The “Old Jewish Cemetery” is the first cemetery outside of Philadelphia and the first rural cemetery to receive a PHMC historical marker.  It is believed to be only the fourth Jewish cemetery in America to receive a state historical marker.  The other three are in Philadelphia and Columbia and Georgetown, South Carolina.

The Old Jewish cemetery is representative...

The “Old Jewish Cemetery” and the burial society that administered it represent an important example of the history of ethnic groups in Pennsylvania. In particular, its’ story exemplifies an important element of the pattern of growth and development of the 19th century German wave of immigrants who developed Orthodox Jewish society in the smaller towns of Pennsylvania.  The burial society was formed in 1840 as a first step in establishing a Jewish community.  A building was erected for the sole purpose of ritual purification of bodies to be interred.  All other traditional Orthodox Jewish rites of burial were followed.

The Old Jewish cemetery is unique...

The cemetery is unique in several respects.  Founded during the German Orthodox Jewish immigration wave of 1825-1850, the Chambersburg Jewish community was one of only a small number of destinations for the immigrants of this wave.

We believe that Isaac Burgauer is the only Jewish Confederate soldier to be buried in a Northern Jewish cemetery.  Our research continues to confirm this.

At least 23 members of the Chambersburg Israelite Burial Society came from fourteen different Jewish communities in Pennsylvania and from other states, as well.  Some Society members or their relatives were buried in the cemetery and some were not.  The Kahnweiler family of Harrisburg, Lewis Eliot of Taneytown, MD, and Lewis Hammerslaugh of Hagerstown are examples of those buried in the cemetery whose origins are outside Chambersburg.

The Old Jewish Cemetery of Chambersburg is one of the few rural Jewish cemeteries remaining in Pennsylvania.

Dedication of Cemetery, May 6, 2001

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