The Cemetery in a Roundabout: Harrison-Harrell Cemetery.

At first glance, there is nothing remarkable about Roy Hoppy Hopkins Drive. It cuts a clean arc through southern De Soto Parish, Louisiana, serving industrial traffic that moves between the parish’s plants and the industrial park. Or at least, it would if there was any actual activity in the Ward II Industrial Park, which as of late 2025, appears completely barren.

Yet this road surrounds a much more interesting and historic place; quietly fenced and immovable, lies a small cemetery that predates the road that now encircles it. As is the genesis of many of my discoveries, I came across a cemetery located in the middle of a roundabout while looking somewhat-aimlessly at Google Maps:

Harrison-Harrell Cemetery on our Abandoned Cemeteries Map

This roadway is part of an industrial/logistics corridor that was constructed in the early 2000's according to aerial imagery. The cemetery was only accessible via LA 170 to the east before Hopkins Dr was both extended and improved to connect to LA 170, and serve the parish’s "industrial expansion" in the early 2000s, an era when logistics and access outweighed most other concerns. 

But at some point in that process, engineers faced a choice: to remove the graves or route around them. For reasons that remain unclear, they chose the latter. The circle of the roundabout now protects the circle of the dead.

Harrison Harrell Cemetery photo by Linda Barlow Williams via Find a Grave

The cemetery is listed on Find a Grave as well kept, but unfortunately has no other information on the site. It is easy to imagine what might have been here before the trucks and warehouses. A farmhouse. A field that gave its name to a family. Perhaps the Harrisons and Harrells themselves worked this land. The soil beneath the traffic circle may hold stories that never made it to paper, never entered a courthouse ledger. 

I can't imagine the residents of the cemetery are particularly happy about this situation, if they are looking down at the juxtaposition between what is supposed to be eternal rest and what is undoubtedly a noisy affair for any descendants visiting them. However, this situation is actually much more common than people might believe, as well see later in this blog. 

The following text comes from the USGW archives [and written before the roundabout was built].

HARRISON - HARRELL CEMETERY

Submitted By: PeggyViv4@aol.com  (Peggy Hale)
Submitted On: June 2006

**********************************************

Copyright.  All rights reserved.

http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm

http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm

**********************************************

HARRISON - HARRELL CEMETERY is a very old cemetery located out of Vivian, LA. Take Hwy. 1 North from Shreveport, LA into Vivian, then take a right at first light onto Hwy. 170 then a right again at end of street still following Hwy. 170. Stay on Hwy. 170 for about 2 miles until you see a small sign on the right that says Harrison-Harrell Cemetery then follow dirt road at least a mile until you reach the cemetery. This is a fairly rough road that requires a truck or SUV. The cemetery is sitting on the top of a hill and you can see for miles. Beautiful setting.

Last Name Middle First Birth Death Notes

Harrell Sterling Dollye 03 Apr 1902 19 Dec 1979

Harrell R H (Shell) 15 Mar 1896 01 May 1936

Harrell Myrtle(Gardner) Ida 07 Aug 1879 21 Mar 1948 wife of S. P. Harrell

Harrell G James 17 Aug 1904 08 Dec 1908 son of S. P. & Ida M. Harrell

Harrell B Joe 22 Apr 1855 26 Jul 1921

Harrell H P 22 Sep 1819 31 Mar 1929 Husband of Molly Harrell

Harrell P S 10 Jun 1864 28 Jun 1927

Harrison Harrell Frances 25 Mar 1819 02 Oct 1874 Husband &
Harrison C James 1818 17 Mar 1876 wife double marker

Harrison R. R. John 26 Mar 1824 17 Mar 1906
Harrison T. R. Wilaby 31 Jul 1846 02 Oct 1861
Hartzo A Clara 26 Apr 1876 08 Jun 1916
Sisco E Daniel 22 Dec 1888 12 Feb 1922
Sisco R Francis 18 Feb 1892 18 Apr 1959

3 markers broken or no longer there and 2 sunken areas that might be graves

**********************************************

Infrastructure being built around an existing cemetery or burial ground isn't without precedent, and the most extreme example might be the Middle of the Road Grave belonging to Nancy Kerlin Barnett (1793-1831)

Google Maps Streetview Image of Barnett's Grave on E 400 S near Franklin, IN

This grave is the subject of local legend: the road was built around the 1831 grave after family objections; the lane splits and the grave sits in the median, although we weren't building medians or improved roads beyond gravel at that point, so there exists a larger story here as well.


Married to William Barnett, Feb. 29, 1808.
He was born Sept. 27, 1786, drowned in Ohio River Sept. 24, 1854.
William was the great, great, great grandson of Pocahontas and John Rolfe.
Daniel G. Doty, 1846–1934, protected his grandmother’s grave by staying here with his gun, while the county relocated this cemetery in order to build the road. A concrete slab was placed over the grave, to protect the marker, Aug. 8, 1912.

Erected in 1982, by Kenneth F. Blackwell, great, great grandson, and his son Richard Blackwell.

You can also find a cemetery, Ross-Lipscomb Cemetery, in the median of I-85 near Gaffney, SC. This is a small 19th-century family cemetery that was left intact when I-85 was aligned; the interstate splits there to keep the burial ground between the mainline lanes.

O'Hare Airport was built on land that housed two cemeteries, St Johannes and Wilmer's Old Settler Cemetery, both of which had to have the graves relocated south of the airport to Resthaven Cemetery, which still exists on the property, just not in the right of way of any runways.

These cemeteries are the last anchors of rural memory in landscapes that no longer look rural. They deserve care, not curiosity alone. When we pave, build, and expand, we should remember that every turn of the road passes near someone’s history. Harrison-Harrell Cemetery, with its fence and its silence, as well as the numerous other examples, both mentioned and not mentioned, hold that truth in the center of a circle that never stops turning.
Location: R2QV+8J Vivian, LA, USA

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