McColl First Baptist Church

This Neoclassical church stands on Main Street in the Marlboro County town of McColl. Built in 1916, its roots go back to the eighteenth century when Welsh Baptists relocated to the banks of the Pee Dee River from Delaware and Pennsylvania. By 1738, the group had organized Welsh Neck Baptist Church. That congregation is still thriving, though the church now stands in Society Hill. The original settlement on the Pee Dee River, known as Welsh Neck, is no longer extant.

Welsh Neck Baptist Church was the mother church of several nearby Baptist congregations in what was known as the Cheraws District in the mid-to-late 1700s. The Cheraws District encompassed present-day Darlington, Chesterfield, and Marlboro counties. Records show that the McColl First Baptist Church was organized as early as 1768. It was likely influenced by the spread of the Baptist denomination by the Welsh Baptists of the Cheraws District during this time. The congregation of McColl First Baptist Church continues to be an active part of the McColl community.