Old Lyme Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library, 2 Library Lane, Old Lyme CT
Friday, May 30, 10-11 am
In the final year of this five-year project, Witness Stones Old Lyme will install twelve new Witness Stones—historical plaques commemorating the lives of enslaved African Americans. The plaques will be placed in late May at the Sill Lane green and the Florence Griswold Museum. To deepen the untold story of local enslavement, Witness Stones this year will honor Prince Freeman, Sabina Freeman, Jordan Freeman, Caesar, Prince, Cesar, Zacheus Still, Philis, Negro Woman (name unknown), Dorcas, Lewis, and Robin Freeman. With these plaques, and those placed in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 on Lyme Street, McCurdy Road, and Old Shore Road in Old Lyme and at the Lyme Public Library, the Project will have installed 60 small brass markers in historic Lyme.
The community will gather on the lawn of the Old Lyme Library to celebrate the fifth installation of Witness Stones in the Lyme-Old Lyme area. The program offers music, poetry, and words from community partners and features as keynote speaker Kate Rushin, Professor of English and Poet in Residence at Connecticut College. Other participants include Dennis Culliton, Co-Founder of the Witness Stones Project; Michelle Dean, Director of Curriculum at the Lyme-Old Lyme Public Schools; Martha Shoemaker, Old Lyme First Selectwoman; Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School poets and Select Chorus.