks. At the end of Brigade Street, turn left onto Huguenin Avenue. The KKBE Cemetery will be immediately on the right side of the street.