Saint Stephen, SC Home for Rent

St. Stephens emerged as a French Huguenot settlement in the early 1700s thanks to the fertile floodplain soil fed by the Santee River. Centuries later, the area around this small town remains rural, beloved by residents for its two lakes and open land. "People can basically go hunting in their backyard or easily take a boat out on the river to go fishing," says Darla Lee Cross, a broker and real estate agent with Re/Max who lives in the St. Stephen area. Originally from the nearby town of Moncks Corner, Cross said she sold her home there several years ago when home prices peaked. Tori Beach Williams, a Realtor with The Real Estate Firm and a lifelong Berkely County resident, says this rural community is growing as natives and newcomers move further away from the Charleston peninsula in search of "more elbow room." Home prices vary throughout the St. Stephen area. Darla Lee Cross says many homes are set on at least half an acre, but there are also larger estates on horse ranches or cattle farms. Cross says even those with smaller plots raise goats or chickens. Much of the land in St. Stephens is still undeveloped, and there are parcels of varying sizes throughout the neighborhood's