Architects and Johnsonville officials will meet Monday and Tuesday to envision a bright future for the community through a Revolutionary War park and a revitalized downtown.

“We hope to get some guidance into the direction we need to head to get Johnsonville where we need to be in an economic sense,” including advances in tourism and successful small business, town administrator Scott Tanner said.

The design workshop will generate ideas for a Francis Marion Heritage Park along Lynches River, as well as a new master plan to revitalize Johnsonville’s downtown central business district.

The workshop is a follow-up to the South Carolina Mayors’ Institute for Community Design Colloquium in November. At that event, the six communities selected by the South Carolina Design Arts Partnership had a chance to present their projects and receive critiques from experts.

“They just want to know how to utilize (the resources) and bring some more tourism into their area and also to revitalize their town,” she said.

Campbell is in charge of the Johnsonville design workshop. The two-day event also will feature 10 others from the institute, 14 students from Clemson University’s Architecture Center and members of the state Design Arts Partnership. The participants visited the town Jan. 12 and have done background research, as well as surveys of potential park sites.

She said the town has three historical sites tied to Revolutionary War figure Francis Marion, and those sites are all within five miles of Johnsonville’s downtown.

The design work will lead to a design summit at Clemson University on April 24 and 25. At that summit, the six communities will present their final master plans for their project designs.

The other communities at the summit will be Chesterfield; Summerton, in Clarendon County; Clearwater, in Aiken County; Glendale, in Spartanburg County; and Greer, in Greenville County.