A ring of trees hides the old cemetery from view, but it stands right next to an abandoned alignment of US 40 and the National Road just west of Plainfield, Indiana. It’s in the upper-right corner of this aerial image.
This scene is the only clue of the cemetery that’s visible from the highway. The small sign calls it Iron’s Cemetery.
The path back to the cemetery is dark.
When you emerge into the light, the hushed space seems to be a million miles from anywhere. US 40 is 150 feet away.
The oldest gravestone I found dates to 1872. The most prominent marker remembers a much-revered minister who died in 1885.
Unfortunately, many gravestones lie broken, as if casually discarded.
I’ve driven the National Road from its beginning in Baltimore, MD to its end in Vandaila, IL. To read everything I’ve ever written about it, click here.
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Last updated on 18 February 2020 by Jim Grey
Nice. I, too, like old cemeteries. One does find them in the most unexpected places sometimes.
I’d like to learn how to photograph cemeteries better. My wide shots didn’t even begin to capture the scene.
It’s strange that some of the headstones are in such disarray. It’s obvious that someone’s taking care of the cemetery otherwise. I recently visited a golf course that has been abandoned for only three or four years and was stunned at how quickly it’s gone to pot; plants half again as tall as me… none of that is in evidence in Iron’s Cemetery, though.
The cemetery at my church has similar problems. It’s one thing to cut the grass and trim the hedges, another to restore broken gravestones.
Jim-was there a church at the front of the cemetery, or does it appear to be more of the pioneer family cemetery?
There’s no church nearby. Probably never was one, given its place along the original road’s path. Couldn’t tell you anything more about it.