History of the Project

Our New Home

WSP · Sep 14, 2025 ·

We’re thrilled to announce that the Witness Stones Project has officially joined Historic New England as the educational arm of its Stopping Stones program. We will be continuing the important work that we have done since 2017 and we welcome more opportunities to educate students throughout the country.

This collaboration marks a significant milestone in our shared efforts to commemorate the lives of enslaved individuals and teach their stories to a broader audience. As you know, the Witness Stones Project has placed more than three hundred memorial stones in seven states and developed an award-winning curriculum that engages students and communities in meaningful historical research. By joining forces with Historic New England and its Stopping Stones program, our work will not only continue but expand in reach and impact. The Stopping Stones initiative has already installed more than eighty markers across eight states, creating a network of remembrance that this new partnership will strengthen and grow.

Both Stopping Stones and the Witness Stones were inspired by Germany’s Stolpersteine project, which honors the memory of victims of the Holocaust. This shared foundation of place-based remembrance and public education makes our union a natural fit. Our combined efforts will ensure that the lives and legacies of enslaved people are recognized, remembered, and taught to future generations.

This new chapter will be led by a team with a deep personal connection to the work. Pat Wilson Pheanious, who served as the founding Chair and former Executive Director of the Witness Stones Project, will now lead the Stopping Stones program as its Director. A ninth-generation descendant of enslaved individuals in Guilford, Connecticut, Pat’s family history was among the first researched by the Witness Stones Project. Supported by Dr. Alissa Butler, the Director of the Study Center at Historic New England, Pat will work closely with Stopping Stones Assistant Director and Researcher Mikayla Harden and Liz Lightfoot, the Witness Stones Project’s former Director of Operations. In her new role as Stopping Stones School and Youth Program Manager, Liz will continue to use Witness Stones trademarked curriculum to work with schools and communities who wish to engage in a deep exploration of historical records and to tell the stories and celebrate the contributions of individuals their community had forgotten.

We want to assure you that this important work and your connection to it will continue. For our generous donors, your support has been instrumental, and we invite you to continue contributing to this mission by donating to Historic New England’s Stopping Stones program. For the schools, churches, and community organizations that have dedicated their time to this project, rest assured that your work is being preserved and will serve as a foundational part of our expanded efforts. And for the communities where we are currently working and will work in the future, the important research, education, and installations will proceed with the full backing of Historic New England’s resources.

Should you have any questions about this transition or the future of the project, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Pat Pheanious (ppheanious@historicnewengland.org), Mikayla Harden (mharden@historicnewengland.org), or Liz Lightfoot (llightfoot@historicnewengland.org).

We believe that our new home within Historic New England, a renowned institution dedicated to preservation and education, will ensure that our work remains strong, protected, and accessible to communities nationwide. Together, we will continue to work to gain a richer, more inclusive understanding of our shared history.

‘Cuffee Voorhees!’: Timberlane Students, Descendants, and Community Unite to Honor a Life Once Lost to History

WSP · Jun 6, 2025 ·

By Seth Siditsky on MercerMe.com on June 6, 2025

For more than a century, the life of Cuffee Voorhees—an enslaved man turned Union soldier—remained largely hidden from the historical record. But on Friday, Timberlane Middle School students, together with his descendants and community leaders, gave his story a place of honor in the Hopewell Valley.

The occasion was the district’s fourth annual Witness Stones Project ceremony, held at the historic Old School Baptist Meetinghouse in Hopewell Borough. Part solemn remembrance and part celebration, the event featured the unveiling of a brass Witness Stone plaque honoring Voorhees—soon to be installed in Hopewell Borough as a permanent public memorial.

“This year’s ceremony is another historic moment here in Hopewell,” said Timberlane Social Studies Supervisor Darren Lewan. “This is a day of redemption and hope.”

Learning Through Witness

The Witness Stones Project is a national initiative that helps students research and commemorate the lives of enslaved individuals in their own communities. Timberlane Middle School was the first school in New Jersey to join the program and has participated for four consecutive years—previously honoring Friday Truehart, Frost Blackwell, and Nance.

According to the student website, the goal is to “acknowledge the humanity and contributions of enslaved people throughout America” by creating personal narratives that restore voice and dignity to those long excluded from history. Students organize their research using the Five Themes of Slavery—paternalism, dehumanization, economics of slavery, treatment of the enslaved, and agency and resistance.

For Cuffee Voorhees, the students explored how he was dehumanized through the assignment of his first name and surname by his enslaver, Peter Voorhees; how paternalism framed even the act of emancipation in 1828; how Cuffee’s labor continued to enrich others after his freedom; and how he resisted through his service in the Civil War. They also examined how his wife Jane Voorhees sought justice after his tragic death—an act of agency met with legal indifference.

A Life Rediscovered

Among the student contributions was an essay by Timberlane eighth grader Caroline McCollum, centered around the history of Cuffee Voorhees and providing a look at his life in ways that most didn’t know before. Drawing on census records and historical newspapers, McCollum traced Voorhees’ story from slavery through freedom, military service, and his untimely death in 1873. She recounted how he was killed by a train while crossing a bridge with a team of mules, a tragedy she suggested may have been made worse by racial discrimination. Afterward, his wife Jane Voorhees appeared before a grand jury seeking justice—an extraordinary act in an era of entrenched racism and sexism. McCollum described Voorhees as a freedman, father, and veteran who served the Union cause and endured the racism of the time, noting that although his death was tragic, “his impact was not.”

Voorhees’ name, long missing from traditional textbooks, now stands as a symbol of memory and recognition, thanks to the research and storytelling of Timberlane students.

Tracing a Family Line

Among those hearing his full story were members of Voorhees’ own family. Wanda McNeill, a descendant who lives in Ewing, described how family genealogy, aided by DNA tools, led them to an 1880 census showing that her ancestor William Voorhees was the son of Cuffee and Jane Voorhees. “In 1870 they were living in Pennington. Unbelievable,” she said. The revelation, and subsequent discoveries about Cuffee’s life and death, brought long-sought clarity—but also new questions.

“We still don’t know how he made a way out of no way,” McNeill said. “But we can remember that he lived here, he loved, he struggled… and he contributed to this place that we still call home.”

Andrea Moody, another descendant, told the audience, “My family and I are of Mr. Cuffee Voorhees’ DNA. We are kind, good-hearted, faithful, hard-working, appreciative, fun-loving, talented, educated people.” She called the ceremony a “factual, fascinating story that shall carry on in our families forever,” and closed her remarks by asking the crowd to join her in saying his name aloud—twice, and loudly: “Cuffee Voorhees!”

Art and Music Add Depth

The emotional power of the day was heightened by the students’ original art and music. One piece, a mixed-media collage by eighth grader Ada Akinti, used layered pastels and cut paper to reflect the piecing together of Cuffee’s story through fragments of records and imagination. “I made it my goal to embody Cuffee’s story that has yet to be revealed,” Akinti said, “even if we never find all the details of his life.”

The Timberlane choir, directed by Dr. Lynnel Joy Jenkins, performed a stirring medley titled “Can You Hear Freedom Calling,” followed by a hopeful, harmony-rich rendition of Bill Withers’ “Lovely Day.” Introducing the song, students Parker Hamilton and Layla Arbanas reminded the audience that while slavery’s story is painful, this project is about reclaiming stolen identities and building a better world. “By honoring these people,” they said, “we hope to make the world a better place. When this happens, it will finally be a lovely day.”

A Commitment to Truth

The event also drew leaders from across Hopewell Valley. Hopewell Borough Mayor Ryan Kennedy, speaking on behalf of Pennington and Hopewell Township, praised the students for choosing to share their research with the broader public. He told them future generations would not only reflect on their work but see it “set in stone forever.”

Superintendent Dr. Rosetta Treece closed the ceremony with a strong affirmation of the district’s commitment to truth-telling in education. “If we forget these stories again,” she said, “we’re destined to repeat the ills of the past. So we’re going to continue to teach real history in this school district.”

Treece also recognized Dennis Culliton, co-founder of the national Witness Stones Project, who is retiring this year. She credited local historians Elaine Buck and Beverly Mills for bringing the initiative to Hopewell, and expressed deep gratitude to Culliton for helping make the district the first in New Jersey to participate. “You’re always a Bulldog,” she told him, “and I hope you stay in touch.”

A Lasting Impression

As the program drew to a close, Timberlane Principal Chris Turnbull reflected on the day’s emotional arc. “You take a moment like this,” he said, “and it just… fills your soul again.”

Inside the Meetinghouse, the brass Witness Stone bearing Cuffee Voorhees’ name was unveiled for everyone to see. Though not yet installed, the plaque represents a permanent commitment to remembering his life—and the lives of others once omitted from the record. No longer just a footnote in scattered documents, thanks to work by the 8th graders at Timberlane, his story will soon stand in Hopewell—remembered, reclaimed, and honored.

Two Enslaved Longmeadow Residents Remembered

WSP · Jun 5, 2025 ·

Brass plaques set in the lawn outside First Church of Christ in Longmeadow to remember two enslaved people from the 1700s.
Reminder Publishing photos by Sarah Heinonen

by Sarah Heinonen in The Reminder on June 4, 2025

LONGMEADOW — In 2024, the Longmeadow community remembered two enslaved people who lived and died in the town. Two stone markers, inscribed with the names of Phillis and Peter and information about their lives, were embedded in the ground in front of the First Church of Christ. On May 29, the lives of two more enslaved people were honored with their own stones.

The Witness Stones Project is a middle school curriculum created by Dennis Culliton that teaches students how to research and honor people enslaved in the United States. Culliton was inspired by Stolpersteine, brass plaques set into the pavement in front of the last address of people known to have been murdered in the Holocaust. Like many who died in the Holocaust, there are few stone grave markers to remember the resting places of enslaved people.

In Longmeadow, The Witness Stones Project is a collaboration between First Church of Christ of Longmeadow, the Historical Society and Longmeadow Public Schools. While last year’s Witness Stones were paid for with a Mass Humanities grant, this year’s project was funded by the Longmeadow Educational Endowment Fund.

Teachers at Williams Middle School led their seventh graders in researching the lives of the two enslaved people by using primary sources, such as census and church records, private letters and diary entries. Rev. Stephen Williams, Longmeadow’s first minister and the person for whom Williams Street is named, was Nicholas and Peter’s slaveholder. He was meticulous in keeping a diary, providing fertile research material for students three centuries later.

Nicholas was the first person known to be enslaved in Longmeadow, while Peter was the last. They, along with Phillis and Peter, are only four of the 16 individuals known to be enslaved by Williams and several other influential families in colonial Longmeadow during the 18th and 19th centuries.

First Church of Christ vocalists Wycliffe Acquah and John Thomas sing “Wade in the Water” during the Witness Stones Project ceremony. Reminder Publishing photos by Sarah Heinonen

Various students read information about Peter and Nicholas and a poem expressing the emotions they may have felt. Nicholas was a child, thought to be about 8 years old and separated from any family. Williams began writing about Nicholas less than a year before selling him in 1718. In that time, Williams’ diary entries showed that Nicholas was an ill child that Williams thought of as lazy and disobedient. Williams wrote that he sold Nicholas “to a master that would keep him to business,” which Melissa Cybulski, Historical Society member and liaison for the Witness Stones Project, said was a reference to the child’s next enslaver, delivering even more harsh, physical abuse.

Williams wrote about Peter beginning in 1750. In that year, he attempted to escape captivity but was caught and put in prison before Williams again took ownership of him. He worked in Williams’ home, Longmeadow fields and Williams’ farm in Somers. Williams included Peter in his will as property, to be split between two of his sons. In 1773, Peter successfully escaped his bondage. An advertisement seeking Peter’s return shared that he was in his 30s, literate and played the fiddle. These details reflect more of the person that Peter was than any of Williams’ diary entries.

“This history is in danger of being forgotten,” First Church of Christ Reverend Doug Bixby said of the lives of enslaved people in New England. Bixby said the ceremony honoring Nicholas and Peter was designed to remember the enslaved with “humility, honor and respect.”

The school chorus sang “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” often referred to as the Black national anthem. Two church vocalists, Wycliffe Acquah and John Thomas, sang “Wade in the Water,” a traditional spiritual. Bixby noted that the song is thought to have had a coded meaning for those escaping captivity to travel through water to obscure their scent trail from dogs.

The students and those who had gathered for the event moved out to the church’s lawn, where flowers were placed by the witness stones of Peter and Nicholas, set in the ground next to those of Phillis and Peter. The church is raising money to install a plaque explaining the significance of the witness stones. After the ceremony, attendees were invited to view the students’ art projects, exploring the lives of Peter and Nicholas. The mediums ranged from posters and two-dimensional art to models and shadow boxes.

Former Connecticut state Rep. Patricia Wilson Pheanious, whose ancestors were among the first to be remembered by the Witness Stones Project, addressed the students. “You resurrected their lives,” she said, adding that what they had learned about Peter and Nicholas were “stories of resilience [and] bravery.” As a wider lesson for the students and those who attended the event, she said, “Inclusive knowledge of our history can only strengthen and heal us.”