Front of McColleys Chapel in Sussex County, Delaware in February 2015
The property consists of a single-story church facing east-northeast, surrounded by a cemetery.[2] The church proper is a simple wood-framed gabled structure covered in asphalt shingles, with a chancel projecting from the back and a brick chimney applied to the south side.[2] The facade features an open pediment in the gable and a pair of windows flanking the central entrance, with a wooden sign over the door; each side also has three tall, narrow double-hung windows, with a smaller window on either side of the chancel.[2] The interior is fitted with box pews flanking a center aisle, and a pulpit and altar, also aligned with the center line of the building. The chancel opening has plain casing surmounted by a pediment; the back wall of the altar area is ornamented by column casing supporting a dentilarchitrave.[2]
The cemetery contains burials from 1860 up to 2007.[2] Some plots are surrounded by iron railings; older tombstones are generally of marble and are hard to read. Many of the stones have elaborate low relief, but some stone are simple obelisks.[2]
History
It is the second church building on land donated by James Rudden in 1857.[2] The first church was built by Trustan P. McColley and was named after him; it was the oldest Methodist church in Georgetown Hundred.[2][3] This building fell into disrepair and was destroyed in a fire sometime in the late 1890s. The second building was built in 1898.[2]As of 2013[update] the church was used for services and was under the Peninsula-Delaware Conference of the United Methodist Church.[4]
