The story of American Judaism often begins and ends in New York City; but New York has not always been the center of American Jewish life. In the 18th century, Jews established dozens of communities around the Atlantic basin, in cities such as Newport, Rhode Island; Savannah, Georgia; and Charleston, South Carolina. In this lecture, Daniel K. Ackermann, Curator of the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, looks closely at the material worlds—public and private, sacred and secular—that these Jewish communities created as a way of showing how quickly they wove themselves into the American fabric. Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Art and Industry in Early America: Rhode Island Furniture, 1650–1830. Generously sponsored by the Martin A. Ryerson Fund.