Bonaventure Cemetery, Savannah Georgia

September 20, 2019 Valerie Archual Comments 0 Comment

The tranquil peace one experiences when taking an early morning walk through a cemetery is often hard to describe. Perhaps it’s the pleasant solitude and serenity that only a resting garden can encapsulate as it softly quiets and dissolves the busyness of life around it.

If you happen to visit Savannah, Georgia, Bonaventure Cemetery is an absolute must, and far from your typical cemetery. The enigmatic and seductive charm of Savannah certainly carries over into this unmatched sanctuary.

Located a few miles outside Savannah’s Historic District along Bonaventure Road in Thunderbolt Georgia, this one-hundred-and-sixty-acre cemetery has been considered the most beautiful in all America. Bonaventure has been a world-renowned tourist destination for over a century.

Visiting Bonaventure Cemetery can be an overwhelming and daunting task when trying to tackle it on your own. Within its vast estate, one could very easily get lost among the endless gravesites, let alone try to locate a particular plot in the thousands buried here; I know this from experience.

Having visited Bonaventure several years ago, I attempted a self-guided tour, having no idea of the legendary residents, history, and doctrine that encompasses its massive acreage.

This time, I took no chances. I called upon Gallivanter Tours and Travel. Gallivanter Travel offers unique historical tours to beautiful destinations, Savannah Georgia, specifically Bonaventure Cemetery, being just one of them. The result: Gallivanter’s own Kerry Grant!

(Now, how many people can say they were escorted through a cemetery by Kerry Grant?! )

Kerry, a cemetery aficionado and history extraordinaire, met me promptly at the cemetery’s front entrance. From there, he led me into the beautiful, mysterious, and captivating grounds introducing me to the prodigious and breathtaking Bonaventure Cemetery.

More than just a Graveyard

“But of all the scenery in and about Savannah, the Cemetery of Bonaventura is the most remarkable. There is nothing like it in America, or perhaps in the world. Its melancholy loveliness, once seen, can never be forgotten.”

~Charles Mackay, Scottish poet, journalist, novelist, and songwriter (1859)

Bonaventure has been the inspiration to many, even before it became the beautiful resting place it remains today. Henry Rootes Jackson published his romantic poetry piece entitled “Buonaventure by Star-Light,” in the Southern magazine “The Orion” back in 1842 when the only burial on the property at that time would be the single Tattnall tomb.

Jackson expressed the beauty of walking along the live oak corridor as the “gray moss floats along the breeze.” The Orion editor then adds in a postscript at the end stating that, “It lias often occurred to us, that this interesting spot would make an admirable cemetery.” Noting, “Boston has her Mount Auburn, Paris her Pere la Chaise, and Savannah may have her Buonaventure, which, by position and natural associations, is better fitted for a “Garden of the dead,” than either of the former.” In closing, the editor added that “hundreds of similar monuments” (to Tattnall’s) “would harmonize sweetly with the silent and almost thrilling grandeur of the place“.

The Orion editor’s vision would soon become a reality, making Bonaventure a spectacular necropolis all its own.

Environmental philosopher, conservationist, and nature writer John Muir once described Bonaventure as “A center of life,” adding, “The dead do not reign there alone.”

A young twenty-nine-year-old Muir spent close to a week of penniless nights sleeping in Bonaventure Cemetery during his long journey through the South in the aftermath of the Civil War.

He went on to write, “I gazed awe-stricken as one new-arrived from another world. Bonaventure is called a graveyard, a town of the dead, but the few graves are powerless in such a depth of life. The rippling of living waters, the song of birds, the joyous confidence of flowers, the calm, undisturbable grandeur of the oaks, mark this place of graves as one of the Lord’s most favored abodes of life and light.”

~John Muir, 1867 “A Thousand-Mile Walk to The Gulf”

I’d have to agree with Mr. Muir. As my stroll with Kerry began on that brilliant July morning, vast beauty surrounded me. The widespread audible resonation of birds, cicadas, and other entities of nature brought Bonaventure to sudden life. As a soft, warm Georgia breeze began to blow, the long, elegant and shimmering moss drapes waved as if motioning me to come further inside her confines.

“This place is big and rewarding, and it’s the coolest office you can have!”

~Kerry Grant, Gallivanter Tours and Travel

The History

Bonaventure Cemetery, which was once known as Bonaventure Plantation, was initially owned by John Mullryne in the early 1760s. The property rests along a bluff overlooking the Wilmington River (St. Augustine’s Creek) to the east, and a salt marsh to the South. Mullryne named the estate “Bonaventure” meaning “good fortune” although in a twist of fate, Mullryne’s plantation home burned down around 1771, along with its replacement home years later.

Although no agricultural crops were cultivated on the property, Mullryne established numerous live oaks that lined the estate and still grace the property, giving way to its timeless beauty.

Bonaventure eventually went to Mullryne’s son-in-law Josiah Tattnall before being seized during the Revolutionary War. Bonaventure served as a hospital camp where many of the wounded died and are, most likely, buried in unknown graves.

Bonaventure was later returned to the Tattnall family after it was purchased back from John Habersham where it stayed with the Tattnall’s for several generations. In 1802 Harriet Tattnall was the first adult buried on the property following the burials of four of her young children.

In 1846, wealthy hotel owner and businessman Peter Wiltberger purchased the property intending to develop seventy acres as a public cemetery during the beginnings of the national “garden cemetery” or “rural cemetery” movement. Garden cemeteries became popular in the United States and Europe in the mid-nineteenth century, offering a pleasant atmosphere where the deceased could be laid to rest. Beautiful botanicals as well as picturesque statues and monuments offered a sense of peace for the mourning ones left behind. It was highly fashionable back in those days for whole families to come and picnic with their departed loved ones, sometimes spending all day at the gravesites.

In 1868, the corporate entity for the seventy-acre cemetery was officially formed naming it Evergreen. In 1907 the City of Savannah purchased the cemetery, adding additional acreage, and retitling it back to its original plantation name of Bonaventure.

Two years later, and after years of negotiations, a Jewish burial section was included, adding twenty more acres to Bonaventure Cemetery.

Today, Bonaventure’s one hundred and sixty acres includes the one-hundred and three acres known strictly as Bonaventure, as well as the additional acreage that makes up what is now a separate cemetery know as Greenwich Cemetery, (formerly the Greenwich addition to Bonaventure).

Statues, Mausoleums, and Crypts, Oh My!

From simple tombstones to magnificent mausoleums, Bonaventure has it all. Known as the cemetery of choice in Georgia, Bonaventure was a sought-after place of rest, especially for those who were of prominent status and wealth.

“There’s a lot of money represented out here by these burials. All the important folks wanted to be buried here.”

One of my favorite things that I had never seen before visiting Bonaventure was the “bedstead” type memorials. Fashioned to resemble a bed, these monuments are presented in both “singles” as well as “doubles” containing a husband and wife within. Kerry explained that the allegory of such said memorials was that of eternal, and comfortable rest.

Belief in Securing and Protecting the Dead

I noticed a lot of scalloped edgings enclosing many plots, some bordering the entire site while others left an opening. Upon research of this, I learned that these edgings actually signify water. Dating back hundreds of years in voodoo and conjure beliefs, it was believed that evil spirits could not cross water, thus these “water” looking edgings. The placement of such borders would be an attempt to fool the evil spirits and protect the deceased’s soul.

Where you wouldn’t find the edgings, you would discover iron, particularly gates.

Iron was also seen as a boundary to spirits to keep the spirits of the dead in, and protect them from the evil outside sources that could not cross over. A lot of these practices were passed down through generations, some not even realizing the meanings behind them; possibly explaining why many iron gates around cemeteries are so prevalent.

Saved by the Bell!

This saying once had a literal meaning. Back in a time when doctors often made the wrong call, some people were unfortunately buried alive. Evidence of this dates back to when graves were often exhumed and moved. The once-thought deceased would have damaged fingers. Scratches on the wood coffins above them would reveal a panicked attempt to break free or claw out of the coffins. Thus, the bell system was introduced. This revolutionary idea would attach a string or cord to the said deceased’s hand and would feed up through the ground and be attached to an outside bell. In the event that the deceased was, well, not deceased, he would awake in a panic and the movement from the hand or finger would pull the attached cord and ring the outside bell.

Cemetery workers would be employed to work “The Graveyard Shift” throughout the night to listen in anticipation of any “dead ringers.” Most of the tin from the old bells would later be collected and salvaged during the war to make helmets and bullets for the soldiers.

The last and only bell in Savannah is still in Bonaventure and belongs to the grave of Charles Mills, a wealthy man who wanted his bell cast in bronze.

Crypts and Mausoleums

“They were originally made for the living and not for the dead. They were made in an era where people were being buried alive a lot, and it was an escape route. Having a crypt allowed you to be buried so far down in the ground where it was nice and cool, and if you woke up in there you would be in a shroud and not a coffin and you could wiggle out of your sheet, flop down on the floor and you’d have this huge building so you would have hours’ and hours’ worth of oxygen to let the panic wash over you, adjust to the dark, find the stairs and crawl out. That was the big advancement over the bell package.”

“One of my favorites is that of the Mongin family who owned eleven of the twelve plantations that made up Daufuskie Island in South Carolina.”

Owning homes in both Charleston and Savannah, the Mongin vault was transported intact on a wooden barge up the river and brought to Bonaventure in 1873.

Exquisite Monuments and Life-like Statues

The unique and realistic stone figures that are adorned throughout Bonaventure Cemetery perhaps cast a leading role in all of its splendor. Over one hundred of those ornate and detailed sculptures were produced by the local and prominent Savannah sculptor John Walz, who also happens to reside in Bonaventure (1844-1922).

Amid all the pieces he ever produced, Walz considered that of “Little Gracie” his most exceptional work of all time. Walz created a hauntingly realistic full-size replica sculpture of the six-year-old from a photograph taken shortly before her passing. Be sure to look throughout the cemetery for John Walz’s name carved on his pieces.

“This cemetery has lots of cool secrets in it.”

The Ruckert wives buried together, but F.D. Ruckert is nowhere in sight

Just a few of Bonaventure’s Resting Residents

Of the thousands laid to rest here at Bonaventure, each has their own unique and fascinating story. I wanted to mention just a few that captivated me.

Little Gracie (1882-1889)

Gracie Watson was a charismatic little girl who stole the hearts of just about everyone she met. It was said that she was quite the entertainer and hostess at the Pulaski Hotel where both her parents worked. Gracie would often put on shows and socialize with the guests, and even the vendors outside the hotel, always bringing smiles to their faces. When Gracie was stricken with a sudden illness and passed away at the tender age of six, not only were her parents devastated, so was all of Savannah. Her sudden passing prompted local sculptor John Walz to produce a life-like identical “Little Gracie” in her honor.

Because Little Gracie fell into local folklore, hers is the only locked gate in Bonaventure Cemetery. Dating back to the 1940s, beliefs that by leaving offerings of candy and toys on Gracie’s lap, good luck would come your way. It was because of this practice that a gate was put around Gracie’s plot, which doesn’t seem to stop those seeking good luck fortunes. Gracie is one of the most visited graves in all of Bonaventure.

Corinne Elliott Lawton (1846-1877)

Corinne’s definitely one of my favorites. She was the eldest daughter of Confederate Brigadier-General Alexander Lawton whose monument sits behind hers. It is recorded Corinne passed of pneumonia, but like others, Corinne is also the subject in local folklore. Legend has it that she attempted to commit suicide after being denied the opportunity by her father to marry the young man she loved. Some stories tell of a distraught Corinne riding her father’s best horse into the river in an attempt to end her life, and later developing the pneumonia that would ultimately take it. Again, numerous stories have been fabricated. She was originally buried at Laurel Grove Cemetery and was later moved to Bonaventure. Another tale is that her life-like sculpture was purposely placed with her back to her father’s monument, but that story is contradicted as her father’s monument was placed on the plot after hers.

Johnny Mercer (1909-1976)

Among the many prominent Mercers buried throughout Bonaventure is the most famous: Johnny Mercer. The legendary singer, songwriter, and Savannahian is laid to rest here along with numerous relatives in various plots.

Many of the Mercer family members share Johnny’s song lyrics etched on their memorials.

Hugh Weedon Mercer (1808-1877)

You can’t mention Johnny without mentioning his Great Grandfather. Hugh Weedon Mercer was also a notable Georgia man and a Brigadier General during the American Civil War. It was originally for General Mercer that the infamous Mercer-Williams House was erected, although he never lived there. Aside from his military career, a secret about a young Hugh Mercer was that he was actually a cadet participate in West Point Military Academy’s “Eggnog Riot,” a drunken Christmas party in 1826.

Conrad Aiken (1889-1973)

Perhaps my favorite of all buried in Bonaventure is that of literary genius Conrad Aiken. Although a phenomenal award-winning writer of short stories, essays, poetry, and novels, and despite being the first Georgian author to win a Pulitzer Prize, Aiken was often underrated.

It’s been said that his difficult childhood was often reflected in his writings. Living on East Oglethorpe Avenue in Savannah, a young eleven-year-old Conrad was upstairs when he heard his often-arguing parents downstairs in a disagreement. Hearing his father counting to three before a first gunshot and then shouting another countdown to a second, young Conrad raced down the steps to find the unthinkable. Conrad’s father had shot his mother and then himself.

Conrad lived the first eleven years of his life on East Oglethorpe as well as the last eleven. He later returned to Savannah and purchased the house next door to his childhood home where he had witnessed the tragic deaths of his parents.

Conrad was known to visit his parents in Bonaventure, consuming martinis and toasting to them on their graves as he would watch the nearby ships sail by. The inscription on his own grave about The Cosmos Mariner is said to hold a deeply symbolic and evocative meaning.

Instead of a traditional gravesite marker, it’s believed that Conrad’s memorial bench is his invitation for us to do just what he had done countless times in Bonaventure when visiting his parents; to sit, reflect and visit, (although I feel fairly sure that consuming alcoholic beverages in Bonaventure Cemetery is strictly prohibited). Conrad lies with his wife alongside his parents.

“Our Sam” (1888-1893)

Little five-year-old Sam never made it to be a war hero, a notable politician, a successful entertainer, or a literary Pulitzer Prize winner. But he was everything to his heartbroken parents. The possessive nature and loving inscription of “Our Sam” noted on his marker amid the many surrounding dignitaries, express just how important little Sam was.

Bonaventure’s Runner

Julia Denis Backus Smith (1946-2003) once earned the title as “The Fastest Female in Savannah.” An avid runner, Julia participated in The Boston Marathon as well as many others. She was also a community activist working with numerous organizations such as The Telfair Museum of Art and The Backus Children’s Hospital, just to name a few.

Robert B.S. Nicolson (1861-1881)

Twenty-year-old Robert was the eldest son of John and Matilda and is remembered on this shared monument along with other family members. Robert was vacationing at Tybee Island Beach where he tragically perished within its waters.

The Schwarz Family infants (1894-1902)

The Schwarz Family plot is a beautiful and shaded serene area where this family is laid to rest. Behind Mary and Frederick are four beautifully carved and detailed tiny bedsteads adorned with angels and lambs. These were their four infant children lost within just a few years of each other. The couple was graced with six additional children surviving them into their elderly ages.

I could literally spend multiple days in Bonaventure Cemetery reminiscing the lives that continue to live on through the evocative last words, and chosen symbolic descriptions of those they left behind.