BETH-HACCHEREM (place of the vineyard), Neh_3:14, Jer_6:1.It appears to have had a commanding position for a beacon or ensign. Tradition fixed on Herodium south of Bethlehem, probably because it was a conspicuous site near Tekoa, with which it is noticed. A possible site is Ain Karim, west of Jerusalem, where there are vineyards.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909
beth-ha-kē?rem, beth-hak?e-rem (the King James Version Beth-haccerem; בּית הכּרם, bēth ha-kerem; Βηθαχχαρμά, Bēthachcharmá (see DB), ?place of the vineyard?): A district (in Neh_3:14) ruled over by one, Malchijah; mentioned in Jer_6:1 as a suitable signal station. From its association with Tekoa (Jer_6:1) and from the statement by Jerome that it was a village which he could see daily from Bethlehem, the Frank mountain (Herodium) has been suggested. It certainly would be a unique place for a beacon. More suitable is the fertile vineyard country around ‛Ain Kārem (the ?spring of the vineyard?). On the top of Jebel ‛Ali, above this village, are some remarkable cairns which, whatever their other uses, would appear to have been once beacons. around ‛Ain Kārem appears as Carem in the Septuagint (Jos_15:59). See BETH-CAR.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.