OLD ST. ANNE'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH erected in 1768 and well preserved as one of the most prized old church buildings in Delaware. Shaded by great oaks, it is a plain brick structure with no external ornament except a cove cornice carried horizontally across the gable ends under a strip of shingles, and a handsome fan window at the altar end. The small entrance porch is a later addition. The altar and white[painted box pews with doors are characteristic of the period, as is the unpainted slave gallery, divided into stalls and built along the sides. The ivy on the exterior walls has grown from plants said to have been brought from England by Bishop Doane. One of the oaks "Old St. Anne's Oak," measure 17 feet in girth and is believed to be 300 years old.
A treasured possession of the church is a small piece of a communion-table cover embroidered with the silk letters "A R" (Anne Regina, presented by Queen Anne of England to the original "congregation of Appoquinimy" in 1705, when a log church was built here or nearby. Also belonging to Old St. Anne's is a silver beaker made by Johannes Nys of Philadelphia between 1700 and 1723, the only such vessel he is known to have made, and a silver paten and chalice given to the church in 1759.
The annual Old St. Anne's Sunday celebration is typical of other old country church services in Delaware. Automobiles have replaced double carriages as conveyances for the families attending, but one important feature of the day is unchanged:the eating of picnic lunches on the lawn. Food includes deviled crabs, fried chicken, potato salad, pies and cakes in profusion.
Here, as at other outposts of the Church of England in Colonial days, the first priests were missionaries sent out by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. The Rev. Thomas Jenkins, the first missionary sent to St. Anne's, went there fearing "the rage and scorn of ... those numerous crowd of Heathen called Quakers," but fell a victim to more deadly enemies. As a fellow priest reported in 1709; "Poor brother Jenkins at Apoquinimy was baited to death by musquitoes and blood thirsty Gal Knippers, which would not let him rest night nor day till he got a fever, came to Philadelphia, and died immediately. These places must be served by itinerants, and it is hardly possible for anybody to abide there, that is not born there, till he is musquito proof." The first really settled minister was the Rev. Philip Reading who came in 1746 and survived both the mosquitoes and the buzzing of Revolutionary hornets about his loyal Tory head until his death in 1778. He is buried near the south entrance to the churchyard.
Regular services were discontinued in 1872 and a new church, also called St. Anne's, was built in the nearby center of Middletown. -Delaware: A Guide to the First State, 1938, pg. 463-465.
The historic church was restored to its original condition in 1952. The church is used mostly for weddings and funerals. The parish also conducts special services in the old church at different times throughout the year. The church and its surrounding cemetery are well maintained by the parish.