SAINT GEORGE – The Dorchester Heritage Center will hold A free presentation in its Discovery Series, bringing the Inland Lowcountry’s shared history out of the museum and into the community on Tuesday, May 26 at 6:30 p.m. at the Ashley River branch of the Dorchester County library in Summerville.
“A Store at Every Crossroads” features Rachel Gordin Barnett, executive director of the Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina, presenting the story of the Jewish merchants of Dorchester County and South Carolina.
Barnett is the co-author of “Kugels & Collards; Stories of Food, Family, and Tradition in Jewish South Carolina” (USC Press, August 2023) and has been an integral part of the JHSSC for more than 20 years, serving as a board member and as president of the organization.
For more than 300 years, Jewish settlers—from across the Atlantic and around the country—have made their homes in South Carolina. The earliest Jews populated Charleston, Georgetown and later Columbia, where they held a variety of occupations and became immersed in civic life.
One of Summerville’s most famous Jewish immigrants was Saul Alexander, who arrived in town as a teenager fleeing persecution from native Ukraine in 1905. He established a clothing store at the corner of Hutchinson Square.
After his passing in 1952, he left his fortune to the people of Summerville. The Saul Alexander Foundation has funded local schools and public playgrounds, among many other public projects. The Summerville Museum and Research Center has a permanent display on Alexander.
Like Alexander, after the Civil War, men and women fleeing oppressive governments in Central and Eastern Europe came to South Carolina to create better lives for themselves, their families and the friends and neighbors who soon followed. By the late 1800s, Jewish merchants had set up shop on downtown streets in towns big and small.
More than 100 years later, their legacy remains alive through their descendants. The Jewish Merchant Project preserves memories of these men and women who have played vital roles in communities across South Carolina.
