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Whiteville Grove Baptist Church, located at 373 Perry’s Bridge Road in Belvidere, plans to host its 170th anniversary homecoming service Sunday on the church grounds.

An artist’s rendition of what Whiteville Grove Baptist Church once looked like adorns a hallway in the church.

Whiteville Grove Baptist Church plans to host its 170th anniversary homecoming service Sunday on the church grounds in Belvidere.

Whiteville Grove Baptist Church, located at 373 Perry’s Bridge Road in Belvidere, plans to host its 170th anniversary homecoming service Sunday on the church grounds.

An artist’s rendition of what Whiteville Grove Baptist Church once looked like adorns a hallway in the church.

Whiteville Grove Baptist Church plans to host its 170th anniversary homecoming service Sunday on the church grounds in Belvidere.

BELVIDERE — Whiteville Grove Baptist Church in Belvidere is calling folks home — literally.

Whiteville Grove’s congregation will hold a homecoming Sunday to mark the 170th anniversary of the church’s founding.

To put 170 years in perspective, there were still soldiers from the American Revolution alive, and the country had yet to fracture from the Civil War when the church was founded.

It was then when the first boards and beams were put up at Whiteville Grove, situated on Perry’s Bridge Road barely two miles north of Belvidere’s historic village. Since that time, the church has been added to a handful of times, most recently for a new fellowship hall a few years ago.

There is still a lot about Whiteville Grove that’s faithful to the original structure. Paintings and portraits of the original church adorn the hallways, and the original floorboards creak beneath a visitor’s feet.

Brenda Dail, who grew up attending Whiteville Grove, said that while the congregation is not very large, members are steadfast.

“We have about 60 members right now,” she said. “But we’re all very dedicated.”

Everything in the church, aside from perhaps preaching, is accomplished through volunteers. While some churches pay for youth ministers, social media coordinators, technology gurus and custodians, Whiteville Grove’s church family seemingly does it all pro bono.

The youth group is supervised by a team of devoted church members who act as teachers, chefs, parents and role models all at once.

The church congregation is a mix of residents from around the local area, Dail explained.

“We have a good little mix of Chowan and Perquimans residents, always have,” Dail said.

Walking through Whiteville Grove’s front doors, a guest could feel like they are walking into a home. A rustic, down-to-earth sanctuary awaits — one that seems even larger than it looks on the outside.

Dail’s sister, Linda White, pointed out some of the hallmarks of Whiteville Grove’s history.

“All of the craftsmanship was hand built by members and we still have our original wood ceilings in place,” White noted.

William Byrum was one of the members mentioned frequently by Dail and White. Byrum was a former principal of Perquimans County High School as well as school board chairman and frequent supply pastor, serving whenever clergy would leave the church.

In celebration of Byrum’s contributions, his name decorates a plaque that hangs over the new fellowship hall’s entryway.

Whiteville Grove’s sanctuary is an honest blend of modern and the traditional. The lyrics of the old hymns sung by the congregation are projected onto massive screens perched on either side of the auditorium’s back walls. Simple country church pews fill the rest of the space, giving it a charm often found in other chapels in rural Americana.

Near the hand-built pulpit, an old church attendance board hangs proudly, letting folks know who comes and who goes.

Just a few paces away lies an ornate Bible from 1902 that was dedicated to the church. It now rests open on a wood table, occasionally turned to the Christmas story during wintertime or the resurrection story at Easter. The book sprawls out nearly as wide as an original Webster’s Universal Dictionary.

The front door key to the church is an original too, its folding skeleton key design a hallmark of 19th century craftsmanship.

“A lot of originalism,” White said. “We don’t really throw anything away around here.”

The first addition to the church, delineated by floor patterns, was completed around 1960. Inside the pastor’s office are a pair of kitchen sinks — a reminder that the space once served as the church kitchen.

Outside, a row of rocking chairs lines the new back porch where some members of the church can often be found sitting together. The porch overlooks not just a swing set and basketball court for the church youth. It also overlooks a prayer garden and church cemetery, the latter nestled between a cotton field and a stand of pine trees.

“It’s a beautiful church,” White said. “A lot of churches like this no longer exist because they can’t function because of membership and finances. Here, it’s all volunteer. We have small numbers but they are very devoted members that keep it going.”

Whiteville Grove is inviting both current and past members to attend the church’s 170th homecoming celebration at 11 a.m. on Sunday. The event will feature catered food, good old-fashioned homemade desserts and fellowship.

Whiteville Grove Baptist Church is located at 373 Perry’s Bridge Road in Belvidere.

Tyler Newman can be reached via email at tnewman@apgenc.com.

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