top of page
The origin of our name...

...and now we know
According to the Diocese of Upper South Carolina, we are St. John’s Episcopal Church in Hopkins, SC. But we say we are St. John’s Episcopal Church, Congaree, in Hopkins.
What’s up with the “Congaree?”
Decades ago, there was a railroad station located on Air Base Road near the end of the runway at McEntire. This stop on the train line was known as Congaree. Over the years changes in passenger and freight service by train eliminated the need for many small stations such as Congaree. The last station master in charge there was Dan Gray, Betty Thompson’s father.
The station itself was moved up the road and to the other side of Air Base Road from its original site to a site on Wavering Place.
As an aside, McEntire was formerly known as Congaree National Guard Air Base until the 1960s, and the defunct East Coast Steel was previously Congaree Iron and Steel.
bottom of page