I was on the Parish Board when the question came up of whether to sell the Follen silver to raise money, I think to pay off the mortgage we had at the time in preparation for some construction. This was some time between 2008 and 2011. There was thought that the silver might have some real value since it was old. And we weren’t using it; it was kept in an often-unlocked closet in the upstairs bathroom of the church offices and classrooms before the new addition was built. There were bowls, plates, and communion cups.

We enlisted a broker — I think it was Sotheby’s — to prepare for the sale. We already knew that we got the silver from First Parish when Follen was founded. At that time (1830s), a new parish could not be started without permission of the Town Meeting and then the Mass. legislature. And when a new parish was founded, the old one needed to share some of its income and property , which in this case included some silver.

What Sotheby’s found was that First Parish gave us some of their old silver. Apparently they had some nicer new silver. But of course over time, the old stuff got more valuable. Sotheby’s also found a story from the Battle of Lexington. When the word came that the British were coming, the women of the parish hid the silver in a haystack so the Redcoats couldn’t find it. So we got the old silver that survived the battle due to the quick thinking of the women!

Thankfully, the silver got a good price (over $200,000 as I remember), and it stayed in town. The Lexington Historical Society bought it and some of it is on display at the Depot in the new exhibition.

—Walter L.