Levi Sheftall Family Cemetery


The Levi Sheftall Family Cemetery, also known as the de Lyon-De La Motta Cemetery or Cohen Street Cemetery, is a historic cemetery in Savannah, Georgia. Located in the Kayton/Frazier area of West Savannah, it is the burial ground for members of the Sheftall, de Lyon, and De La Motta families. The cemetery was established by Levi Sheftall in 1765.

History

's father, Benjamin, arrived in Savannah from London in 1733 on a ship with other European Jews. Benjamin Sheftall was originally from the Prussian town of Frankfurt. Levi was born in Savannah in 1739 to Benjamin's second wife, Hannah Sheftall. When Benjamin Sheftall died in 1765, he was the first to be interred in a new cemetery that Levi reserved on a 25-by-40-foot plot of land, surrounded by a wall. The cemetery is now located at Cohen Street in the Kayton/Frazier neighborhood. In 1773, the cemetery was placed in trust as a family burial ground. Among those later interred there were Levi himself, who died in 1809, and his wife, Sarah Sheftall, who died two years later, in 1811. The cemetery was closed to burials in 1861.
Today the cemetery is owned and maintained by Congregation Mickve Israel. Few tombstones remain standing. The Mordecai Sheftall Cemetery, founded by Levi's brother for Savannah's Jewish community, is located across the street.