Marion County sites included in trail’s plan

The story of what Gen. Francis Marion accomplished during the Revolutionary War in South Carolina is a “great morality play.“ Francis Marion Trail Commission Executive Director Bob Barrett said its time to begin the process of leaving something about that history and heritage to the generations to come.

“This is one of the most amazing stories ... we’re still finding pieces of it ... It’s a great story to American history, maybe world history ... a great adventure story ...“ and its retelling is set to begin.
Preserving the state’s Revolutionary War and colonial history and heritage, and educating the public about that history, all while stimulating local economies, has been the hope of the Francis Marion Trail Commission since its inception in 2003.

Ensuring preservation of that heritage, while creating a tourism product is what his company was tasked to do, Keyes Williamson said when the Trail Commission’s plan was unveiled in Florence this past week. Williamson, spokesman for the Jaeger Co., a consulting group that works on preservation, conservation and enhancement of cultural and natural environments, said his group was contracted by the commission to review the data it collected and that they had prioritized the information and developed a plan to accomplish the commissions’s task.

“It’s the telling of this great story for the world,“ he said.

Attending the presentation were about 45 people, made up of trail commissioners, landowners, reenactors, history buffs, trail commission sub committee members and others interested in developing tourism in the area. They had traveled from, among other locations, Charleston, Georgetown, Marion, Florence and Manning to hear the results.

Because the state has no funds for the trail beyond this point, at this time, the development of the master plan as presented is in the hands of the commissioners and local advocates. The plan has identified and located as many as 94 sites that could be interpreted and developed that relate to Gen. Francis Marion. Initially, however, the plan calls for four regional interpretive centers to be established and then for several local interpretive sites to be implemented and used as a basis for the development of the heritage trail.

The four regions and their major centers are to be near Francis Marion University in Florence for the Pee Dee Region; in Georgetown for the Nothern Coastal Region; near the Central Carolina Technical College in Manning for the Eastern Midlands; and at Fort Dorchester in Dorchester County for the Lowcountry region. Each center will have its unique theme to interpret to visitors, Williamson said.
The top five sites to be developed for interpretation, according to the report, are Ft. Watson near Manning, Dunham’s Bluff in Marion County, Fairlawn near Monck’s Corner, Black Mingo in Williamsburg County and Ft. Dorchester.

Some sites will have full-fledged interpretive centers, others will be in local musuems and sites of interest and still others could have a kiosk to “self-interpret” the site, Williamson explained.

The trail, mirroring the meanderings of Gen. Marion’s campaigns in the Pee Dee, Midlands and Lowcountry, include natural areas, battlefields, campgrounds and his tomb, Williamson said, and is envisioned as a hike, bike, driving trail through the various counties touch by the general and his men.

The focus of the commission has shifted to local planning and implementation through regional development committees. For instance, in Marion, a local development committee met recently to discuss ways to honor Gen. Marion on “Gen. Francis Marion Memorial Day.“ Enacted by the state in 2007, Feb. 27 was designated as General Francis Marion Memorial Day in honor of the state’s Revolutionary War hero. The city and county will be making plans for events on that day.

There will be less ‘top down,’ centralized planning with a focus on local and private sector funding, outgoing Commission Chairman Ben Zeigler said earlier this year. Recently, Florence attorney Mark Buyck III was named chairman of the commission. Zeigler made his remarks when he was in Marion with Barrett. Five Marion County entities, the Marion Chamber of Commerce, Marion County Progress Inc. and Historic Marion Revitalization Association, and county of Marion and city of Marion, combined to give the Trail Commission a $5,250 check in a show of support for the trail.

The trail is seen by county officials as being important for the role this area played in the general’s exploits adn because the county is named for him and honors his achievements and the men who served with him.

Marion sites important to the history of the general include, the 25,000-acre Woodbury Tract in lower Marion County at Dunham’s Bluff , the Tan Yard at the extreme southern tip of Marion County, Blue Savannah on the county’s eastern border with Horry County and other sites, such as Bowling Green.

The Trail Commission will continue to have as its goal, Williamson said, the job of collecting information about Gen. Marion, verifying the authencity of that information and “providing the experience of discovery…“ with the trail sites managed, funded and interpreted locally.

For information on the local aspect of Gen. Marion in the Revolutionary War, visit the Marion County Archives and History Center, corner of Godbold and Main streets, Marion, Maxcy Foxworth Jr., archivist. He can be reached at (843) 431-5024. The Archives building is open from noon to 5 p.m., Monday through Thursday.