Several years ago, I was down in Stateburg standing at the grave of Joel R. Poinsett when I felt compelled to tell him something. In my silent inner voice, I whispered, “Joel, you wouldn’t believe this, but despite your remarkable life and all that you accomplished in your 72 years — including a good-faith attempt to save our state and the country from a bloody civil war — the thing you are remembered for is the poinsettia, that plant you brought back from Mexico.”
I thought I heard him moan, “You have got to be kidding.”
He was, after all, the secretary of war, trade envoy to South America and the country’s first minister to Mexico. That’s when he sent back specimens of what is now considered the must-have Christmas plant with attractive blood-red bracts. It’s just a small sampling of his stellar career, around the world and here at home.
The guy actually knew Napoleon, and was a personal friend of the czar of Russia. He worked closely with several U.S. presidents and served both in the South Carolina legislature and the U.S. Congress. Described by his contemporaries as “America’s most-traveled man, our very own Marco Polo,” he was fluent in six languages, an accomplished naturalist and one of the founders of what later became the Smithsonian Institution.
During the Nullification Crisis of 1832, when there was a very real threat in South Carolina of secession and civil war, he worked with his close friend, President Andrew Jackson, and Greenville’s Benjamin F. Perry, who was editor of The Mountaineer newspaper, to arm the state against insurrection and hold the Union together. He was also Jackson’s eyes and ears concerning the actions and fiery rhetoric of his nemesis, Vice President John C. Calhoun of Clemson.
Ever wondered why Greenville has the Poinsett Hotel, the Poinsett Club, Poinsett Highway, Poinsett Park in Travelers Rest, Poinsett Reservoir, Poinsett Bridge and the Poinsettia Christmas Parade, along with a bronze statue of the man on Main Street? It’s partly because he was president of the state Board of Public Works (1819-1821) when it constructed the old state road through the Saluda Gap in northern Greenville County. He fell in love with Greenville and built a summer home near Saluda Gap on the old State Road. He later built a second home at the current site of the SCDOT office on White Horse Road.
He used his own funds to provide a granite, spring-fed fountain for drovers and other travelers on the interstate wagon road. That fountain is now located near the Westin Poinsett Hotel with water running through it, some of which comes from the Poinsett Reservoir.
Although I suspect few people know what it is, there is also a reconstructed example of one of the several small stone bridges and culverts from the State Road located in Cleveland Park.
Finally, who knew that Dec. 12, the date that he died in 1851, is officially Poinsettia Day? It’s fine to remember Joel Roberts Poinsett for having brought the poinsettia home from Mexico, but now you know the rest of the story.
Dennis Chastain is a Pickens County naturalist, historian and former tour guide. He has been writing feature articles for South Carolina Wildlife magazine and other outdoor publications since 1989.
