Carolina Chesterfield County South

Thousands of outdoor destinations are more spectacular, but few are as peculiar to the naturalist as Poinsett State Park in Sumter County, South Carolina. Approximately midway between the Atlantic coast and the Blue Ridge Mountains, its thousand acres encompass mountain terrain and plant life as well as Low Country swampland — and a couple of habitats between.

Poinsett State Park is named for Joel Roberts Poinsett. The 19th-Century statesman, diplomat and amateur botanist was born in Charleston and died in Stateburg, not far from the modern park site.

The High Hills of the Santee

Park authorities point out that Poinsett contains four separate but coexisting ecosystems: