#WestchesterCoNY

The Witness Stones Project, a nonprofit educational initiative whose mission is to restore the history and honor the humanity of the enslaved individuals who helped build our communities, today announced a new partnership with the Junior League of Central Westchester. The nonprofit educational women’s volunteer organization based in Scarsdale, New York, will be using the Project’s research, curriculum, and landscape markers to help uncover, share, and memorialize the history of the enslaved individuals who lived at the League’s eighteenth-century museum and headquarters, the Wayside Cottage.

The Wayside Cottage was gifted to the Village of Scarsdale by Emily Butler in 1919. In 1953, the League was chosen as the steward of the property. For decades, the League has hosted education programming for Scarsdale students and the general community at the Cottage. The League’s leadership and members are now working toward telling a more complete history of the house that includes the enslavement during the 18th century of a woman named Rose and her children. Witness Stones Project Advisor Teresa Vega, an historian and genealogist, will be leading the efforts to recover and document the history of Rose and her descendants.

League President Danielle Marino says that the organization is “eager to begin its work with the Witness Stones Project.” She notes that, “Miss Butler donated the cottage for ‘the use of educational and historical purpose, for fostering a public and democratic spirit in the community and providing a center for civic welfare.’ Accurately sharing Rose’s story allows us to more deeply fulfill that mission.”

Those interested in learning more about the Junior League and their work with the Witness Stones Project are invited to contact the League’s Alison Park at WaysideTours@JLCentralWestchester.org.

The Junior League of Central Westchester: The Junior League of Central Westchester (JLCW) is an organization of women whose mission is to advance women’s leadership for meaningful community impact through volunteer action, collaboration, and training. Its purpose is exclusively educational and charitable. Headquartered at historic Wayside Cottage, the JLCW has served the communities of Eastchester, Greenburgh, Scarsdale, White Plains and beyond for 75 years. Our approximately 200 active and sustaining members are accomplished collaborators who identify community needs and develop effective and responsive programs to serve those needs.

The Witness Stones Project, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to restore the history and honor the humanity of the enslaved individuals who helped build our communities, today announced a new affiliation with School of the Holy Child. The college-preparatory school in Rye, New York, will be using the Project’s curriculum and landscape markers to expand their teaching of the history of slavery in colonial New York.

Students will examine primary source documents, such property, church, and vital records; wills and probate inventories; and census data, in order to understand the reality of slavery and to restore the memory of those individuals who were enslaved. They will learn how to document and describe the dehumanization and paternalism of slavery; the economic and legal framework that supported slavery; and, the agency, resistance, and contributions of the enslaved to our local and national history. Finally, these students will be inviting their communities to witness as they install memorial stones for individuals who were enslaved in their town.

The School of the Holy Child is guided by the educational philosophy of Cornelia Connelly, the founder of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus, and her dedication to “joy in teaching and joy in learning.” Accomplished and dedicated faculty members foster the spiritual development, individual talents and interests of each student. This is realized through rigorous and comprehensive academic, arts, athletics, service and global programs. Holy Child graduates are prepared for the innovative and critical thought necessary in a diverse, interconnected society.