Originally the site of a plantation owned by John Mulryne, Bonaventure Cemetery was converted from a plantation to a cemetery around 1868, and at first, it was named Evergreen Cemetery. It was a family cemetery then. Later, it was re-named Bonaventure Cemetery in 1907, when the city of Savannah bought the property and renamed it in honour of the previous owner’s home.

Bonaventure is French for “good fortune” and it was the good
fortune of both Mulryne and Josiah Tattnall that created the cemetery. Mulryne and Tattnall were large landowners in Georgia. John Mulryne built the third Tybee lighthouse in 1773 and was Josiah Tattnall’s father-in-law.

Because of John Berendt’s book, “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil” and the filming of the movie based on his book in Savannah and in Bonaventure Cemetery, the cemetery became widely known and helped to make Savannah into a major tourist destination. Some of the scenes were filmed in the cemetery, creating a small stampede of visitors and curiosity-seekers to Bonaventure.

The curious came by the hundreds to visit the cemetery and see the statue of the “Bird Girl” that graced the cover of Berendt’s book. This piece was created in 1936 by Sylvia Shaw Judson, as a commission for a garden sculpture. It is interesting to me that this elegant piece had been largely unnoticed in the cemetery for over 50 years, and then became a touchstone for visitors and fans of the movie and ‘the book’, as it is known to this day in Savannah. John Leigh, a Savannah photographer, was commissioned to take a photo for the book’s cover, and took the photo of this statue in Bonaventure Cemetery.

This beautiful statue had been placed on the family plot of Lucy Boyd Trosdal, and was finally donated to Savannah’s Telfair Museum in 1997, in order to protect the statue from all of the people who had previously visiting the cemetery to see her.

There are 2 burial sections in the cemetery. One is Old Bonaventure, with Conrad Aiken, Hugh W. Mercer, Johnny Mercer, Edythe Chapman and Edward Telfair buried there. The other section is called New Bonaventure, and Danny Hansford, the shooting victim in 'Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil' is interred here. Here is a more comprehensive list of 'residents.'

As well, there is a veteran's section and 2 new extensions to the original property.

You can find Bonaventure Cemetery at 330 Bonaventure Rd. and the phone number for the office is 912.651.6843.

Here are some links that I found very interesting, while researching this topic:
The Bonaventure Historical Society was formed in 1994 as a “non-profit organization comprised of non-salaried volunteers dedicated to the Evolution & Preservation of the Historical Significance of Bonaventure Cemetery."
This page on their site gives a comprehensive history of the cemetery.

Here is a Flickr album with some beautiful shots of the statuary, burial markers and tombstones in the cemetery.

...and here are some more gorgeous photos for you!

I'm going to take time to go to Bonaventure while I'm in Savannah...how about you? Take a few well-chilled libations and spend an afternoon...

“That old black magic has me in its spell,
That old black magic that you weave so well;
Icy fingers up and down my spine,
The same old witchcraft when your eyes meet mine.”
~ Johnny Mercer
Brenda

Hi, I'm new to Slow Travel but wanted to share with you an interesting story about Bonaventure Cemetery. We live in Jacksonville, FL and my family visits Savannah often. My brother loves Savannah so much that he named his only child Savannah Marie. On one visit to the cemetery he was standing by the Mercer graves talking about the family when suddenly a woman pushing a small wheelbarrow with flowers came up to him and asked him what he wanted to know. Turned out she was a Mercer, knew all about the family and was out there that day tending the graves. Then she proceeded to tell him a story that few people know and is not found in the history books.....

Hugh Mercer was a banker who was building the Mercer house at the beginning of the Civil War. He joined the Confederacy, rising to the rank of General. Unfortunately he converted all his money to Confederate dollars which were worthless at war end. He never finished the house and his family never lived in it. He returned to Savannah, became a successful banker and later died suddenly in Baden, Germany while there on business. It was then that his wife discovered that he had been having a long time affair with his secretary! She was so incensed, she refused to bring his body home. Since he was a famous local war hero, it was necessary to go forward with a lavish funeral complete with burial and grave marker. But old General Mercer is not here, it's an empty grave.

History books say the following:
Hugh Mercer died in Baden, Germany, grave unknown.

And now you know the rest of the story.....

P.S. When you visit the Mercer House the docents won't tell you the room where the murder took place (agreement with the family not to discuss the murder) but it's the blue room, first floor, front of the house!

Looking forward to meeting you at the Gathering! This is my first post/reply. Hope I did it right.

Paulette
PML

Hi Paulette, (neighbor)

You did it just right!

Welcome to Slow Trav.

Great story!

You may want to post on the "introduce yourself" forum as well.

jan

Hi Jan,

As soon as I think of a story as good as the one I posted I may do that. Of course there is the time I accidentally set off the smoke alarm at a meeting in Nashville and they had to evacuate the entire Adam's Mark Hotel (another reason why I quit smoking)!!!

But as I discover more little known anecdotes about Savannah I'll be sure to post them.

Look forwared to meeting you in Savannah and maybe we can plan a local GTG.

Paulette
PML

Hi again Paulette,

It would be fun to have a North Florida GTG.

have to think about that one...

Don't forget to register on the Gathering page, here:

http://www.slowtrav.com/gathering/register/basics.htm

jan