Bonaventure Cemetary sits on a bluff overlooking the Wilmington River. It is a lush pocket of gorgeous live oaks festooned with Spanish Moss, filled with a mazelike network of roads and paths, weaving amongst tombstones, vaults and crypts.
Here the dead sleep in a setting as lush and sultry as the city it calls home, Savannah.
Bonaventure is 100 acres of fascinating history. The stunning funerary sculptures were a symbol of status for the families buried here. Many of them are striking in their artistry.
Bonaventure was originally a plantation owned by the Mullryne family. They were joined by marriage with the Tatnalls.
There are wonderful legends about those early residents of Bonaventure. Supposedly, during a Christmas party the first plantation house caught fire. Josiah Tattnall sr. ordered his servants to take the tables loaded with plates of food, bottles of wine and candles out to the lawn, where the party continued. The guests ate and drank as the house burnt to the ground. I'd say that Josiah was the ultimate host.
During the Revolutionary War the Mullrynes and Tattnalls fled and the plantation was used as a staging area and hospital for French and Hatian soldiers who were assisting the Americans in retaking the city of Savannah from the British. It is believed that some of those soldiers are buried there in unmarked graves.
The land eventually returned to the Tattnall family and Josiah Tatnall the third sold it to a man named Peter Wiltberger who turned it into Evergreen Cemetary. The city of Savannah purchased it in 1907 and changed the name back to Bonaventure.
It had become the fashionable place to be buried during Victorian era and the graves there are like a who's who of the wealthy, the rich and the famous of Savannah.
When visiting Savannah, Bonaventure is a must see. It is a short drive from the historic district.
It is still an active burial ground and there are 65,000 people enjoying their eternal rest in its boundaries.
Join us at Mad Cat Tours to hear stories about the histories of some of the denizens of this historic cemetary.
Here the dead sleep in a setting as lush and sultry as the city it calls home, Savannah.
Bonaventure is 100 acres of fascinating history. The stunning funerary sculptures were a symbol of status for the families buried here. Many of them are striking in their artistry.
Bonaventure was originally a plantation owned by the Mullryne family. They were joined by marriage with the Tatnalls.
There are wonderful legends about those early residents of Bonaventure. Supposedly, during a Christmas party the first plantation house caught fire. Josiah Tattnall sr. ordered his servants to take the tables loaded with plates of food, bottles of wine and candles out to the lawn, where the party continued. The guests ate and drank as the house burnt to the ground. I'd say that Josiah was the ultimate host.
During the Revolutionary War the Mullrynes and Tattnalls fled and the plantation was used as a staging area and hospital for French and Hatian soldiers who were assisting the Americans in retaking the city of Savannah from the British. It is believed that some of those soldiers are buried there in unmarked graves.
The land eventually returned to the Tattnall family and Josiah Tatnall the third sold it to a man named Peter Wiltberger who turned it into Evergreen Cemetary. The city of Savannah purchased it in 1907 and changed the name back to Bonaventure.
It had become the fashionable place to be buried during Victorian era and the graves there are like a who's who of the wealthy, the rich and the famous of Savannah.
When visiting Savannah, Bonaventure is a must see. It is a short drive from the historic district.
It is still an active burial ground and there are 65,000 people enjoying their eternal rest in its boundaries.
Join us at Mad Cat Tours to hear stories about the histories of some of the denizens of this historic cemetary.
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