David and Taunya Dezarn searched all over Madison County, Ky., before buying their home on Ogg Lane two months ago. The three-bedroom house came with a full basement and was on 2 acres with a swimming pool.
And at $79,000, the price was right. The couple moved in June 6, sure they were getting a great deal.
But they soon discovered more than they’d bargained for–a 19th Century graveyard right in the front yard.
“The Realtor told us there were a few graves out here, but we never knew there was anything like this,” David Dezarn said.
Their find came after two days of clearing a densely overgrown area by the couple, along with David’s mother, Carolyn Whitaker, and his two children, Amanda and Andy.
“We went in there with saws and shrub pruners,” said David Dezarn, 35. “The area was so thick that we were able to stand beneath the branches in the rain and not get wet.”
And despite suggestions from friends that they sell, the couple doesn’t mind the graves a bit.
“We’ve had neighbors come by to ask if they can take a look around,” Taunya Dezarn said.
David Dezarn, a quality control specialist, and Taunya, an accounts receivable clerk, both work at Sherman-Williams Automotive in Richmond.
They’ve counted at least 30 tombstones dating back as far as the late 1800s.
Hundreds of old graveyards are sprinkled throughout Madison County, said county coroner Embry Curry.
“A lot of the older families had farms with cemeteries on them,” he said.
When burying their dead in wooden or metal boxes, Curry said families would look for places that would provide the best drainage.
Over time, many of these grave sites have turned up when farmers have plowed their fields.
Some of the families seemed to prefer simple headstones, like that of Sarah Early, who died in 1877, at age 27. Her marker, in a shaded corner of the yard, is about the size of a loaf of bread.
But the Stivers family spared little expense in 1869, when they buried Fanny Stivers, wife of W.B. Stivers. Her name and a hand pointing toward heaven are ornately carved into her tombstone, which now lies embedded in the ground. Members of the Clark and Burtner families also are buried there.
Taunya Dezarn said most of the grave sites seem to belong to the Heatherly family. J.B. Heatherly, who died in 1864, lies next to his wife, Margaret, and not far from his 9-year-old daughter, Wilmoth, who died in 1833.
