A new pavilion is being built on Morton Park, but one part of the pavilion carries a bit of Charleston history.

The new pavilion, on Lincoln Avenue, will encompass a fireplace that was a part of an old cabin built by the Rennels family in 1836. City council member Larry Rennels is a distant member of the family.

“They lived there and donated it to the Park District and the cabin got in such bad shape that they finally tore it down and kept the fireplace,” said Bob Beavers, secretary of the Township Park District.

The Township Park District is in control of Morton Park and is separate from the city Park District.

The district has three elected board members and operates two other parks.

Beavers said a few years later, a pavilion was built in the 1960s, with the fireplace making up one side of it.

It was slowly deteriorating and that was the main reason the park district decided to replace the pavilion, Beavers said.

“It’s a double-sided fireplace and people use both sides,” said Steve Whitley, treasurer of the Township Park District. “People build fires and have wiener roasts and in the fall people build fires to keep warm.”

The new pavilion will be bigger and will extend past the fireplace so it is protected from the weather, Whitley said. The new pavilion will be one of three pavilions in Morton Park.

Whitley said people use Morton Park regularly especially in the summer during the Fourth of July. He expects the new pavilion to be occupied on a regular basis.

“This park gets a lot of use,” Whitley said. “I mean, there are lots of people here.”

Whitley said groups from Charleston High School and Eastern use the park on a daily basis and anyone can reserve a space in any of the pavilions, free of charge.

Beavers expects the structure of the new pavilion to be done by May 1, but the construction will not be finished until later.

“We put in a heavy duty wiring system so that people can bring coffee makers, hot pots and things like that,” Whitley said. “We have to put enough circuits in so that they don’t blow the circuits by doing that. So, that takes a little longer.”