Follen Community Church
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Follen Church is a historic
Unitarian Universalist Unitarian or Unitarianism may refer to: Christian and Christian-derived theologies A Unitarian is a follower of, or a member of an organisation that follows, any of several theologies referred to as Unitarianism: * Unitarianism (1565–present) ...
congregation located at 755 Massachusetts Avenue in
Lexington, Massachusetts Lexington is a suburban town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, located 10 miles (16 km) from Downtown Boston. The population was 34,454 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The area was originally inhabited by ...
, United States.


History

The church is named for
Charles Follen Charles (Karl) Theodor Christian Friedrich Follen (September 6, 1796 – January 13, 1840) was a Germans, German poet and patriot, who later moved to the United States and became the first professor of German language, German at Harvard Universi ...
who was the first minister called by the church, in 1835. Follen served the congregation from 1835 to 1836 and from 1839 to 1840.
Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, minister, abolitionism, abolitionist, and poet who led the Transcendentalism, Transcendentalist movement of th ...
was the minister of the congregation, then called the Christian Association of East 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
octagon In geometry, an octagon () is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, which alternates two types of edges. A truncated octagon, t is a ...
al sanctuary was designed by its first minister, Rev. Follen however he never preached in the sanctuary. He died en route to the dedication ceremony in a wreck at sea. It was named in his honor in 1885. On April 30, 1976, the church was added to the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
as the Follen Community Church. As of August 2013, Rev. Claire Feingold Thoryn has joined Follen as the church's settled minister. Beryl Aschenberg is the Director of Religious Education. Chris Eastburn is the Director of Music. Image:Follen Community Church steeple.jpg, Church steeple Image:Charles Follen memorial.jpg, Memorial to Charles Follen in the churchyard File:Follen Church Love and Justice.jpg, Follen Church parade float


See also

*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Middlesex County, Massachusetts This is a listing of places in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County in the U.S. state of Massachusetts that are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. With more than 1,300 listings, the county has more listings than a ...


References


External links


Follen Church Society website
Buildings and structures in Lexington, Massachusetts Churches in Middlesex County, Massachusetts Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Middlesex County, Massachusetts Octagonal churches in the United States Unitarian Universalist churches in Massachusetts {{Massachusetts-church-stub