We all ponder our own mortality at some point: When will it happen? How? Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately, depending on your perspective), most of us won’t have the answers to those questions until it’s too late. But one thing is certain: it will happen eventually. This gives us a unique opportunity to decide what we’d like to happen to our bodies after we’re gone.
However, even if our final wishes are perfectly executed, we can’t control what the world does with our resting places afterward. Take the case of a woman whose grave ended up right in the middle of a two-lane road in Franklin, Indiana.
Today, let me introduce you to Nancy Kerlin Barnett, a woman whose dying wish to be buried on her favorite hill didn’t quite go as planned.
Nancy Kerlin Barnett’s Life & Death
Born in 1793, Nancy was married to William Barnett, who claimed to be the great-great-great-grandson of Pocahontas and John Rolfe—at least, that’s what a sign once said at her grave. Her family settled in what’s now Franklin in 1821, and Nancy passed away a decade later at the age of 39. They buried her on a picturesque hill overlooking Sugar Creek in Johnson County, where she rests to this day. Source: Fox 59 in Indianapolis
A Spork in the Road
When Nancy was buried, there was just a grassy hill—no road in sight. About 70 years later, in the early 1900s, county officials decided they wanted to build a road right through that spot. Why they couldn’t just build around her grave is a mystery. But legend has it that her grandson took matters into his own hands and guarded her grave with a shotgun, ensuring that no one disturbed it.
A Dedicated Grandson
A man with a shotgun can be pretty persuasive! Instead of bulldozing over the grave or relocating it, construction crews decided to split the road around it. Today, that stretch of road is known as County Road East 400 South…