The Last of the “Three Brothers”

Across the drive from the southwest corner of the Churchyard wall stands the last of a trio of White Oak trees (Quercus Alba). In 2014, one of the two remaining trees was cut down; the growth rings of the stump were counted indicating that the tree was approximately 375 years old. William Black, a parishioner, stated that given its age, the tree would have qualified as a “William Penn Tree,” signifying that it was alive when Pennsylvania was founded by William Penn in 1682.

This last white oak witnessed life before the arrival of the first fifteen families from Radnorshire, Wales, when members of the Lenni Lenape tribe roamed the woods. It saw the building of a log church and witnessed its burning down. In 1714 it watched as the Radnor Church congregation built “a handsome stone church” for its missionary, The Rev. John Clubb. For more than 300 years, it has watched over its community of worshipers and celebrated 174 years of the St. David’s Country Fair.

St. David’s Witness Tree located across from the sheds

“This white oak is the last of the ‘Three Brothers” which has witnessed the life of St. David’s Church built in 1714. 2024”