Parishioners in a Nova Scotia community are celebrating the reopening of their 250-year-old church, which has been painstakingly restored after being gutted by fire in 2001.

They gathered at St. John's Anglican Church in Lunenburg on Sunday for a rededication ceremony and the first service in nearly four years.

On Halloween Night in 2001, arsonists set fire to the wooden building that had stood in the centre of town since 1754.

The old Lunenburg church in 2001.
The old Lunenburg church in 2001.

The blaze destroyed most the contents and half of the building, which had been designated a national historic site as the second-oldest Anglican church in Canada.

Scenes of the destruction sparked a fundraising campaign for its restoration, which cost a total of $6.7 million.

Edward Ryder's father served as rector of the church.
Edward Ryder's father served as rector of the church.

"Our donations have come from right across the country," Jim Eisenhauer, a member of the restoration committee, told CBC News.

"We had an outpouring of financial support before the fire cooled, money was flowing and supporting the idea that we could raise the money to accomplish what's here today."

Firefighters who rescued the altar from the flames carried it back into the church for Sunday's service.

They also managed to save some original pews, but many of the stained-glass windows needed restoration.

Edward Ryder, whose father served as rector of the church from 1925 until 1950, said he couldn't believe how good the restored church looked.

"It's beautiful, it is beautiful. ... When she burned up, I cried like a baby," he said.

"And then when I went in the other day, I couldn't get over it."

Neither could 97-year-old Florence Hewat, the oldest member of the congregation.

"The bells were beautiful, and it was just such a wonderful experience," she said.

Hewat had been coming to services at the church every week since she was married there in 1931.

"It was part of your life," she said. "I just took it as a matter of course, just like eating or daily life. It was a tradition."