Prosperity, SC

Prosperity began as Frog Level, a low-lying settlement named for the ponds and frogs around Captain Matthew Hall's store and post office. Hall settled here in 1827, and the place took the name Prosperity in 1873 after the railroad had started to reshape the town. Today the square still gives the Newberry County town a clear center, with an antique clock, gazebo, the old drugstore dating to 1895, and businesses along the streets around it. US 76 and SC 391 meet northwest of Columbia, while Lake Murray lies just south. Prosperity is a town where an old nickname, a railroad-era name change, and a highway-and-lake location remain part of the same map.