Sumter County Museum

Over 9,000 Sumter County residents, students, and visitors visit the museum each year to learn about our county's history in an interactive manner. Our Williams-Brice House takes visitors back in time to the early 1900's. Outside of the house, our Carolina Backcountry Homestead transports visitors even further back to the year 1800! We have 8 structures that represent life in this area around 1800 including a Blacksmith Shop, Loom House, and Log Cabin. This homestead comes alive several times a year with costumed living history interpretation. We also plan educational programming throughout the year with history lectures, book signings, and more! We will be expanding our reach by the end of this year with the opening of the historic 1913 Temple Sinai building for tours.

Despite playing a significant role in the development of Sumter County, Sumter's Jewish population has declined so much to the point that the synagogue's congregation planned for its eventual closing. Temple Sinai board members approached the Sumter County Museum, only a short walk away, about installing a Jewish history exhibit inside the Temple. We have now agreed to a partnership to oversee the building and utilize it as a museum with a mission to remember, educate, and celebrate local Jewish history.
Museum visitors will be able to view the synagogue with its incomparable stained glass windows and learn about Judaism, Jewish Settlement in Sumter, and the Holocaust in the fellowship hall. While we have identified a few Temples-turned-museums in the country, Temple Sinai museum will be a one-of-a-kind cultural center in our region. You can be a part of this exciting project by helping with the exhibit expense! Funds raised through Midlands Gives will go directly towards developing and fabricating a first-class exhibit. All donors will be invited to a special preview opening at the beginning of 2018.