Calvary Episcopal Church in Tarboro will celebrate its 175th anniversary Sunday with North Carolina Bishop the Right Rev. Michael Curry attending.

The event will celebrate the completion of several renovations to the church, including restoration of its pews, enhanced lighting in the sanctuary and repointing of its outer brick facade.

The renovations, which began in July, cost $563,000.

The Rev. Bill Smyth, who has been the church's rector for 17 years, has overseen the church's past three renovations.

In 1994 and 1995, the church replaced its sanctuary's steeple after a severe thunderstorm. After Hurricane Floyd in 1999, Calvary's Parish House and Memorial Hall received extensive renovations. The renovations this summer, Smyth pointed out, were the first made by choice, not as a result of a natural disaster, during his tenure.

When reflecting on the church's long history in Tarboro, Smyth said that it is a place where "we both treasure the tradition and search for new vitality all the time."

Calvary's tradition started May 26, 1833, when the church was incorporated; it was admitted into the Convention of the Diocese of North Carolina three days later, Calvary Parish Historian Tom Miller said.

In Edgecombe County, Calvary parishioners and clergymen over the years have founded at least a dozen different Episcopal churches, Miller said. Four of them are still active today; St. Michael's in Tarboro, St. Luke's in Tarboro, St. Mary's in Speed and Grace Episcopal in Lawrence.

"We took the church to them," Miller said, when the trips to and from Tarboro took too much time back in the 1800s.

Two standout parts of Calvary's history are its unique churchyard and its church building. Miller said both of them are on the National Register of Historic Places.

Calvary's longest-tenured rector, Joseph Blount Cheshire, from 1842-1889 oversaw the construction of the present church, as well as the churchyard. Miller said Cheshire was an avid arborist and collected domestic and exotic plants to go in Calvary's churchyard, turning it into the current arboretum.

Looking at the present and at its history, Smyth said that service to Tarboro and Edgecombe County is an "essential" part of Calvary's identity.

The church helped establish Tarboro Community Outreach in the 1980s, and it also hosts outreach programs through its Community Enrichment Organization.

Two years ago, the church's Community Enrichment Organization began a mentoring program for single, teenage mothers, Smyth said.

This year, Calvary's mothers have guided eight young mothers in balancing life's responsibilities, while raising a child at the same time, Smyth said.