From festive plants and natural décor to iconic winter foods, many of the holiday traditions we know today either began here or were popularized in the Lowcountry of South Carolina.

Poinsettias

The beloved poinsettia’s American story starts in the Lowcountry, where Joel Robert Poinsett brought the brilliant red plant from Mexico in 1825. Its popularity spread nationwide, making it a lasting symbol of Christmas.

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Rice became a cash crop in the new American colonies in the 1690s. In the 1720s rice became the major crop in the South Carolina colony with six million pounds shipped to England annually. Seventy percent of the five million bushels produced in America were grown in South Carolina by 1860.

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