#126: The First Poinsettias in SC, Santa's Blacksmith Workshop, and Colonial Tea
For South Carolina history lovers far and wide! Published weekly on Monday mornings. Enjoy weekly SC history articles, interviews w/ experts, book recommendations, and upcoming SC historical events.
Dear reader,
Welcome to SC History Newsletter #126!
I hope you are feeling the holiday spirit wherever you may be!
Today, I was excited to learn more about the beautiful poinsettia plant that is such a staple of the Christmas season and is linked to a famous South Carolina historical figure, Joel Poinsett. I hope you enjoy that history below.
A quick administrative note that I will be on vacation between Christmas and New Year’s, so the next SC History Newsletter will publish on Monday, January 6th, which funnily enough, is my birthday! :)
From my family to yours, I wish you a warm and wonderful holiday season filled with love and laughter!
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!
New friends! If you are new to the newsletter, please note that there are over 100 previous SC History newsletters on topics ranging from the founding of Charleston, sunken Confederate submarines, railroad tunnels filled with blue cheese, and so much more! I encourage you to take a look at our archive here.
Send me your topic ideas: I love it when subscribers write to me! Have a SC History topic or question you’d like for me to write about? Just reply to this email and let me know!
Join us on social: Please join us & keep the conversation going by becoming a member of our SC History Newsletter Facebook Community here! I can’t wait to meet you. :)
If your email “cuts off”: In your email app or website, if my emails “cut off” for you, please click the title of the email and it will take you to the full post on the Substack. I don’t want you to miss any content!
And now, let’s learn some South Carolina history!
Yours truly,
Kate
(Writing from Greenville, SC)
➳ Featured SC History Events
Please note our featured SC History Event below, and click here to visit my SC History Events Calendar that organizes all the upcoming SC history events I have discovered.
Please let me know if you’d like to add an event to the calendar! Reply to this email to send me your events.
SC History Event Recommendation of the Week:
Wednesday, December 18th, 9 am - 4 pm| “Santa’s Blacksmith Workshop: Christmas Ornaments” | Hagood Mill Historic Site | Pickens, SC | Website | $120 pp
“Step into the holiday spirit and experience the art of blacksmithing at the historic Hagood Mill! Join us on Wednesday, December 18, for a day of crafting unique, handmade Christmas ornaments under the guidance of historical demonstrator Kevin Thompson of Electric City Forge.
What to Expect:
Learn blacksmithing basics, including safety, techniques, and tools.
Create ornaments like Christmas trees, candy canes, icicles, and crosses.
Discover the history of blacksmithing and the art of coal-fired forges.”
➳ SC History Book, Article, Movie, (now FOOD too!) Recommendations
(Note from Kate: I decided to add a FOOD recommendation category to this section as well!)
If you need a South Carolina history-themed Christmas gift, check out this company based in Charleston! This is not an ad. I have just admired this company for a bit and wanted to give them a shoutout :) )
From their website:
“Oliver Pluff is an all-American company preserving the tradition of time-honored teas and early American coffee blends. The tradition of tea and coffee spans American history in its entirety. Our teas and coffees honor this history through flavors, ingredients, and more.
A cup of Oliver Pluff tea or coffee is a toast to superior quality of ingredients, and a tribute to the American story. We would love to share a cup of history with you!
Oliver Pluff & Company is a Veteran Owned Small Business.”
Have you shopped with Oliver Pluff before? Tell us your review! Leave a comment below!
➳ SC History Topic of the Week:
The First Poinsettias in South Carolina
The ubiquitous, red-flowered plant we all know and love each Christmas season was brought to the United States by one of South Carolina’s own… Joel Poinsett!
Joel Poinsett is a fascinating figure of South Carolina history. He was born in Charleston in 1779, during the American Revolution.
Gleaning knowledge through extensive schooling in America and abroad, Poinsett grew to be a Renaissance man of sorts, and would hold many titles throughout his life including physician, botanist, and statesman.
Poinsett was also fluent in many languages and he “formed associations with several powerful European leaders, including Napoleon I, the French financier Jacques Necker, and Czar Alexander I of Russia.”
Under President John Quincy Adams, Joel Poinsett was appointed to serve as U.S. Minister to Mexico from 1825-1829.
While in Mexico in the 1820s, Poinsett discovered an exotic red-flowering plant that the locals called “cuetlaxochitl” which means “withering flower.”
The modern poinsettia only slightly resembles the original tall, leggy, red plant that Poinsett encountered, which grew wild throughout Central America. See image below.
The flower was sacred to the Nahuati-speaking and Aztec cultures, and it is still used in decorative and medicinal ways today among the Teenek Indians in southeastern Mexico.
Horticulture Educator Jennifer Fishburn wrote about the poinsettia:
“The cuetlaxochitl was a symbol of the new life earned by warriors who died in battle. They also used the plant’s red bracts to make a reddish-purple dye used in textiles and cosmetics. They crushed and applied the plant to skin infections, or placed plant parts on a person’s chest to stimulate circulation.”
After the Spanish conquest, Franciscan friars also utilized the plant to decorate altars and nativity scenes. They nicknamed it “flor de Nochebuena” (Holy night flower) since it blooms around Christmastime.
Other names for the poinsettia across Latin America include “pastora” (shepherdess) and “flor de Pascuas” (Easter flower).
Struck by the beauty of the cuetlaxochitl plant, Joel Poinsett brought cuttings home and began growing them in South Carolina. Poinsett was a skilled botanist and easily propagated the plants, eventually giving them as gifts to his friends and associates in Charleston and Philadelphia.
Within a few years, the red-flowering plants became so popular that they reached a plant nursery owner in Philadelphia named Robert Buist, who is believed to be the first person to commercially sell the plant in the United States.
The nursery of Robert Buist was a key source of exotic flowers in Philadelphia in the 1830s and 40s.
Robert Buist named the plant poinsettia, after Joel Poinsett.
The poinsettia became so popular that by 1845, the wife of newly elected president James K. Polk wore a dress “festooned with embroidered poinsettias to the inaugural ball.”
In the Aegis newspaper in Maryland in 1865, the poinsettia was described as “the showiest flower to yet be seen…the most brilliant leaves ever produced in the vegetable or mineral kingdom.”
By the early 20th century, mass cultivation of poinsettias in the U.S. had reached an industrial scale thanks to Albert Ecke, a German immigrant, who began growing them commercially in California.
Today the Paul Ecke Ranch located in Encinitas, California is the major producer of poinsettia mother plants used for cuttings by commercial growers. Around 70% of all commercially grown poinsettia plants in the United States originate from Ecke Ranch.
The poinsettia we see today comes from many years of breeding and engineering. The secret of Ecke’s breeding technique for the Poinsettias has been guarded “with the intensity of the Coca-Cola recipe.”
“The Eckes of Southern California are to poinsettias what De Beers of South Africa is to diamonds,” one reporter has claimed.
Hybridizing poinsettias has resulted in colors including: cream, yellow, peach, pink, salmon, and marbled. Red poinsettias still account for more than 70 percent of sales.
The United States Congress has given the poinsettia recognition by declaring December 12 as national poinsettia day. This day honors Joel Poinsett himself who died on December 12, 1851.
➳ Sources — The First Poinsettias in South Carolina
"The Complicated History of the Poinsettia." Greenville Journal, https://greenvillejournal.com/history/the-complicated-history-of-the-poinsettia/. Accessed 14 Dec. 2024.
"History of the Cuetlaxochitl Poinsettia." Family Handyman, https://www.familyhandyman.com/article/history-of-the-cuetlaxochitl-poinsetta/#:~:text=It%20translates%20to%20%E2%80%9Cflower%20that,brilliant%20flower%20or%20ember%20flower. Accessed 14 Dec. 2024.
"History of Poinsettias." Prairies & Perennials, Illinois Extension, https://extension.illinois.edu/blogs/prairies-perennials/2020-12-14-history-poinsettia#:~:text=Poinsettias%20were%20introduced%20to%20the,home%20in%20Greenville%2C%20South%20Carolina. Accessed 14 Dec. 2024.
"The History of the Poinsettia." Farm Flavor, https://farmflavor.com/lifestyle/food-for-thought/the-history-of-the-poinsettia/. Accessed 14 Dec. 2024.
"Joel R. Poinsett." Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Joel-R-Poinsett. Accessed 14 Dec. 2024.
"Poinsett, Joel Roberts." South Carolina Encyclopedia, https://www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/poinsett-joel-roberts/. Accessed 14 Dec. 2024.
"Poinsettia: How a U.S. Diplomat Made a Mexican Flower an International Favorite." Library of Congress Blog, 2021, https://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2021/12/poinsettia-how-a-u-s-diplomat-made-a-mexican-flower-an-international-favorite/. Accessed 14 Dec. 2024.
"The History of Poinsettias." Swansons Nursery Blog, https://www.swansonsnursery.com/blog/history-of-poinsettias. Accessed 14 Dec. 2024.
"The Poinsettia: How It Took Over Christmas." The Hustle, https://thehustle.co/how-the-poinsettia-took-over-christmas. Accessed 14 Dec. 2024.
I always want to improve my work. Answer the poll below to give me your review of today’s newsletter. I also welcome your suggestions for new content! Simply reply to this email with your ideas. Thank you!