CARROLL COUNTY — The family of Calvary Baptist Church of Carroll County will mark 135 years Sunday at a special homecoming celebration beginning at 10:30 a.m.
The Rev. Mark Nail of Tupelo will speak, followed by dinner on the grounds.
A large pavilion is ready for the loads of food that will be brought and shared with an expected church full of people. Wayne Nail, whose grandfather, Joseph Lafayette Lott, was one of the early pastors, says the church has meant much to his family, the Nails and the Lotts, as well as many other families whose names are reflected in the large church cemetery.
Located in the Carroll County woods, just 12 miles south of Grenada, the church, begun in 1878, is still an active one, with about 40 members who come regularly, Mary Nail said.
Many improvements have been made since its beginning, when Rev. W.T. Talbert of Grenada rode a mule out into the Calvary Community and held a revival in an old vacant building near where the cemetery is located, and organized a Missionary Baptist Church with 17 charter members.
Soon after that, the church joined the Yalobusha County Baptist Association, and later in 1919, the Carroll County Baptist Association, now the Carroll-Montgomery Baptist Association, to which it still belongs.
The church’s cemetery is older than the church itself – begun in 1850, when Isabel Bailey Heath died and was buried.
The church has had five buildings, one of which was burned due to a church squabble over doctrine, according to a history of the church. The current building has stood since 1939, and an addition was made to it in 1955. Three years ago, members added a steeple, a front porch and kitchen and carpeted the sanctuary.
The pavilion was built eight years ago, and Wayne Nail said people still like to stand around tables and eat.
Nail said he can remember before the days of air conditioning, when windows would be open, and some people would stand outside during the services.
“Grandpa (Joe Lott), who was also a state legislator for four years, would ask them if they were going to listen to the service or not, and to be quiet,” Nail said.
He also remembers the pot-bellied stove used in winter.
Nail’s grandfather pastored for 35 years and baptized and married many people, the church history says. Other pastors besides Talbert and Lott were A.C. Mason (1884-1890), Professor Bean (1890-1892), David E. Windham (1892-1901), J.M. Corley (1936-1954), W.M. Hull (1954-1986), Levon Hatten (1987-2005) and the current pastor, William “Bud” Vance.
