Right on this road to WELSH TRACT BAPTIST CHURCH, erected in 1746 as successor to the first Baptist church in Delaware, a log structure built in 1706. The congregation now belonging to the Primitive Baptist group, was organized in Wales in 1701. That year the members emigrated to America and in 1703 bought from William Penn a tract of 30,000 acres that has since been called Welsh Tract, about one-fourth of it lying in Cecil County, Md. The elevation of Iron Hill is said to have attracted them, and to this part of New Castle County the name Pencader Hundred was given; pencader is supposed to have meant "highest place" in the Welsh tongue. The present building is simple in line, one story in height, with a hipped roof, and is built of brick laid in Flemish-bond. The bricks are said to have been imported from England, unloaded in New Castle, and in panniers on muleback. The date is on a stone set into the top of the front wall. The present white[painted, brown-trimmed pews are of the 19th century. the oldest communion service consists of tow pewter plates and two pewter cups and saucers in used about 1830.
The yard is enclosed by a whitewashed stone wall built at various times from 1827 on and is shaded by huge old oaks growing just outside. A grassy lawn slopping down to the Christina Creek attracts picnickers on summer days. Across the road are whitewashed carriage sheds and the ancient little whitewashed stone house of the caretaker.
Some of the early 18th-century grave stones are rough-hewn from brown stone, and show the marks of the chipping tools. Celtic words are crudely lettered on them. A soldier of Oliver Cromwell's "Ironsides" regiment is supposed to be buried here. Visitors are told that the mother of Jefferson Davis is also buried here--an untrue but sturdy legend based apparently on a gravestone inscribed "Hannah Davis, died 1854, aged 71 years." Jefferson Davis's mother was Jane Cook Davis. However, his great-grandparents John and Anne Davis (or Davies), lived in this vicinity. -Delaware: A Guide to the First State, 1938, pg. 459.
The church is much as described in the Guide. The church is considered the oldest Primitive Baptist Church in America The church and cemetery are very well maintained. The church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973