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.

The Witness Stones Project is a nonprofit initiative to recognize the lives and contributions of enslaved individuals in local communities.

This is the first time it has partnered with an organization in New York.

Administrators at the School of the Holy Child, in partnership with the Rye Historical Society, invited the nonprofit to educate and inspire its seventh and eighth grade students.

The stones memorialize the lives of Rose and Jack, a married couple who were born slaves at the Knapp House but died free residents of Rye.