ANDERSON, Ind. – A Native American village once existed on an Indiana farm that’s been in the same family for 200 years.

The original two-story brick home is also still there and being lived in by one of the descendants of the first owner of the property.

The Hobbs/Wise farm was recently given the bicentennial award under a state program celebrating the heritage of agriculture in Indiana.

“It feels pretty special when you think about what all of our ancestors had to survive to keep the farm in the family from the Civil War to the Great Depression,” said Elizabeth Camperelli, who inherited the ground from her grandfather, William Hobbs.

Her children have already been designated the next owners of the Madison County farm under a trust in effect upon her passing.

Camperelli, 51, said remnants of a Native American village called Nancytown are still plentiful on a section of the farm, which has drawn multiple visits over the years by archaeology students from Ball State University.

She said the village was named after a Native American female in the village called Nancy by European settlers.

“You walk through the field and you’ll come out with 15 to 20 arrowheads in your hand,” she said.

Daniel Wise purchased the first 74 acres for $1.25 per acre from the federal government in 1823 after migrating from Virginia. He purchased more parcels from Uncle Sam over the next 15 years or so until the farm grew to 640 acres.

Camperelli said she has the land grants signed by presidents James Monroe, Martin Van Buren and Andrew Jackson for each of those property acquisitions.

Eventually, the amount of ground remaining in the family started to decline until reaching the current 146 acres following generations of inheritance and sales.

“Over time, different kids took their pieces,” she said.

Until recently, Camperelli said her grandfather, William Hobbs, was the last member of her family to farm the ground. He raised primarily beef cattle and sheep, and began row cropping the fields around 1980.

Eventually, Hobbs started cash renting the soil to other farmers when age began slowing him down.

Camperelli said she still rents the ground to farmers using it for corn, soybeans and a little wheat. Six years ago, though, she began using some of the ground to dip her toes into farming for the very first time.

Her father made his living from well drilling but lived just down the street from the farm with his wife and children.

Camperelli said her grandfather, fearing she and her siblings would get, hurt did not allow them to help with the chores during their frequent visits to the farm. Her favorite childhood memories include playing on the farm and in the White River beside a section of the property.

She said the river, where it runs behind the farmhouse, was shallow and flat enough from the limestone on the bottom to allow people more than a century ago to cross in their horse-drawn wagons.

Camperelli went on to law school and became a real estate attorney. Now, she remains in real estate but on the brokerage and development side of the industry.

Her mother now lives in the farmhouse which she described as still being in great shape.

Camperelli said her first experience at farming stems from meeting someone raising Haskaps in Canada under a program designed to promote consumption of the reddish-blue colored berry grown in bushes. She then joined a program through a coop of universities wanting to know how far to the south Haskaps can be raised successfully.

Camperelli said she uses seven acres on the farm to grow the fruit that tastes somewhat like a raspberry. About half of the varieties she planted later died, but the rest have done well and are being added to her plot.

Camperelli said she’s also trying to market the fruit to farm to fork restaurants in the area. So far, she’s had only limited success because of questions over how to work the little-known berry in these parts into restaurant menus. “I guess we’re still in the exploratory phase,” she said.

Camperelli believes her middle age introduction to farming was no accident given the deep roots of her family in agriculture and how much she liked playing in the dirt as a child. “That itch is there. Definitely,” she said.