Southern Indiana business park relocating 33 graves

CHARLESTOWN, Ind. (AP) - A southern Indiana business park is relocating graves from a Depression-era cemetery to another nearby graveyard.

The River Ridge Commerce Center in Charlestown expects to rebury the 33 sets of remains at a second cemetery on its property, Executive Director Jerry Acy told the News and Tribune.

The half-acre plot, on the site of the former Indiana Ammunition Plant, was the resting place for residents of Clark County's Poor Farm who died from 1923 to 1939. The Poor Farm housed impoverished residents without a strong family network.

The remains will be reinterred at the nearby Caldwell Cemetery on the River Ridge property near Charlestown State Park, Acy said.

'œIt's a wooded area that's shaded and never to be disturbed,'ť he said. 'œIt's a very appropriate, serene location.'ť

The Poor Farm cemetery did not include any gravestones, but a piece of paper at the cemetery listed the name of 27 people buried there, Acy said. The identification process for the others that were buried in the cemetery is continuing.

Although there was public notification of the remains found at the cemetery, no next-of-kin have come forward or been identified yet, Acy said.