Recent excavations at Wilmington’s Temple of Israel will dispel misconceptions that North Carolina Jewish roots run shallow. Built in 1876, the state’s oldest synagogue was forced to close in 2020 after the discovery of extensive water damage caused two years earlier by Hurricane Florence. In 2021 the congregation’s 168 families launched a successful half-million dollar “Restoration 150” campaign to rebuild the nearly 150 year-old sanctuary.
While repairing the building’s foundation, workers recently discovered ballast stones from nineteenth-century sailing ships. Congregational historian and former president Beverly Tetterton told the Wilmington StarNews (May 1, 2003) that these ballast stones like others found in the city probably trace to Europe or the Caribbean. It’s not fanciful to think that they came from pirate ships. Temple facilities chair Steve Unger explained that “only the corners of the foundation used brick, apparently to save costs. Ballast stones were easily available and they were used to compose and anchor the rest of the foundation.” Among the Temple’s founders were port merchants and shipowners. Its first president Solomon Bear was a former Confederate blockade runner. Sea ships literally and figuratively supported the synagogue.
Ballast stones unearthed from the foundation of Wilmington’s historic Temple of Israel synagogue, Fourth and Market streets downtown, during renovations. The building dates to 1876. Photo credit: John Staton, Wilmington StarNews
The tenth oldest congregation in the country still in use, the Temple is scheduled to reopen this summer. In the interim the congregation has been meeting at the Reibman Center for Kehillah, its annex on Market Street. The Wilmington firm Bowman Murray Hemingway Architects has been overseeing not only the restoration of the Temple’s historical architectural elements but also updating utilities, waterproofing, and, in the spirit of the times, security.
The historic building on the downtown corner of Fourth and Market Streets is a beloved Wilmington landmark with its distinctive Moorish architecture, stained-glass windows, and towering golden domes. Congregational president Josh Heinberg observed that not only Jews but Christians, Muslims, and secular people “all came together” to donate to the restoration fund. Donations came from across the country and even England and Germany. Heinberg notes that the congregation continues to raise funds to create an endowment to ensure the building’s preservation, Donors now receive an added reward. A ballast stone.
For more information on how you can contribute to Restoration 150, visit the Temple of Israel website or donations can be mailed to Temple of Israel, 922 Market Street, Wilmington, NC 28401, Attn: Restoration 150 Fund.
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