FLORENCE - A group advocating the creation of a Francis Marion Tourism Trail plans to announce next Monday the trail conception and a bill that will be introduced to the General Assembly to create a Francis Marion Trail Commission.

Florence attorney Ben Zeigler, who has led the efforts for the creation of the trail, said the announcement of the introduction of the bill by Florence Sen. Hugh Leatherman is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. in the Palmetto Room of Ervin Dining Hall at Francis Marion University.

Zeigler said he became inspired last spring when he took a S.C. ETV film crew down to the Great Pee Dee River to film Francis Marion sites.

“I had not visited some of those sites since I was a child,” he said, “and it suddenly occurred to me that nearly all of these sites are unexplored, inaccessible and unappreciated.”

Zeigler said the Pee Dee has been sitting on a historical gold mine regarding the founding of the Union.

“In my estimation, what happened in this area between 1780 and 1782 was what really won the Revolutionary War,” he said. “I think most will agree not only that Francis Marion is one of South Carolina’s greatest heroes, but that his campaigns in the Pee Dee and Lowcountry regions are of national significance, and we in the Pee Dee should not only be proud of and highlight that aspect of our heritage, but should also promote it as a basis for bringing tourism dollars to the region.”

The trail is expected to start at Fort Moultrie in Sullivans Island and follow U.S. 21 up through the Francis Marion National Forest, across the Black and Santee rivers, and past the site of the Battle of Black Mingo into the lower part of Williamsburg County.

From there, the trail would continue through Lake City, Browntown and Johnsonville. It would eventually end at the colonial plantations of Hopsewee and Hampton.

Zeigler said he thinks the trail will attract tourists from many parts of the state.

“Assuming some of these sites can be developed into public parks, it would be a great day trip for someone visiting from Charleston,” he said.

In addition, Zeigler said, tourists traveling on Interstate 95 to Charleston might choose to drive the trail to Charleston through such areas as Johnsonville and Kingstree.

The proposed Francis Marion Trail Commission would lay out the steps to make the trail a reality.

The eight-member commission, according to the bill, will be made up of the director of the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism, the president of Francis Marion University, two members appointed by the governor and one member each appointed by the president pro tempore of the Senate, Speaker of the House, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

The bill also provides for the commission to use the staff of the state department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism. No money is asked for in the bill, but it says the commission might seek state appropriations as well as private funds.

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