To the editor:
A small article appeared in this newspaper last week promoting the Country Store that is held each year in the Lynnfield Meeting House. I would like to add more details to the story.
In the early 1960s, the Lynnfield Historical Society was assigned the stewardship of the old fire station on the Common by Lynnfield Town Meeting. This saved what is the third oldest Puritan meeting house in Massachusetts from destruction. The society assumed full responsibility for the costs to return the building to its historical appearance. In 1964, amid the construction, the society organized a simple Country Store as a way of showing off its progress to the town and to raise money to pay for the restoration. The event was so popular, that the society ran this event uninterrupted until 2019. Over the years, my family, along with many other townsfolk, was very involved. My parents co-chaired the Country Store for 12 years. Everyone had a wonderful time.
Unfortunately, during a one-year pause in 2020 due to the COVID crisis, the Town of Lynnfield chose to take control of the Meeting House. In the summer of 2021, the town refused to schedule the society’s annual event for its usual date in December, choosing instead to run its own copy of the Country Store. In 2022, the town allowed a newly formed organization, Historic Lynnfield, with close connections to the town’s Historical Commission, to take over the popular tradition, and has continued to exclude the society from its traditional fundraiser. At the same time, a former member of the society took control of the society’s Facebook page and renamed it Historic Lynnfield. It is very sad to view this pirated information and see decades-old photos of my parents and other hard-working members of the Historical Society now mislabeled as Historic Lynnfield. Why would anyone do this?
I have no issue with the creation of a new historical organization in town. I honestly wish them well. But I do hope that this organization engages in some creative new ventures rather than simply appropriating the activities and successes of the Lynnfield Historical Society. Let me remind the reader that the society is alive and prospering. It welcomes everyone to its meetings and events.
Sincerely,
Richard Foulds, Ph.D.
Langhorne, Pa.
