Vic Ryckaert

vic.ryckaert@indystar.com

For about 185 years, folks in Johnson County knew that Nancy Kerlin Barnett’s remains have rested in a grave now bounded on both sides by a country road.

It turns out, she had company.

Archaeologists who exhumed the Grave in the Middle of the Road so the pavement could be widened have uncovered the remains of at least seven people: two women, a man and four children.

Who they are remains a mystery for now. University of Indianapolis archaeologist Christopher W. Schmidt said it is likely that his team uncovered a small cemetery.

“My hope is that going forward it will be viewed as a Barnett family cemetery in the middle of a street,” Schmidt told IndyStar onTuesday. “It really is a family plot.”

Evidence showed that at least two bodies had been disturbed by excavation around the mound over the years. The bones of an adult male appeared to have been dug up, collected together and reburied, Schmidt said.

Schmidt and his students began the recovery on May 11. It would have taken a week or two for a single grave, Schmidt said, but with so many bones dispersed from their original graves it ended up taking more than a month.

The discovery of the additional bodies also means County Road 400 South east of U.S. 31 will remained closed for a while longer, with no opening date scheduled.

“We’re in a holding period,” Highway Director Luke Mastin told the Johnson County Commissioners during their meeting Monday. “I don’t want to start constructing and find out that we didn’t leave enough room.”

Schmidt and his team of UIndy archaeology students were called in last month to exhume the remains so the Johnson County Highway Department could widen and improve County Road 400 South near Amity. The two-lane country road was built around what historians had mistakenly believed was Barnett's solitary grave.

Barnett died in 1831. According to local lore, her last request was to be buried on this grassy hill near Sugar Creek. Other bodies were buried nearby, and the site became a small cemetery.

In the early 1900s, Johnson County officials decided to build County Road 400 right through Barnett’s gravesite. When workers arrived to move Barnett’s remains in 1905, local historians say they were greeted by her grandson, Daniel G. Doty, standing vigil with a shotgun in hand.

The story was that Barnett’s grave remained undisturbed while the others were moved. Schmidt said the evidence proves otherwise.

“If Mr. Doty's story is correct,” Schmidt said, “he didn’t just protect his grandmother. He also prevented all the graves from being moved.”

The recovered bones are being kept at UIndy in a secure facility. On Monday, commissioners voted to pay for DNA analysis on the bones and on Barnett’s living descendants for comparison. They expect the testing will cost about $6,000.

When the tests are done and the road work is complete, the seven sets of remains will be placed in new coffins and respectfully reburied in the mound overlooking Sugar Creek.

Going forward, the Grave in the Middle of the Road will be rightfully remembered as a cemetery.

“I don't think it diminishes the specialness of the site whatsoever,” Schmidt said. “It is still that special, historical place.”

Call IndyStar reporter Vic Ryckaert at (317) 444-2701. Follow him on Twitter: @vicryc.

Grave in the Middle of the Road getting restored