Park, bell tower get makeover

Nearly six months of hard work by a soon-to-be Eagle Scout and many helpers have revitalized Morgan City’s Brownell Memorial Park and Campanile nestled among the trees off of La. 70.

Remington Begley, 13, of Morgan City, cleaned up and improved Brownell Memorial Park and Campanile, also known as The Carillon Tower, next to Lake Palourde for his Eagle Scout project. Begley is a member of Boy Scout Troop 41 in Patterson. He’s the son of Phillip and Leah Begley.

A reintroduction ceremony will be held at 4 p.m. Wednesday at the tower to celebrate completion of the project.

Several Eagle Scouts have done “tremendous work” to improve different areas of Morgan City, Mayor Frank “Boo” Grizzaffi said.

However, Begley’s project was “above and beyond most of the Eagle Scout projects that we’ve seen come through the city,” the mayor said.

Begley, an eighth-grader at Morgan City Junior High, chose to do the project “because we can go out in the boat and see this, but other people can’t,” he said.

Begley wasn’t alone in the endeavor as many people, including family and friends, helped Begley finish the project. Members and leaders of Troop 41, Troop 49, Cub Scout Pack 438 and Berwick Junior High Beta Club were among those who assisted with the project.

Work began in October 2016, and volunteers repaired and replaced signs, planted flowers, re-stained all the benches, re-finished the doors to the tower, painted gates and pressure-washed the tower and concrete areas throughout the park.

They also cleared vegetation and cleaned the roof on the visitors center at the park.

According to the park’s website, the 9.5-acre park and Carillon Tower were the gift of the late Claire Horatio Brownell, a member of one of Louisiana’s pioneer families.

Claire Brownell chose to install the 106-foot tall Carillon Tower as the focal point of the park because of her interest in musical bells.

The city has a long-term lease with the Brownell Foundation to have a park on the property surrounding the tower.

While researching for the project, Begley learned that the site used to be a scout camp before the tower was constructed in the early 1970s.

He fundraised for his Eagle project through the Morgan City Rotary Club, Kiwanis Club of East St. Mary, St. Mary Chamber of Commerce and Teche Regional Medical Center.

Numerous businesses donated a total of $2,000 toward the project.

City leaders had been looking to improve the tower and park, and this project provided the extra help they were looking for, Grizzaffi said.

The tower “has been a very visited venue for our out-of-town and out-of-country guests that come through our region,” Grizzaffi said.

Begley hopes to attain the rank of Eagle Scout by May and set a goal to reach the milestone before turning 14 years old.

He also bought an eagle statue to place by the tower with some of the funds he raised.

Local resident Lee LeBlanc will play the bells in the tower during Wednesday’s ceremony.

Anyone planning to attend the ceremony is asked to RSVP no later than Monday by calling 985-312-5843 or emailing rbegley.eagleproject@gmail.com.