Skip to main content

Poinsett's Bridge

Image
By

Hidden within the mountains of South Carolina's Upstate Region is one of the most majestic stone arch bridges that you will ever see.  The Poinsett's Bridge was built in 1820 as part of what was then known as the State Road.  The State Road was a toll road that ran from Charleston through Columbia and into North Carolina.  Poinsett's Bridge was one of three stone bridges built within this particular segment, also known as the Saluda Mountain Road. (1)

Considered the oldest surviving bridge in the state - some speculate the entire southeast - Poinsett's Bridge rises 24 feet over Little Gap Creek. The bridge's length is 130 feet. Its most noteworthy feature is the 15' high x 7' wide Gothic arch over the creek.  The stepped parapet side walls are also a distinguishing feature.


Poinsett Bridge is named after Joel R. Poinsett - who served as the Director of the South Carolina Board of Public Works at the time.  Poinsett was a prominent South Carolinian who served as the first US Ambassador to Mexico.  However, he is most famous for being the individual who introduced the poinsettia to the United States.


The bridge is believed to have been designed by Robert Mills, who also designed the Washington Monument. But it is unknown if he did design it, as he joined the SC Board of Public Works in December 1820.  Mills was living in Baltimore throughout that year. (1)


The two other stone bridges built as part of the State/Saluda Mountain Road included a 60-foot-long bridge over the North Saluda River.  This bridge contained two elliptical arches and rose about 15 feet above the water.  The third bridge was a 50-foot singular circular arch bridge that crossed over Hodge Creek.  It rose 12.5' above the water. (1) The two sister bridges were destroyed in the 1950s during the construction of the North Saluda Reservoir.


Directions:
  • From SC 11 -  Turn Right onto Old SC 11. Follow Old 11 to Callahan Mountain Road.  Turn right onto Callahan Mountain Road.  Follow brown signs for Poinsett Bridge Heritage Preserve to the bridge - there is a parking lot near the bridge site.
  • From US 25 North (Greenville) - Take US 25 North to Old US 25 and exit right.  Follow Old US 25 to Callahan Mountain Road. Turn Right onto Callahan Mountain Road.  Follow brown signs for Poinsett Bridge Heritage Preserve to the bridge - there is a parking lot near the bridge site.
 
Sources & Links:
All photos taken by author, August 2007.

Update Log:
  • June 11, 2023 - Updated page format and fixed various spelling/grammatical errors.



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Did Caltrans just kill the G26 cutout US Route shields?

By
The US Route System was formally created by the American Association of State Highway Officials during November 1926.  Through the history of the system the only state to which has elected to maintain cutout US Route shields has been California.  The G26 series cutout US Route shields have become a favorite in the road enthusiast hobby and are generally considered to be much more visually pleasing than the standard Federal Highway Administration variant.  However, the G26 shield series appears to have been killed off on January 18, 2026, when Caltrans updated their Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices.  This blog will examine the history of the US Route shield specifications in California and what is happening with the 2026 changes.  The blog cover photo is facing towards the terminus of California State Route 136 and at a G26-2 specification US Route 395 shield.  In the background Mount Whitney can be seen in the Sierra Nevada range.   ...
2 comments
Read more

May 2023 Ontario Trip (Part 3 of 3)

By
  Over the years, I have made plenty of trips to Ontario, crisscrossing the southern, central and eastern parts of the province. Living in Upstate New York, it's pretty easy to visit our neighbor to the north, or is that our neighbor to the west? Ottawa is one of my favorite cities to visit anywhere in the world, plus I've discovered the charm of Kingston, the waterfalls of Hamilton (which is on the same Niagara Escarpment that brings us Niagara Falls), the sheer beauty of the Bruce Peninsula, and more. But I hadn't explored much of Cottage Country. So I decided to change that, and what better time to go than over Memorial Day weekend, when the daylight is long and I have an extra day to explore. On the third and final day of my trip, I started in Huntsville and made my way through Muskoka District and Haliburton County, passing by many lakes along the way. I stopped in towns such as Dorset, Haliburton and Bancroft before making a beeline down to Belleville and then over th...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ghost Town Tuesday; Nichols, FL

By
A couple years ago I spent a lot of spare time exploring phosphate mining ghost towns in the Bone Valley of Polk County, Florida.  One ghost town in particular called Nichols on Polk County Route 676 west of Mulberry caught my eye due to a relative lack of documentation on ghosttowns.com. Nichols was created in 1905 during the early phosphate mining boom in the Bone Valley region.  For the time Nichols was unusual since it had company housing in the Nichols Mine site and private residences outside the gate.  Nichols is only about two miles west of Mulberry which probably made it a somewhat reasonable commute even by the wonky standards of the early 20th Century.  Most of the Bone Valley region was relatively remote which made commuting or homesteading impractical which is why there are so many ghost towns in the area.  The company housing section of Nichols was phased out and abandoned by 1950. The Nichols town site is largely abandoned and could "possibl...
4 comments
Read more