Poinsett State Park

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Poinsett State Park is located in Sumter County in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The park is best known for its botanical oddities, combining the flora of the Blue Ridge Mountains foothills and Piedmont of Upstate South Carolina, the xeric Sandhills and the Atlantic coastal plain. In Poinsett State Park one can see mountain laurels draped with Spanish moss. The park, which has been called "weird and beautiful", is named after amateur botanist and South Carolina native Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first American ambassador to Mexico and popularizer of the poinsettia. There is no charge for admission to Poinsett State Park, but there are small fees for overnight camping and cabin rentals. The park is surrounded by the Manchester State Forest, and both provide access to the Palmetto Trail, linked hiking and mountain bike trails, and Manchester State Forest offers equestrian trails.HistoryLocated on the High Hills of Santee and descending to the Wateree Swamp, the site was used by various Siouan tribes of Native Americans, including the Santee, Wateree and Catawba, primarily for hunting. The non-Siouan Congaree lived nearby and may have also frequented the area.