Cemetery Update

Finally getting back to talk a bit more about the cemetery project. Gonna have to keep it brief though for 2 reasons. The first being, simply, lack of time.

But, beyond that, the nature of the project itself warrants limited discussion. Out of respect for the deceased and their family members, publicity is to be kept to a minimum. Beyond events of the first few days, all public statements and photos have to get bureaucratic approval before release. Which means, basically, only pre-approved public media releases can be presented. So there really isn’t going to be much I can talk about from my end. Should I come across any public releases I’ll try and post them like I did with the earlier news video.

Still, I can talk a little about what we did in the first week.

The cemetery is really rather small. Not what any of us were quite expecting when we got down there. Here’s a shot from the southern perimeter …

Doesn’t really look like a cemetery at all does it?

Most of the tombstones are missing. You can kinda make out one at the left edge of the photo. The rest are all hidden in the trees in the background. Like this one for instance.

The cemetery is bordered on the west and north by a golf course which can be seen in this photo.

The reason for our being there is because of a road expansion project. More specifically, what is called an “intersection realignment.” INDOT plans call for a straightening of the street which runs around the golf course. The new throughway will cut across part of the cemetery. We need to go in and determine how many burials actually exist in the cemetery and where they are located (since most of the markers are now gone). From that will come a decision regarding how many have to be relocated due to the road project.

Locating the burials is a fairly straightforward task. By removing the topsoil you can see where the grave shafts were dug by noting changes in soil color and texture. For the reasons stated above, I can’t show any photos of what these look like but, trust me, they are clearly defined. Most of the grunt work was done with a backhoe which removed about the first 2 feet of soil. After that we went in with our shovels and trowels to bring out the details.

What I can show you are a couple of shots of what the work looks like from a distance.

As you can see we have dug about 2 feet below the surface. At this level we can locate all burials. Once found, they are physically marked and outlined with flags and drawn onto a map. After that we move on to a new section of the cemetery and start the process over.

And that, sadly, is all I can really say about the subject. At least for the time being. If and when I can come back and add more, I certainly will.