A view of McCaskey High School, in the School District of Lancaster.
LNP | LancasterOnline
Students uncover hidden histories through the Witness Stones Project in Lancaster
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Asia Tabb
LNP | LancasterOnline
A view of McCaskey High School, in the School District of Lancaster.
AIRED; March 25, 2026
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In Lancaster, a group of high school students is working to recover stories that have long been overlooked. Through the Witness Stones Project, they are researching the lives of enslaved individuals and bringing their histories into public view.
The project, led at McCaskey High School, asks students to dig into archives, historical records, and digital collections to reconstruct the lives of people who were enslaved. Students then design projects based on their research and share their findings with the community.
“At its core, we try to find as many documents as we can about enslaved people and reconstruct their lives,” said teacher Todd Mealy. “Then we design student-led projects and showcase those stories.”
The work does not end in the classroom. Each spring, the students take part in a ceremony where they place small markers, called witness stones, into the ground in Lancaster. These stones serve as lasting tributes to individuals whose contributions were often erased or ignored.
The project also connects students with local institutions, including Franklin & Marshall College and LancasterHistory.org, as well as national partners who helped launch the initiative in New England.
For the students, the research is both challenging and eye-opening. They examine case studies of enslavers and the people they held in bondage, including individuals like Jasper Yates, Edward Shippen, and Adam Reigert. In one case, they followed the story of a young girl named Fanny, whose life shifted from enslavement to indentured servitude, raising difficult questions about freedom, control, and intent.
“I didn’t realize how deep these connections ran in Lancaster,” said student Josie Cotson. “Some of these people were tied to major institutions and even to the founding history of the country.”
Another student, Noemi Witmer, said the work changed how she views local history. “People often think slavery was only in the South, but it happened here too,” she said. “This project helps bring those hidden stories to light.”
One of the most difficult parts of the research involves incomplete records. Students often have to interpret limited documentation and piece together narratives from fragments of information. That process, while challenging, teaches them how to think critically and like historians.
The project also raises questions about moral complexity. In one example, a historical figure gave an enslaved woman the choice between freedom or remaining in bondage, leaving students to wrestle with what that decision truly meant.
“You’re dealing with real people and real consequences,” Mealy said. “And you start to understand how history is shaped by power and perspective.”
The Witness Stones themselves are meant to ensure these stories are not forgotten. Once placed, they become part of the physical landscape, marking the places where these individuals lived and worked.
For Mealy, the goal goes beyond research. He hopes students leave with a deeper sense of empathy and a stronger understanding of how history is constructed.
“This is about teaching students to question, to investigate, and to understand that history is not just what is written down, but also what has been left out,” he said.
Through their work, these students are helping to reshape how their community remembers its past, one story at a time.
