Harold Jacobs photographs

Harold Jacobs (1913-2009) was born to Mignonette Cohen and Samuel Jacobs in Charleston, South Carolina. He attended Charleston High School and upon graduation, he operated a snowball stand at the corner of Congress and President Streets. In 1929, his father founded Harold's Cabin, a small neighborhood grocery, where Harold began working after the store's first expansion in the early 1930s. During World War II, Harold volunteered for the army and served as an administrator and court instructor in the Judge Advocates section. In 1946, he married Lillian Breen (1915-2003) and the couple settled in Charleston, where he resumed operating Harold's Cabin. The grocery added gourmet products and in 1954 moved to a downtown location on Wentworth Street, gaining recognition for its specialty foods. Jacobs was deeply involved in B'nai B'rith, serving as president of Dan Lodge no. 593, and in Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim, where he also served as president.

In 1968 the Jacobs sold Harold's Cabin to the supermarket chain Piggly Wiggly, but both Harold and Lillian continued to manage the specialty foods, mail order, and catering departments. Harold retired from the grocery business in 1983 and began working as a travel agent with Adventure Travel in Charleston.