Tree of Life Memorial Plaques
Indexing of names and photographs supplied by Barry Draisen Additional information from cemetery records Names on these plaques do not mean person lived or is buried in Columbia SC.
Author Archives: JHSSC
Beaufort National Cemetary
Fall 2015
Chabad of South Carolina Memorial Plaques
Pictures Taken and names indexed by Barry Draisen.Names on these plaques do not mean person lived or is buried in Columbia. SC
Orangeburg History
Midlands Merchants: The Jews of Orangeburg and Vicinity German Jews began settling in Orangeburgh (as it was originally spelled) in the early 1840s, once railroads connected the village of fewer than 400 to Charleston and Columbia. By 1853, the town’s population had more than doubled. Originally established as an Indian trading post called Edisto, the settlement was renamed in honor of […]
Partners
South of the Border
I have been told that South of the Border—the brainchild of my uncle Alan Schafer—began in 1951, the year that I was born. But the seeds had been planted two or three years before that, when neighboring Robeson County, in North Carolina, passed a law prohibiting the distribution of beer in stores and restaurants. Alan was […]
A History of the Jewish Community in Florence
Above: Cohen Department Store in Latta, South Carolina, ca. 1930. Isadore Cohen’s son, Leonard, is sitting on the counter. Courtesy of Leonard and Mildred Cohen. 1850–1949 The town of Florence was founded in the mid-1850s as a crossroads depot for three railroad lines competing to provide service to the Pee Dee region of South Carolina. Ten […]
Southern Jewish Summer Camp
Above: Blue Star’s 1958 staff and CITs. Rosalie Popkin is at the left end of the 2nd row; Herman is behind her with a hand on her shoulder. Mona Popkin is at the right end of the 2nd row, with her husband, Harry, behind her. Courtesy of Gale Siegel Messerman. My childhood camping experience began […]
Recollections of Growing Up in Aiken
Above: Isadore Efron’s garage, Aiken, SC. Courtesy of Anne Thomasson. My parents, Minnie and Sam Shanker, both were born in St. Louis, Missouri, and in the mid-1930s came to Aiken where my grandparents Jake and Helen Efron had a grocery store. My parents opened their own grocery store and worked long hours seven days a […]