Today in Wheeling History: April 29—Wheeling's Jewish community establishes its first cemetery at Mt. Woods, founding West Virginia's oldest Jewish burial ground (1849).
On April 29, 1849, Wheeling's Jewish community purchased a section of land adjoining Mt. Woods Cemetery on Wheeling Hill, establishing the oldest Jewish cemetery in West Virginia. The purchase was prompted by the sudden death of Mayer Mannheim, an itinerant rabbi who had arrived in Wheeling in April 1849 to perform Sabbath services. Rabbi Mannheim was interred there as the first Jewish burial, and the congregation that formed in response — Congregation L'Shem Shomayim, meaning "For the Sake of Heaven" — became the first Jewish congregation in what would become West Virginia.
Though the land was purchased in 1849, the Jewish plots were formally laid out in 1865. The section, then called the Hebrew Cemetery, occupies a very steep lower western slope of Wheeling Hill, separated from the main cemetery by the primary road. The upper hillside sections hold graves of many of Wheeling's most prominent non-Jewish citizens. Temple Shalom has owned and maintained the Jewish section separately from the City of Wheeling-managed Christian sections since its establishment.
Among those interred in the Jewish section are Civil War veteran Samuel Kraus, civic leader Simon Horkheimer, and merchant L.S. Good, whose dry goods store grew into a regional department store empire. As the community grew, burials expanded to a Jewish section at Greenwood Cemetery and, in 1954, to Jewish Memorial Park on Middle Wheeling Creek Road, Wheeling's active Jewish burial ground today. The entire Mt. Woods park was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013.
To learn more: Ohio County Public Library Archives (https://tinyurl.com/3pkj4jeu) (https://tinyurl.com/y8nf9xnw); Jewish Memorial Park (https://tinyurl.com/3bmpnsnh), Friends of Wheeling (https://jfinstein.wixsite.com/friends-of-wheeling/mt-wood-cemetery-restoration), Feather Cottage Media (https://tinyurl.com/3r28c62y), Wikipedia (https://tinyurl.com/29388dpf), JewishGen’s Cemetery Discovery Project (https://tinyurl.com/yc3astf9), Wheeling Intelligencer (https://tinyurl.com/h3dy8j5s), National Park Service - National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Mt. Woods Cemetery (https://tinyurl.com/4aaw8e75), Find a Grave - Captain Samuel Kraus (https://tinyurl.com/y9xrd92u), Find a Grave - Simon Horkheimer (https://tinyurl.com/4n3hhnek), Find a Grave - L.S. Good (https://tinyurl.com/ynj4ku7t)
Photo credits: National Park Service, Find a Grave, Wikimedia Commons
On April 29, 1849, Wheeling's Jewish community purchased a section of land adjoining Mt. Woods Cemetery on Wheeling Hill, establishing the oldest Jewish cemetery in West Virginia. The purchase was prompted by the sudden death of Mayer Mannheim, an itinerant rabbi who had arrived in Wheeling in April 1849 to perform Sabbath services. Rabbi Mannheim was interred there as the first Jewish burial, and the congregation that formed in response — Congregation L'Shem Shomayim, meaning "For the Sake of Heaven" — became the first Jewish congregation in what would become West Virginia.
Though the land was purchased in 1849, the Jewish plots were formally laid out in 1865. The section, then called the Hebrew Cemetery, occupies a very steep lower western slope of Wheeling Hill, separated from the main cemetery by the primary road. The upper hillside sections hold graves of many of Wheeling's most prominent non-Jewish citizens. Temple Shalom has owned and maintained the Jewish section separately from the City of Wheeling-managed Christian sections since its establishment.
Among those interred in the Jewish section are Civil War veteran Samuel Kraus, civic leader Simon Horkheimer, and merchant L.S. Good, whose dry goods store grew into a regional department store empire. As the community grew, burials expanded to a Jewish section at Greenwood Cemetery and, in 1954, to Jewish Memorial Park on Middle Wheeling Creek Road, Wheeling's active Jewish burial ground today. The entire Mt. Woods park was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013.
To learn more: Ohio County Public Library Archives (https://tinyurl.com/3pkj4jeu) (https://tinyurl.com/y8nf9xnw); Jewish Memorial Park (https://tinyurl.com/3bmpnsnh), Friends of Wheeling (https://jfinstein.wixsite.com/friends-of-wheeling/mt-wood-cemetery-restoration), Feather Cottage Media (https://tinyurl.com/3r28c62y), Wikipedia (https://tinyurl.com/29388dpf), JewishGen’s Cemetery Discovery Project (https://tinyurl.com/yc3astf9), Wheeling Intelligencer (https://tinyurl.com/h3dy8j5s), National Park Service - National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Mt. Woods Cemetery (https://tinyurl.com/4aaw8e75), Find a Grave - Captain Samuel Kraus (https://tinyurl.com/y9xrd92u), Find a Grave - Simon Horkheimer (https://tinyurl.com/4n3hhnek), Find a Grave - L.S. Good (https://tinyurl.com/ynj4ku7t)
Photo credits: National Park Service, Find a Grave, Wikimedia Commons
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