Co-Working Space in St. Stephen, SC

After moving to St. Stephen in 2021, Dan Kredensor was looking for a coffee shop and ice cream shop and found there to be neither for over 18 miles.

In January of 2022 he took matters into his own hands and began creating a business plan to share his love of coffee, ice cream and entrepreneurship with the people of St. Stephen. On June 23, Kredensor saw his plan come to fruition with the ribbon cutting ceremony of his new coffee and ice cream shop, Lowcountry Coffee Co.

Known as “Uncle Johnny’s Store,” Kredensor’s Lowcountry Coffee Co. resides in the oldest surviving commercial building on Main St. in St. Stephen.

“Uncle Johnny’s store was quite active until his death in 1931,” said Kredensor. “His death along with the Depression started a chain of events where ownership changed hands many times. In my lifetime I recall it being a general store, a dress shop, a bank and an insurance company.”

Lowcountry Coffee Co. is just one of many businesses recently making a name for itself in St. Stephen. The town has seen the opening of many new businesses including a sandwich and burger joint called Freda’s, a local gun store called Lowcountry Munition, Old Town Feed and Supply and The Capital Grille and Seafood. St. Stephen will also soon see the opening of a traditional Trinidadian restaurant called Ma Gloria’s.

Along with the town’s new booming businesses, St. Stephen also holds the Catfish Festival in the Spring, the Community Festival in October and the Berkeley Showoffs Car Show in November. Additionally, the town holds a farmer’s market every Wednesday from 3-7 p.m. at Alice Park.

“St. Stephen is beginning to have a major turn around,” said Kredensor. “For me it all started in November of last year as I was able to meet with the town and propose a lease for the coffee shop and ice cream parlor. The goal after speaking with the mayor and some town council members was to create a space that could be the spark to begin to reinvigorate the St. Stephen Main Street Business District. We have also been working with Berkeley County Economic Development Office, the Berkeley County Supervisor’s Office, Santee-Cooper Economic Development Office, and the Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments (BCDCOG) Economic Development Office on ways that we can continue to attract and keep small businesses in St. Stephen.”

He said the goal for Lowcountry Coffee is to inspire more small businesses in a town that is ready for them.

“We know that growth is going to come slowly to St. Stephen,” he said. “We want to be a spot where you can come and bring the family, meet a business partner and get a great cup of coffee or a delicious scoop of ice cream.”

“[The most rewarding part of running LowCountry Coffee Co] is seeing people smiling after they have the first sip of coffee or the first taste of ice cream because coffee and ice cream do have an uncanny ability to put smiles on just about everyone,” Kredensor added. “Listening to the stories and history of all our amazing customers is a blessing. Also giving people a safe space to meet for coffee or ice cream, whether it be a date, a celebration or a business meeting is wonderful to see every hour.”

MONCKS CORNER, S.C. – (Tuesday, February 14, 2023) – On February 9, 2023, Berkeley County Animal Control officers responded to a hoarding situation at a residential property near Harristown Road in St. Stephen, where they discovered dozens of cats in deteriorating conditions on the property, dubbed a “Cat Sanctuary.” Cats were located living inside a rundown trailer and outside the area.

Officers seized 49 cats still alive but in poor health. An additional 23 cats were found deceased inside structures at the site. The cats were taken to Berkeley Animal Center, where 10 cats were forced to be euthanized due to their sickly condition. The remainder of the cats are in the care of Animal Center staff and in stable condition.

The shelter is seeking adult cat food as well as monetary donations for medical costs and other emergency care needs for the cats. Please consider donating HERE (enter “sick cats” under “reason for donation”). The cats will be available for adoption once they are nursed back to good health. Cat food can be dropped off at 131 Central Berkeley Drive in Moncks Corner.

“Berkeley Animal Center staff is committed to conducting the proper care necessary to ensure these sickly cats are restored to good health and receive the medical attention and affection they so desperately demand at this critical time in their lives. We know this is a dire situation and that unfortunately, not all the cats rescued from these deplorable conditions could be saved. We cannot change these cats’ past circumstances and lack of quality care, but we can do our best to provide them all they need to survive and thrive going forward. We thank our fellow rescue groups for partnering with us and sharing this same mission.” -Heather McDowell, Berkeley Animal Center Director

Additionally, 15 cats were transported to Massachusetts-based rescue groups MSPCA-Angell and Northeast Animal Shelter (NEAS), two organizations Berkeley Animal Center has been working with since last year. On the day of the seizure, MSPCA also sent staff to assist with the cats’ treatment at the shelter. Additionally, Charleston Animal Society provided a veterinarian to aid with the care.

“We needed to move quickly as the cats are in pretty rough shape. They were rescued from a dire situation and are lucky help arrived when it did.” -Mike Keiley, MSPCA-Angell Director of Adoption Centers and Programs / NEAS Executive Director

The Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office has cited Suzanne Marie Melton, an owner of the Cat Sanctuary, with 20 counts of inhumane treatment of animals.

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-Prepared by the Berkeley County Public Information Office-

ST. STEPHEN, S.C. (WCSC) - Berkeley County says a new grant aims to possibly start redeveloping parts of St. Stephen, a rural town about 15 miles north of Moncks Corner.

Berkeley County Council voted to accept a $500,000 Brownfields Assessment Grant from the Environmental Protection Agency on Monday.

“It could be something like asbestos or lead-based paint, something in the soil,” Economic Development Director Kristen Lanier said. “Something that might be a risk for redevelopment, so this grant is going to allow us to do an assessment to identify any potential risks for redevelopment.”

The grant targets two primary sites, the old St. Stephen High School, which closed in 1996, and an 85-acre area that used to be a lumber mill just off Highway 52, which closed around 1970. Up to 15 sites around the area could be looked at for revitalization as part of the grant.

“All I want is for something good to happen in St. Stephen, you know, because it seems like everything that comes to St. Stephen stays for a little while, and then, it’s gone,” St. Stephen resident Ann Judge said.

St. Stephen Mayor John Rivers said the grant will allow the town to start redeveloping and bring economic growth to the area. The county said the town could turn the old high school into a community center while the old lumber mill would be repurposed for some type of industrial use.

“The goal there, again with community input, would be that we start putting together a plan of revitalization for both those sites and others,” Lanier said.

Lanier also said they want to see if there is anything in these sites that might prevent that development.

However, some said they do not want to repurpose the old high school and keep it the way it is.

“My children came to school here too, so and I can remember all of my old high school teachers. I love it,” St. Stephen resident Julie Jenkins said.

The county said the money will be available starting Oct. 1 and will go on for the next four years. They also said the grant is the first step in a long-term process.

“This is that motion,” Lanier said. “This is that start of something, so we’re excited to see some movement in that area and to see what we can do and how we can leverage this.”

County officials said after those four years, they will have a plan developed for the sites.

The county will hold public meetings as part of the grant, but they have not announced when the meetings will be held.

Below is the full statement from St. Stephen Mayor John Rivers:

The town of St. Stephen is grateful that the EPA selected us to receive one of the 2022 Brownfield Program Grants for $500,000. We were the only municipality in Berkeley County to receive this. In countless other communities around the United States the EPA’s Brownfield program has had a proven track record of leveraging private sector investment, creating jobs and protecting the environment. St. Stephen will use this Brownfield Grant to spur our town with redevelopment and cleanup projects and bring sustained economic growth. We are thankful for the support of the Berkeley County Economic Development Office and their ability to work with myself, town council, and the town’s administration to write the grant proposal. We are ready to collaborate with the various committees that will be comprised of St. Stephen residents and business owners to help us continue to grow and revitalize our town. Receiving this prestigious award is a fantastic achievement for the Town of St. Stephen and I give credit to all involved in the initiative. We have been waiting for the results of the EPA Brownfield Grant Application for quite some time. “It has been well worth the wait.” This is the first of many blessings in store for our great town.

For more information about the Brownfields Assessment Grant, click here.

Copyright 2022 WCSC. All rights reserved.

ST. STEPHEN, S.C. -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Charleston District, in partnership with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, recently hosted the 8th annual Wounded Warriors and Veterans fishing day at the Cooper River Rediversion Dam in St. Stephen.

Canceled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic and held with limited participation with safety measures in 2021, the event returned this year in full force. Sixty individuals participated in this year’s event, which was open to all veterans, even those with disabilities and needing mobility assistance.

“Despite being rescheduled at the last minute due to weather, this year’s event was a great success,” said Jesse Helton, a natural resources program specialist at Charleston District who helps plan the yearly event. “We are looking forward to next year’s event and hope to continue to increase the turn out. Giving our wounded warriors, veterans and active-duty military a chance to have a great day fishing and visiting with each other is what this event is all about.”

The event would not be possible without the assistance of the DNR, who allows the fishing to occur in a protected wildlife area once a year.

“As always, I would like to express our appreciation to the DNR,” said Helton. “Without their support planning the event and working with the participants on the day of the event, we would not be able to make it happen.”

The event was also a chance for DNR to collect age data and health information on some of the fish that were caught. This data will provide important information about the American shad population that will be used to inform fisheries management decisions for the species.

Unlike other districts in USACE, Charleston District does not operate any official recreation sites. However, the property in St. Stephen has been used unofficially for years as a recreation site in South Carolina and has hosted many events.

The Corps proposed the CRRP in the early 1970’s to reduce sedimentation and dredging costs in Charleston Harbor. Construction began in 1978 and was completed in March 1985. This project saves taxpayers $36 million per year in dredging costs in Charleston Harbor, while benefitting shipping, industrial development, hydropower, and fish and wildlife.

Since the dam blocked fish from being able to swim upriver to spawning grounds, a fish lift was built to move the fish to the other side of the dam. Up to 750,000 fish pass through the fish lift per year. The fish lift is operated by SCDNR during the spawning season, which is usually from February 1 through May 15, depending on flows and water temperature.

The annual fishing day is not the only event hosted by USACE and DNR. In the fall, the agencies host an annual dove hunt, which occurs just down the street from the dam and is also held exclusively for veterans.

It is thought by today’s locals that W. P. Russell was the patriarch of Russellville, and instrumental in beginning the community of Russellville, South Carolina.

This is contradicted by one family member, who says it was Theodore Russell, a cousin of W. P. Russell, who was the founder. Regardless, we’re telling the story of John M. Camp, Jr., who came to the area in 1922, where he found W.P. Russell operating a ground mill beside his cotton gin five miles west of St. Stephen. Camp bought part of Russell’s farm and built his mill a half mile to the north of Russell’s store, which had served as a post office since 1916.

For newcomers to Berkeley County, Russellville is located on what used to be the old Murray’s Ferry Road (modern day S.C. Highway 35) going north, approximately five miles from Bonneau, toward Santee River.

In his autobiography, John (Jack) Madison Camp, Jr. tells us about his family and their lumber mill village history located in Russellville. “We moved to Franklin, Virginia in 1921, but we soon moved again. We went to the St. Stephen area of South Carolina, where Daddy had been assigned the task of building a new mill and mill village. These itinerant sawmill communities had a motto, “Cut Out and Get Out.” There was no reforesting program and no cry for it at that time.”

When the Camp’s moved into a new location that had a good stand of timber, they would keep cutting for some time, as was the case in the Santee area of South Carolina. The mill made a huge difference in the area, for sure, providing employment and a great economical boost. The plan was to work there for maybe fifteen to twenty-five years. The company laid down a center street, then set up a water tower that could be used for potable water uses and to supply the village that was soon to be built.

“They left room on the center street for the schoolhouse that my father built for the employee’s children. The Russellville community didn’t have a school in that area of Berkeley County at that time. Teachers were imported, much to the glee of all the single men in that area.”

Camp says it seemed to him that St. Stephen’s main reason for being was that the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad came through there. And that was of course true, but not the main reason. Church and religion were of utmost importance in early colonial time, so the “old brick church” was actually the primary reason for St. Stephen’s existence, and how the town got its name.

Just north, maybe a mile, of the little village of Russellville, made up entirely of Camp’s employees, was found a community club, a Parent-Teacher association, a home demonstration club, a two-story school building (see photo) in which two teachers (one of which was my Grandmother) taught and trained the young folks, and where on Sundays the auditorium served as a church and Sunday-School room, a two story hotel that would have been a credit to a much larger town, and twenty-two cottages, actually, they were homes for the employees, painted (!), and each with front and back yards that had been beautified.

Each year a civic contest was sponsored by Camp Manufacturing among its homemakers. A first prize of five dollars and a second of two-fifty were offered “to the one making the most improvements in the home grounds or to the one keeping the grounds most satisfactory.” Consequently, each yard turned out to be a bit of a garden, where kids romped and played, while their mothers sat on their screened porches (usually shelling peas and beans during summer months), passing away each day, pleasantly visiting one with the other of their neighbors.

Each home was screened and equipped with modern conveniences of lights and water, and practically each boasted a radio, and many with automobiles. The mill village of Camp had an electric system that drew its power from the company generator. Odd to us today, was the fact that at 9 o’clock P.M. the lights would blink once. At 9:05 they would blink twice, and at 9:15, all the current would go off until the next morning about daylight. Reason being, simply, the generators had to be shut down to maintain them.

The Camp family had lived in Virginia since before the American Revolution. The lumber business was started by P.D. Camp in Franklin in 1870. He later took into the firm his brother, R.J. Camp and J.L. Camp, and organized the Camp Manufacturing Company. All of the original members of the firm have passed on, and company tasks left to their sons.

Most likely, an important explanation of Camp’s success in business was its tenet that it is just as important to develop men as it is to manufacture lumber products. The heads of this firm always maintained that character building is superior to anything else.

Respect for the Sabbath was one of their policies that “must be held inviolate.” The story is told that when the Camps began their endeavor in the lumber business, the company had rented a tug to pull the logs up the river (this was in Virginia). The owners of the tug explained that they operated on a seven-day a week basis, and that is what they charged for. Camp replied that he understood this, and he expected to pay for seven days’ usage . . . but, he also intended to tie up the tug at 12 o’clock Saturday nights, where it would remain until 12 o’clock Sunday nights. Thus, after six-days a week, his plants, over those many years became silent on Sunday. (The only exception to this rule was boiler maintenance.)

Camp Jr. said at times his father would allow one of his hometown friends to come and visit him, and this was always a great and exciting occasion for both. They would stay in the men’s dormitory on the upper floor of the company store building (see photo). This was a big wooden building (I don’t remember if it was painted), covered in tongue and grooved siding (we call it “bead-board” now) that was made in the mill. The men’s dormitory consisted of several rooms and a big common shower and bathroom for the visiting men. The more permanent employees took up residence there in very modest rooms. Less permanent residents stayed over at Mrs. Nixon’s Boarding House that was only a few hundred yards away. There was some heat from individual wood fed heaters in the company storerooms, but there was certainly no air-conditioning.

The Company Store was a big two-story building, with three chimneys. Any of life’s supplies you needed were available. A major part of the first floor was a large porch out front. It was covered, not screened, and there were benches around the porch for people to sit while waiting to go into the store, or just to enjoy some community life.

Camp’s company store had a problem (as all general stores did), rats. Rice, flour, cornmeal, seed, etc., were being stored for use and sale. Cats were used from time to time, but probably were intimidated by the size of some of the rats. So, the company decided to use ferrets to keep the rats under control. They were slender, quick, and very aggressive. The ferrets had beautiful fur but were not very friendly. They would bite a person as quickly as they’d bite a rat. Nevertheless, they were necessary, and they seemed to keep the rats under control.

Camp’s homes (“quarters” to the locals) were close to the company store and arranged so that the houses faced each other across the main street. There was a rumor going around Russellville that all the children born on one side of that street were boys and all those born on the other side were girls. If a couple wanted to change the sex of the next child, they would just move over to the other side of the street. Oddly enough, that seemed to work for a long period of time.

The schoolhouse (see photo) and the boarding house were located at opposite ends of the street. Mrs. Nixon, the lady who ran the boarding house in St. Stephen, was a good manager. She furnished lots of good, very plain food to many hungry millworkers. Mill workers with no family could dine at the boarding house and be adequately nourished. Jack Camp, Jr. says “Mrs. Nixon also had an attractive daughter whose name was Elsie, who became fast friends with my older sister Virginia.” Teachers were allowed to have meals at the boarding house, offering variety, and a change of conversation for the men there.

Camp’s boarding house cook was Joe Poseskie, and Jack remembers Joe cooking frog legs. A lot of people ate frog legs, but they were sort of dangerous to cook, because reflex action left in the dead limbs caused the legs to kick the grease out. That often burned the cook, and needless to say, Joe didn’t like that.

The health of the Camp village was insured by company physician, Dr. Carroll, also the community doctor when I was young. Located between the white mill workers’ quarters and the black’s quarters that were located farther down the same street, the doctor’s office was approximately 200 feet from the company store. Many of the medical problems originated from emergencies at the mill, so he would go right into the place where there had been an accident and treat the patient there. Then he would take them to Moncks Corner to Berkeley County Hospital, or Charleston, depending on the care required for them. It wasn’t until the mid-fifties that Dr. Sam O. Schumann came to Camp village to practice medicine.

Camp Manufacturing Company in Russellville became Russellville Lumber Company, owned by Williams Furniture Company, then Southern Coatings and Chemicals in Sumter, S.C. In the middle 1960’s, Georgia-Pacific Corporation bought the Russellville Lumber Company property and began establishing the complex consisting of a plywood plant, chip-n-saw plant, particleboard plant, chemical plant, and forestry division . . . all at Russellville, South Carolina, employing 500+ people.

Resources: From his book While You’re Up, A Memoir, by John M. Camp, Jr., Charleston News and Courier, and personal remembrances. — Keith Gourdin