Staytonville Cemetery contains the remains of 70 early settlers of Sussex County. The burial site was owned by Revolutionary War veteran Nathaniel Hays (1744-1810) and served as a family burial plot until John W. Stayton donated it to the Methodist Church in 1840. Hays served in the 2nd Delaware Regiment under Colonel Henry Neill of Lewes and General George Washington, and his regiment was with the Continental Army at Camden, S.C. and Dobbs Ferry, New York in 1780. Hays' daughter, Rachael (1781-1807), is buried here with her husband, James B. Stayton (1775-1831), and other Stayton family members. Their son, Wm. Hayes Stayton, was one of the original trustees when the "Tea Town" Methodist Church-Episcopal Church was founded in February, 1841. The village name was changed in February, 1851 to Staytonville by the State Legislature. Members of the Webb, Clifton, Paradee, and Coates families are also buried here. A new wooden church was built on this site in 1873 and survived until October, 1954, when Hurricane Hazel destroyed it and it burned.