A one-lane road off U.S. Route 31 takes the visitor to the site of a village where Native Americans massacred 24 settlers shortly after the War of 1812 began.

Collings and his large family held the original land grants in what is now Nelson County, Kentucky, signed by the Governor of Virginia, Patrick Henry.

After the passage of the Northwest Ordinance, many squatters moved across the Ohio River and occupied Shawnee lands in southern Indiana.

Families living in what is today Scott, Clark, Jefferson and Washington Counties still can often trace their ancestry back to these early settlers.

On September 3, 1812, a small party of Natives (mostly Shawnee, but possibly including some Delawares and Potawatomis) led by Missilimetaw (or Missilemotaw), made a surprise attack on the village, which appeared to be coordinated with attacks on Fort Harrison (near Terre Haute, Indiana) and Siege of Fort Wayne the same month.

The wife of John Biggs, a sister of William Collings, heard the war party approach her cabin, and fled with her three children to hide in a thicket.

As one of the Natives approached the thicket, the youngest child began to whimper, and Mrs. Biggs stuffed her shawl into the infant's mouth to keep it from betraying their hiding place.

When the raiding party moved on, the Biggs family was able to reach Zebulon Colling's blockhouse, but the infant had died of suffocation.

[5] As news of the massacre spread, the other Pigeon Roost settlers fled and assembled at Zebulon Colling's blockhouse.

Over one hundred militiamen,[2] led by Major John McCoy,[6] mustered the next day,[2] and followed the attackers as far as the Muscatatuck River, where the trail was lost.

One of the massacre's victims reported the name of his assailant prior to succumbing to his wounds, proving his acquaintance with the attacker.

Neither before nor after the massacre were other white people harmed, showing conclusively that it was only a local fight and giving no cause for alarm to other settlers.