Less than two weeks after its formal opening, the Union County Historic Trail is getting its first official visitors.

Union County Museum Director Ola Jean Kelly announced Friday that “the first out-of-town visitors to request a tour of some of the sites” on the trail will arrive in Union Monday morning.

“The group consists of students and teachers from Beaufort Academy, Beaufort SC,” Kelly said. “They will begin their visit at the museum. After they leave here, William Jeter will take them to Rose Hill and then on to Flint Hill. Flint Hill is the ancestral home of William and his wife Jill.”

This is the first group to request a tour of the trail, but Kelly said there have been plenty of requests for the brochure that accompanies it. In addition to welcoming the Beaufort group to Union, Kelly said she will also be sending brochures to all nine of South Carolina’s welcome centers.

Developed by the Union County Historical Society in collaboration with the Union County Tourism Commission, the Historic Trail was formally opened on Dec. 1. The trail, which begin just inside Laurens County and runs just east of Monarch, consist of 23 historic sites including the museum, Rose Hill, Flint Hill, Musgrove Mill Battlefield, Blackstock Battlefield, Union County Courthouse, Merridun, Dawkins House, Episcopal Church Of The Nativity, and Union County Carnegie Library. Each site is marked with a sign in the shape of Union County with the name of the site and a number that corresponds to a number marking its location on a map contained in the accompanying brochure.

In addition to the welcome centers, the brochures are also available locally at the museum, the library, Merridun, Union County Chamber of Commerce, Union County Carnegie Library, and area motels.

Kelly said the group from Beaufort is what those involved in the development of the trail had hoped to achieve.

“It is very satisfying to those who worked so very hard to bring the trail to completion to have others from around the state come to enjoy the rich history of our wonderful county,” Kelly said.