Bonaventure Cemetery

I think it says a lot about my friendship with Jaime that we both wanted to visit the Bonaventure Cemetery first on pretty much our only day in Savannah. Not only because it was at the top of our list of things to see, but also because we both knew that’s when the light would be best for taking pictures. Friendship made in heaven. So on our first morning in Savannah, we skirted the city and found our way to the Bonaventure Cemetery.

The first thing we noticed were all of the live oaks with Spanish moss. New Orleans has a fair amount of these lovely trees, but it doesn’t compare with Savannah. Savannah’s streets are all lined with them, as was the cemetery.

I love them, and they are perfectly at home in a cemetery. However, I’m afraid that all cemeteries kind of lack in comparison to the ones in New Orleans. If only I could combine the live oaks of Bonaventure with the tombs and mausoleums of Metairie, I’d have the perfect cemetery. That’s not to say there weren’t lovely monuments and sculptures. Here are a few:

And don’t forget a monument to the fastest woman in the South.

There were some different types of markers that I haven’t seen in many other cemeteries. First, there were these bathtub type graves.

I think they might be for people to plant flowers in them. That would look really nice if people actually did it. Then there were several of these door/arches.

Jaime and I decided they symbolized the door into the next world. I really like that idea for a grave monument. Speaking of doors, these look like something from The Lord of the Rings.

And I kind of wish that I had a friend with the last name Kracken. Because then I could always say, “Release the Kracken!” (That wouldn’t get old or anything.)

While we’re on the subject of sci-fi/fantasy… at first I thought these hands engraved on a stone were the Vulcan salute.

But I did a little research and found out that it’s a Jewish symbol for descendants of Aaron and the hands symbolize a blessing. I also really love this inclusion.

I already posted about Johnny Mercer, who is buried in the Bonaventure Cemetery, but here is one last locally famous grave. The statue is of Gracie, a little girl who died when she was six.

And just in case you are wondering, the Bird Girl statue from the cover of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil isn’t at this cemetery. It used to be, but now it’s at the art museum. I felt really cool when another tourist asked me where to find it, and I knew.