Since 1908 this wooden synagogue at 401 Scott Street has housed Beth Israel Congregation. This wooden building was built in 1908 and remains one of the few wooden synagogues still in continued use in the southeastern United States. The congregation you see grew from a sparse Jewish presence that swelled with the mass immigration of Yiddish-speaking Eastern European Jews beginning in the 1880s, reaching well over thirty families with roots in places such as Russia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
Before this house was raised, members prayed informally in several locations, finding space in the town's Masonic Hall and in the Beaufort Arsenal. The congregation received a state charter in 1905 and purchased land near the Arsenal for this synagogue. Many of the members took part in building it, and the dedication ceremonies on June 14, 1908 were led by Rabbi George Solomon of Savannah, Georgia.
Stand here for a moment and listen for the layers of community and craft in the timbers; imagine those early families gathering here. Nearby sits the Beaufort Arsenal, where these families prayed while their own wooden synagogue on Scott Street was still only a plan.