top of page

Early Beginnings

In 1858 The Reverend Edwin Reed, Rector of St. John's Episcopal Church at Flat Rock, N.C., spent several winters at Zion Episcopal Church near Eastover and visited the school at Elm Savannah where people in that area met for religious services. An Episcopal congregation was formed, and members wanted a church building.  Chosen for the site for the church was a private cemetery at Homestead on Cedar Creek, which was surrounded by a brick wall adjacent land.  The wall was torn down and replaced with a picket fence and gate that was connected to the two side walls.

In 1859 St. John's Episcopal Church, Congaree, opened for services.  The first members to be buried in the cemetery were Dr. William Weston, IV and Governor Adams. The graveyard at Elm Savannah was one of the largest family cemeteries. In subsequent years those buried there were Mrs. Joe Adams II and eight of their children.  There have been no burials there since 1891, and the cemetery has since been abandoned. A number of the caskets were moved to the graveyard at St. John's Episcopal Church, Congaree.  The Adams, Weston and other descendants of the early settlers have continued to use St. John's cemetery for their family burials to the present day.  

From "History of Lower Richland County and its Early Planters" was the reference book by Virginia G. Meynard, copyright 2010
Portrait_of_Governor_James_Hopkins_Adams_of_South_Carolina.jpg

SC Governor John Hopkins Adams

bottom of page