AMITY — There's a stretch of hallowed ground in Johnson County where Nancy Kerlin Barnett and six of her relatives rest in eternal peace — smack dab in the center of a two-lane country road.
This is the Barnett Cemetery, a small median-like plot of concrete along County Road East 400 South near Amity and just south of Franklin.
"It's really one of the more unique sites in the whole state," said David Pfeiffer, director of the Johnson County Museum. "I mean, having a cemetery like this right in the middle of the road that we're trying to protect as best we can and honor the memories of the families that were here."
'Where she wanted to be'
Nancy Barnett was a farmer's wife who died in 1831. Her last wish was to be buried on this small hill overlooking nearby Sugar Creek.
By the early 1900s, county officials decided the cemetery had to make way for the road.
In 1905, according to local lore, workers arrived to move the graves and were met by Barnett's shotgun-wielding grandson Daniel G. Doty.
"Daniel Doty went out there and sat on the gravesite with a shotgun and said, 'You know, this is where she wanted to be buried, so we'd like to leave her here,'" Pfeiffer said. "And, you know, if I were a road worker and somebody had a shotgun, I probably would step back to a little bit."
The workers backed down.
"So the compromise was made that they would build the road around her," Pfeiffer said.
The road went in on either side of her grave mound, which had been raised several feet above the pavement.
She would rest mostly in a peace disturbed by sounds of passing traffic and rumbling machinery on nearby farms.
Over the years work has been done to preserve the grave, mostly by her descendants.
Janey Willard Hall, Barnett's great-great-great granddaughter, remembers the times her father had her ride her bike to the grave to keep it clean.
"We grew up right around the corner," Hall told WRTV. "And when we were kids, you know, my dad expected us to go over there and keep the weeds down."
Scars left by passing vehicles showed how often drivers missed the jog over the years. The grave had become a hazard.
In 2016, county officials decided they needed to improve safety on County Road East 400 South, but this time they promised Barnett's grave would stay put.
They called on Pfeiffer to help preserve the site's history and reached out to Barnett's descendants for their input on the project.
The county also enlisted the help of University of Indianapolis Anthropology Professor Christopher Schmidt, who with his students exhumed the remains, studied them and respectfully put them back.
"The key is to keep it a solemn place," Schmidt said. "It is a cemetery, it has people in it. And it's unusual, it's unique."
Grave becomes cemetery
Before Schmidt and his team went to work in 2016, folks here believed Nancy Barnett's was the only grave in that mound. Schmidt soon discovered that she had company.
Schmidt's team found Barnett's bones alongside the bones of another woman; an older man and four children, ranging in age from newborn to about 10 years old.
Until that 2016 project most folks believed Barnett's was the only grave in the spot, which is why the site is often better known as Indiana's Grave in the Middle of the Road.
Schmidt told WRTV that his work here remains one of his favorite projects for the efforts taken to preserve the historic uniqueness of Barnett's grave.
"It is a good balance between being respectful and being different, being unusual. And I like how it's worked out," Schmidt said.
Reinterment ceremony
Barnett was just 38 when she died on Dec. 1, 1831.
She has an extensive family tree. By that time she was mother to 10 children, Hall said. She gave birth to 11, but one died before adulthood.
In August 2016, Hall said about 60 of Nancy Kerlin Barnett's descendants gathered at the site for a ceremony restoring the remains to that hallowed ground in the middle of the road.
Hall, her brother John Robert Willard and Eric Barnett made seven new pinewood coffins for Nancy Barnett and the others, using materials similar to what might have been used nearly 200 years ago.
They were all neatly laid in a concrete tomb and buried deep beneath the blacktop pavement.
Schmidt remembered that ceremony and still appreciates how lucky he was to be part of the project.
"The best part of that whole day was working with the families," Schmidt said. "Seeing the connections between the people who used to be there and the people who were there now was really wonderful. Talk about like history coming alive."
Weeds no longer grow on the site, which is now a curb-height stretch of concrete. Hall said many descendants weren't thrilled with the new design, but they understand the need for safety on the road.
Most of all, she said they are happy that Barnett and the others are in that same sacred place where they've rested for nearly two centuries.
"You know, for us, this is historical." Hall said. " It means a lot that our great-great-great grandmother is put back where she was."
Contact WRTV reporter Vic Ryckaert at victor.ryckaert@wrtv.com or on X/Twitter: @vicryc.
