Settlement finalized, city seeks family members of damaged headstones at Maple Grove cemetery

In 2021, a drunk driver drove through the Maple Grove Cemetery in Nicholasville.

Thanksgiving Day will mark three years since Thomas Garner missed a turn to Bell Court and drove into the Maple Grove Cemetery.

According to a December 2023 article by WKYT, city officials said 13 headstones were destroyed, with several others needing touch-ups.

A criminal court case had prevented the city from repairing the headstones since 2021. Garner pleaded guilty early in 2023 to criminal mischief and Driving Under the Influence. He received a three-year probation sentence and a fine. His next hearing, on December 8, 2023, started the discussion of restitution for the cemetery.

Finally, Nicholasville Mayor Alex Carter said there has been a settlement.

“So, we finally have a settlement from the insurance company that had to go through the commonwealth attorney’s office and get settled through court,” Carter said.

Mayor Carter said that damages caused to the cemetery are estimated to be about $200,000.

In August 2024, the City of Nicholasville made a Facebook post displaying photos of headstones that needed repairing. The city needs to attempt to get permission from the families before it can pay for replacements and touch-ups to the headstones.

The following are the names on the damaged headstones: Esta Schenk Hervey Mar. 3 1895 – June 26, 1984, James Theodore Hervey June 7 1892 – Nov. 24 1968, Otis Wesley Carter Oct 8 1889 – Feb. 6 1962, Gertrude Scott Carter Dec. 2 1895 – Jan. 7 1981, Martha Cecilia Hervey Sept. 6 1896 – Feb. 23 1986, and Martha C Hervey 1856 – 1947.

As of Friday, August 23, a worker at the cemetery and Mayor Carter confirmed that the cemetery had received a few responses to the Facebook callout.

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