Nancy Barnett

They say they buried Nancy Barnett
Up above the banks of Sugar Creek
Since she always loved the hillside
It became her final resting place
For forty years her grave sat silent
‘Til a brand new road was being laid
The workers came to Johnson County
To build a bridge across the creek

With orders that the grave
Would be dug up and taken away
Carried far from the hillside
Overlooking the banks of Sugar Creek

A man who claimed to be her grandson
Stepped up and fired a warning shot
And he vowed to kill the first man
Who tried to move the family plot
He stood for weeks beside her headstone
And guarded her grave both night and day
The workers tried to persuade him
But he refused to be driven away

He said, “I’m a peaceful man
But if you touch my grandma’s grave
Your blood will flow down the hillside
All across the banks of Sugar Creek”

Today the cars are passing
On a winding road heading out of town
Peaceful Indiana byway
County Road 400 heading South
That’s where the lanes divide
And in the middle stands a grave
Still protected on the hillside
Overlooking the banks of Sugar Creek
They had to build the road around her
Overlooking the banks of Sugar Creek