Students from Suffield Academy shared their research on Barbara and Lewis Butler at the April 2023 meeting of the Suffield Historical Society. They share their presentation slides here.
Stonington Middle School Students Honor Life of Enslaved Man
Stonington Installation Ceremony Program
Ceremony in Rye Honors Memory of Enslaved People Once Forced to Work in Hudson Valley
By Lee Danuff on News12 New Jersey on April 28, 2023
A historic ceremony was held to honor the memory of enslaved people who were once forced to work in the Hudson Valley.
Local and state leaders showed up for a special stone installation at the Knapp House in Rye Thursday. Continue reading.
Stonington School Project Tells the History of Enslaved Local Man
Cuff was a member of the church, also known as the First Congregational Church, and married Flora Palmer there in 1820.
“This was a project that took weeks and weeks, but I think it was really important to have the opportunity to think and learn about slavery in a very local type of way, because I think it can be hard to really empathize people when all you see are statistics,” said eighth grade student Solana Thagnabouth. Continue reading.
Honoring Rose and Jack in Rye, New York
On April 27, 2023, students from the School of the Holy Child and the Rye Historical Society gathered the community to share the stories of Rose and Jack to place Witness Stones in their memory.
Students from School of the Holy Child
Students from School of the Holy Child with Faculty Member Kathleen Glatthaar Lozano
Students from School of the Holy Child with Head of School Colleen Pettus
Witness Stones Project Executive Director Dennis Culliton with Former Rye Historical Society Executive Director Sheri Jordan
Alison Relyea from the Rye Historical Society
School of the Holy Child Head of School Colleen Pettus, Holy Child History Faculty Member Kathleen Gltthaar Lozano, and Witness Stones Project Executive Director Dennis Culliton
NY State Senator Shelley Mayer with Holy Child Students
Installation Ceremony
Witness Stones
NY State Senator Shelley Mayer with Holy Child Students
NY State Senator Shelley Mayer with Holy Child Students
Holy Child Students with History Faculty Member Kathleen Glatthaar Lozano
Holy Child Students
Holy Child Students after the installation
Holy Child Head of School Colleen Pettus with students and family
Holy Child Students after the installation
Witness Stones Project Advisor, Historian and Genealogist Teresa Vega
Installation Ceremony
School of the Holy Child Head of School Colleen Pettus
Lisa Irvin on behalf of New York State Assemblyman Steven Otis
Witness Stones Project Executive Director Dennis Culliton
Researcher Pam McGuire
Witness Stones Project Advisor, Historian and Genealogist Teresa Vega
Holy Child Students
Holy Child Students
NY State Senator Shelley Mayer
The Reverend Tim Wiggins
Witness Stones Project Installation Ceremony
Students from School of the Holy Child gathered the community to honor the lives to Rose and Jack. We invite you to watch the ceremony here.
Witness Stones Project Receives CT Cultural Fund Operating Support Grant from CT Humanities
The Witness Stones Project was recently awarded a $6900 CT Cultural Fund Operating Support Grant from CT Humanities (CTH). CT Cultural Fund Operating Support Grants assist organizations as they recover from the pandemic and maintain and grow their ability to serve their community and the public.
Witness Stones Project Co-Founder and Executive Director Dennis Culliton says that the CT Cultural Fund Grant will enhance the Witness Stones Project’s ability to serve all interested communities across the state, regardless of the local resources.
The Witness Stones Project was one of 723 organizations in Connecticut receiving a CT Cultural Fund Operating Support Grant. Totaling more than $8.5M, these grants are part of a two-year, $30.7M investment in arts, humanities, and cultural nonprofits by the CT General Assembly and approved by Governor Ned Lamont.
This CT Cultural Fund Operating Support Grant is provided to the Witness Stones Project from CT Humanities, with funding from the Connecticut State Department of Economic and Community Development/Connecticut Office of the Arts (COA) from the Connecticut State Legislature.
CT Humanities (CTH) is an independent, nonprofit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. CTH connects people to the humanities through grants, partnerships, and collaborative programs. CTH projects, administration, and program development are supported by state and federal matching funds, community foundations, and gifts from private sources. Learn more by visiting cthumanities.org.
The Connecticut Office of the Arts (COA) is the state agency charged with fostering the health of Connecticut’s creative economy. Part of the state’s Department of Economic and Community Development, the COA is funded by the State of Connecticut and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Bearing Witness at Wayside Cottage
By Todd Sliss in the Scarsdale Inquirer on April 6, 2023
History doesn’t change. What we learn about history does and how we view it over time certainly evolves. And while some people and groups are trying to bury history, others are trying to unearth it.
The Junior League of Central Westchester (JLCW), a nonprofit educational women’s volunteer organization based out of the Wayside Cottage in Scarsdale since taking stewardship of the historic house in 1953, has partnered with Witness Stones Project to uncover the true history of the people who called the Cottage home.
Witness Stones Project (www.witnessstonesproject.org) was founded by now-retired schoolteacher Dennis Culliton, who initially was looking for a way to educate his students in Guilford, Connecticut, about the local history of slavery. Witness Stones Project was inspired by Stolpersteine in Germany, which has put over 70,000 stones in the ground where Jewish people were last known to live or work freely prior to the Holocaust. Continue reading.
If Stones Could Talk
Witness Stones Chair delivered the Palm Sunday Sermon at the First Congregational Church of Woodstock. We invite you to watch here.
