Indianapolis - Work at a pioneer family cemetery in Indianapolis is expected to be finished this week. In August, archeologists began the painstaking task of removing topsoil and hand-digging at Whitesell Cemetery for relocation to Crown Hill. A month later, "they have 25 graves excavated and they still have about eight more to go, so they're expecting that by Friday, the work will be complete," said Megan Tsai, INDOT.

The small, 150-year-old family plot is moving because its neighbor, Interstate 69, will be expanding over the next few years. Instead of paving over the graves or turning them over to a funeral home, INDOT is spending $400,000 to move the pioneer family.

"It's only done because there really was no other way around it so it is being done with a lot of care and respect," said Chris Koeppel, archeologist.

INDOT says archeologists and forensic anthropologists have unearthed bones, pieces of clothing, buttons and parts of wooden coffins.

The plan is to level the excavated soil on Monday and then plant grass. By Tuesday, no one would ever know that a cemetery was at the spot.

The bones will go to the University of Indianapolis for study. There are several unmarked burials that scientists will try to identify.

"What we're going to be doing there is trying to ensure that the right remains are associated with the right headstones," said Tsai.

The little cemetery weathered three centuries, but it can't stop development. The family has been moved and will be reunited where they are guaranteed to rest undisturbed.

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