Renovations are complete for a familiar downtown Brookhavenlandmark.

The Foster-Smith Log Cabin, located on Whitworth Avenue indowntown Brookhaven, held its reopening ribbon-cutting Monday.

Brookhaven Trust board member Rita Rich said the cabin has beenundergoing renovations for the past year. The largest renovationwas the replacement of the concrete chinking between the logs,Homer Richardson, Brookhaven Trust member said.

Richardson said the concrete chinking was falling out because ofthe trains passing by. The cabin sits beside the railroad track,and the continual shaking was causing holes in the cabin’s wallsand allowing passage space for squirrels, which were causingdamage.

The concrete chinking was replaced with a new, softer chinking moreconducive to movement, he said.

“This will help preserve the cabin,” Richardson said.

Besides the chinking, the inside of the cabin has been renovatedwith reworked cushions for the benches as well as decorations.Also, a new cap was installed on the chimney to keep out birds, anda new sign was installed at the entrance of the cabin.

Andrew and Monelle Smith donated the cabin to the Brookhaven Trust,Rich said. The cabin was moved around 1996 to its current locationfrom the back yard of the Smiths’ home on Storm Avenue.

The log cabin was a popular meeting place during Halloween, whenthe Smiths would play host to neighborhood children at thecabin.

In keeping with the Smiths’ theme of involving children from thecommunity with the log cabin, second-graders from Shelley Grenn’sclass at Brookhaven Elementary visited the cabin Monday afternoonto decorate a cedar tree for Christmas. Decorations were made theold-fashioned way, with strands of popcorn and snowflakes cut frompaper.

The cabin will be open to the public from 5 until 9 p.m. Saturdayduring the Brookhaven-Lincoln County Chamber of Commerce ChristmasTour of Homes.