History
The church is named for Charles Follen who was the first minister called by the church, in 1835. Follen served the congregation from 1835–1836 and from 1839-1840. Ralph Waldo Emerson was the interim minister of the congregation, then called the Second Congregational Society in Lexington, from 1836 to 1838. This was his last ministerial position.
Follen Church, built in 1839, is the oldest standing church building in Lexington. The unique octagonal sanctuary was designed by its first minister, Rev. Charles Follen.
On April 30, 1976, the church was added to the National Register of Historic Places as the Follen Community Church.
As of 2012, Follen church's most recent past minister is the Rev. Lucinda Duncan. The church has now entered an Interim period, with Rev. Cricket Potter and Rev. Tricia Brennan as Co-Ministers. The director of religious education is Deborah Zagaeski. Thomas Stumpf is director of music.
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Church steeple
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Memorial to Charles Follen in the churchyard
Read more about this topic: Follen Church Society-Unitarian Universalist
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The best history is but like the art of Rembrandt; it casts a vivid light on certain selected causes, on those which were best and greatest; it leaves all the rest in shadow and unseen.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)
“Bias, point of view, fury—are they ... so dangerous and must they be ironed out of history, the hills flattened and the contours leveled? The professors talk ... about passion and point of view in history as a Calvinist talks about sin in the bedroom.”
—Catherine Drinker Bowen (1897–1973)
“It takes a great deal of history to produce a little literature.”
—Henry James (1843–1916)