But its 39-acre compound\u2014which includes the churchyard, a small creek, fairgrounds, and arboretum\u2014extends across Delaware and Chester counties. The parish\u2019s history also intersects with the birth of the United States and the Episcopal Church.<\/p>\n
At the dawn of the American Revolution, \u201ca rapidly swelling wave of resentment against the Church of England arose among the patriots of the congregation,\u201d St. David\u2019s website notes. One of those patriots was Anthony Wayne, who was named after his grandfather, who emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1723. Like his grandfather<\/a>, Wayne served on the vestry. Before the war, he was a member of the Pennsylvania legislature.<\/p>\n In 1779, Wayne led<\/a> George Washington\u2019s Continental Army in the Battle of Stony Point, a key British outpost. Determined to capture the position or die trying, according<\/a> to one account, Wayne and his 1,200 men succeeded in what is regarded as one of the major general\u2019s greatest victories. Washington later appointed him commander of the U.S. Army in 1792.<\/p>\n Wayne died four years later, in 1796, while on an inspection tour of army outposts near Fort Presque Isle in Erie, Pennsylvania. Although he was originally buried elsewhere at his request, his remains were later reinterred in St. David\u2019s churchyard. Present-day visitors often leave tokens at the obelisk marking<\/a> his grave.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople would come in and leave coins, or like a little Mad Anthony Wayne stone,\u201d said Natalee Hill, the parish\u2019s director of communications, referring to the \u201cMad Anthony\u201d nickname Wayne earned because of his fiery temperament and military exploits.<\/p>\n Overlooking and only a few arm\u2019s lengths from the original parish built more than three centuries ago, the historic churchyard of St. David\u2019s has drawn visitors interested in Revolutionary War history. Marianne Cook, a parishioner for the past 50 years, leads St. David\u2019s archives and history committee, which has produced numerous booklets about the parish and its early parishioners.<\/p>\n Cook said the habit of creating such materials eventually led to a self-guided audio tour<\/a> of the churchyard, where visitors can explore 22 significant landmarks and gravesites, including those of Revolutionary War figures like Wayne.<\/p>\n The walk-through is one of the church\u2019s events commemorating America\u2019s 250th anniversary. Visitors taking part in the audio tour, which is scheduled to open to the public on May 17, will learn not only about Wayne, but also about his grandfather and relatives.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was a man of God who believed that to be true to his ordination vow he must pray for the King,\u201d listeners hear after activating a QR code placed on a stake. \u201cWhen members of the Radnor Church objected, he stepped aside from officiating at services. Rev. Currie\u2019s struggle was an indication of the troubled times.\u201d Radnor Church was St. David\u2019s earlier name.<\/p>\n In a history of Currie prepared by Michael Merritt and Cook, readers learn that the Scottish missionary supported the establishment of a militia and preached a sermon titled \u201cThe Lawfulness of Defensive War.\u201d In 1784, Currie represented St. David\u2019s at a meeting convened by the Rev. Dr. William White that established the Diocese of Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n The following year, the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States was established and held its first General Convention in Philadelphia. The 1785 convention authorized the preparation of an American prayer book. For less than a year White served<\/a> as the first presiding bishop, succeeded by Presiding Bishop Samuel Seabury.<\/p>\n The tour\u2019s 22 stops closely align with the story of the parish, now the largest of the Diocese of Pennsylvania\u2019s 157 parishes. The church website also features a page dedicated to the walk-through, allowing visitors to read the history connected to each stop.<\/p>\n The tour begins<\/a> in an area containing the oldest graves in the churchyard, predating the 1715 church building. Following the map prepared by the archives and history committee, the next stop is the main entrance gate, or lychgate<\/a>, a prominent feature in English church architecture.<\/p>\n The lychgate was restored in 2013 using lumber from an early 19th-century barn.<\/p>\n Richard Mammana, archivist of The Living Church and a member of the Association for Gravestone Studies<\/a>, is a leader in the online tapophile community, a term describing people with a deep appreciation for cemeteries, gravestones, and the stories they hold.<\/p>\n He said the history of parishes in this part of Pennsylvania will likely receive greater attention as Philadelphia prepares for the nation\u2019s 250th-anniversary celebrations. Mammana said the tour developed by Cook and her fellow volunteers is a creative and engaging way of sharing parish history.<\/p>\n The Old Sentinel Tree<\/a>, one of the trees used by Washington\u2019s army as a watchtower during encampments near Valley Forge and the Radnor Piquet, is featured at stop No. 4.<\/p>\n \u201cChurchyards have also become understood as green oases where congregations support permanent undeveloped space that is a haven for birds and other wildlife, or forms of vegetation threatened by urban encroachment,\u201d Mammana told TLC, speaking positively about the parish\u2019s efforts to highlight the historic trees under its stewardship.<\/p>\n Cook, who has served on the committee for 11 years, purchased the iron stakes holding the plaques that mark each stop of what Hill describes as a \u201cwalk through living history.\u201d Elliot VanHoy, a pastoral associate who works with the committee, said the group\u2019s passion for parish history has helped him and other parishioners feel part of something larger.<\/p>\n \u201cThat we are part of a lineage of people in this area and in this country who have wrestled with questions of God, of community, of what the present moment demands of us,\u201d VanHoy said.<\/p>\n Cook, reflecting on the significance not only of the new initiative but of the larger mission of telling St. David\u2019s story, noted that when White convened the meeting that founded the diocese, Currie was not the only representative present; senior warden Richard Willing was there as well.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have played a part from the beginning of the Episcopal Church in America. We have a story to tell,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Both Hill and Cook also pointed out that this is especially relevant in an age of deep political polarization<\/a>.<\/p>\n On the parish\u2019s \u201cAbout Us\u201d page is a line describing the church\u2019s role during the Revolutionary War, which claimed<\/a> thousands of lives: 6,800 Americans killed in battle, 17,000 dead from disease, and 24,000 British casualties.<\/p>\n \u201cThe church building provided shelter for soldiers of both sides,\u201d the website reads.<\/p>\n According to the committee\u2019s historical records, Wayne sat in the second pew from the altar on the left-hand side when the parish building held a maximum of 125 people. Worshipping in the same parish was Judge William Moore, a prominent Loyalist at the start of the Revolution.<\/p>\n \u201cSo you think about these people all being together, fighting each other in a war,\u201d Cook said. \u201cIt\u2019s remarkable to think about.\u201d<\/p>\n The churchyard helps bring to life stories tied to America\u2019s history, Hill said. Echoing Cook\u2019s sentiment, she noted the impact the site can have on visitors, who can imagine a time when St. David\u2019s was a place \u201cwhere people stood on both sides, on all sides of what was happening and worshipped together and are buried together.\u201d<\/p>\n Moore and his wife, Lady Williamina, were also buried<\/a> at St. David\u2019s. Their graves mark stop No. 15. Three stops later, visitors arrive at Wayne\u2019s grave.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Anthony_Wayne_1745\u20131796-255x300.jpg\")
A portrait of Major Gen. Anthony Wayne by Edward Savage | Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Graveyard-Tour-Map-791x1024-1.jpg\"){kind=spacer}
At stop No. 12, visitors encounter<\/a> the grave of the Rev. William Currie, located just outside the chancel window of the old parish.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/IMG_6360_Preview-100x100.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n