Witness Stones Project, Inc.

Restoring History & Honoring Humanity

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Town of Old Lyme Honors 16 More Lives Once Enslaved in Community

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By Jolie Sherman NBC Connecticut on

Historians are remembering the lives of those who were enslaved in Old Lyme.

Now, 30 brass plaques known as Witness Stones can be found along Lyme Street and McCurdy Road as a way to recognize both enslaved African and Native Americans and sites of enslavement in Old Lyme.

According to Witness Stones Old Lyme, more than 200 African and Native Americans were brought over to the town of Lyme between 1670 and 1820, which then included Lyme, Old Lyme and parts of East Lyme and Salem. Continue reading.

Witness Stones Old Lyme Installs 16 Additional Plaques Marking Enslavement Sites

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Frederick Douglass Knowles II will read his poem “Shoots of Plants Blooming in Spring” at the Witness Stones Old Lyme Installation Ceremony.

On LymeLine.com on June 3, 2022

OLD LYME – The Old Lyme Witness Stones Project is installing 16 new Witness Stones—historical plaques commemorating the lives of enslaved and indentured African Americans and Native Americans, who labored in the historic town of Lyme. The plaques will be placed on Lyme St. and McCurdy Rd. in Old Lyme. Continue reading.

Witness Stones Project Installation Ceremony Honoring the Forgotten in Old Lyme

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Friday, June 3, 2022
10:00 a.m.
Hosted by Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School at
The Old Lyme-Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library
2 Library Lane, Old Lyme, Connecticut

 

The community is invited to gather on the Lawn of the Old Lyme Library to celebrate the second installation of Witness Stones on Lyme Street, extending this year to McCurdy Road. The program will include music, poetry, and words from community partners and guest speakers. World-renowned soprano Lisa Williamson and acclaimed saxophonist and U.S. Coast Guard Band conductor Richard Wyman will provide music. Twelve members of the Old Lyme Middle School chorus, led by Laura Ventres, will also contribute to the program.  Seventh-grade students from the Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School will read biographical poems they wrote to tell the life stories of Harry Freeman and Margaret Crosley Lewia. Using primary documents, the students researched these two enslaved town residents, making the story of local slavery tangible, personal, and relevant to their own lives.

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