A new federal grant has put organizers more than halfway to their funding goal for the Battle of Camden site, bringing a planned park closer to reality.

The project recently received $296,303 through the federal Save America’s Treasures program. That comes on top of nearly $350,000 secured so far toward the $1.25 million goal.

“It has taken us several years to really gain momentum,” said Sen. Vincent Sheheen, D-Kershaw, who has been involved in the process since it began five years ago. “I think that all the planning and all the hard work ... is really paying off now.”

Work also started recently on three trails at the site, scheduled to open in August in conjunction with the 225th anniversary of the Revolutionary War in Camden.

Members of the Battle of Camden Advisory Council hope to secure national park status for the site. The British scored their largest battlefield victory there, and American military leaders learned important lessons about British fighting tactics that helped win the war.

Meanwhile, advisory council members are working with the S.C. Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism to establish a state park.

Marion Edmonds, parks department spokesman, said his agency has a lot of interest in the battlefield, on Flat Rock Road near Camden.

“We recognize the historic significance of the site and the potential it has to help tell the story, really the under-told story, of the Revolution in South Carolina,” he said.

Developing a park could help make South Carolina a destination for tourists interested in the Revolutionary War, Edmonds said, because the state has a number of sites related to the war.

Several are in the Camden area, including the Historic Camden Revolutionary War Park, the major battlefields of Camden and Hobkirk Hill, and 20 smaller battle sites within 30 miles.

“I would think there’s no area in the country that has the concentration of Revolutionary War sites that Camden has,” said George Fields, director of military heritage for the Palmetto Conservation Foundation.

In addition to the latest federal grant and several smaller funding requests:

• The S.C. Conservation Bank pledged $341,250 in December, which helped organizers purchase 310 acres at the battlefield’s core.

• Organizers have applied for another $200,000 grant from the S.C. Department of Transportation.

• The state budget, awaiting approval from the governor, includes $200,000 for the project.

Organizers say they are confident they’ll reach their $1.25 million goal, which would help them meet plans through 2007. Those include buying roughly 500 acres of battlefield property and acquiring easements; establishing on-site interpretation facilities; conducting archaeology and graves research; and restoring the site to its 1780 conditions.

To get the site approved as a state park, the parks department, Legislature and State Budget and Control Board would review plans as part of the approval process.

Once established, the park would provide much-needed interpretation for battlefield visitors, Fields said. The only markings there now include a small monument and a historical marker.

In addition to the trails that will open this year, signs will be added about the battle, and a kiosk will provide self-guided tour brochures. Eventually, docents will be trained to lead tours, and a museum will be built to house artifacts from the battle.

Sheheen said that early in the process, some had their doubts that a park could be built.

“Now,” he said, “we’re making believers out of people.”

Reach Rupon at (803) 771-8622 or krupon@thestate.com.