If you’ve ever wondered about the history of Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah, GA, you’ve come to the right place. One can hardly mention visiting Savannah without someone recommending they tour what’s arguably one of the most hauntingly beautiful cemeteries in the country—Bonaventure Cemetery. With its stunning oak-lined walkways, lacy Spanish moss, and azaleas in abundance, Bonaventure feels more like a garden than a cemetery.
Buried beneath its lovely surface lies a fascinating history. Let’s journey to Bonaventure in Savannah, Georgia, whose name means “Good Fortune.”
While doing my research, I stumbled across some excerpts of J.M. Marsh’s poem, “Bonaventure,” in The Southern Field and Fireside newspaper, dated August 11, 1860. Though I could not find the poem in its entirety, I thought these few excerpts were interesting. So, in lieu of a story written by me, I’ll be sharing pieces of the poem. It encapsulates Bonaventure beautifully.
Ye solemn arches, that in grandeur spread
Your lofty branches o’er the silent dead,
Moss-wreathed, with hoary age you stand,
Grim sentinels o’er this silent land;
With reverent awe I gaze upon each aisle
Charmed by the breezes swell,
Chanting natures hymn the while,
Thro’ this vast cathedral—
It fills my soul with love—I bow my head
‘Neath the temple—and the music of the dead.
Ye lengthening shades that darkly sleep
Upon the troubled bosom of the rushing deep,
Still longer grow, as the declining sun
In fadeless beauty sleeps, its distant journey run;
Around the gathering folds of night
Steals thee from they quiet rest;
The moon sweeps up the heaven and the bright
The star gems deck the river’s breast;
From the moon voluptuous each trembling ray
Upon deaths temple in quiet splendor lay.
Chained by the magic spell the canvass glows
Wrapped in the soft midnight’s stilled repose,
Fit hour with a master mind’s impress to spread,
The draped temple and alters of the dead:
Genius sweeps along with glittering wings
Trailing her essence as she goes,
And from her lightest touch around us springs
Her hallowed fired, that burning throws
Upward their flashing flames that ne’er expires,
Until the soul’s consumed by its own raging fires.
“Bonaventure” a poem by J.M. Marsh, circa 1860
The History of Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah, GA
Before Bonaventure housed Savannah’s most beloved dead, it was a plantation that belonged to Josiah Tattnall Sr., who was born in 1740 to Thomas and Elizabeth Tattnall. He was a British immigrant that arrived in Charleston, South Carolina, in the mid-1700s. While in Charleston, he married Mary Mullryne, the daughter of Colonel John and Claudia Mullryne.
Supposedly, the many oaks that dot the picturesque landscape were planted in the shape of the letters “M” and “T” to commemorate the union of the Mullryne and Tattnall families. By 1771, the families owned over 9,000 acres.
When his father-in-law decided to leave Charleston and settle in Savannah, Josiah Sr. and his wife Mary followed. Colonel John Mullryne would then found Bonaventure Plantation in 1762. Two sons were born to Mary and Josiah Sr. at Bonaventure—John and Josiah Jr.
A comfortable home was built on the site made of English brick but burned down on January 7, 1771. Local legend has it that the house caught fire during a formal dinner party. As it’s told, a servant informed the host that the roof was on fire and nothing could be done to stop the fire. Ever the hospitable host, he calmly clanked his glass and invited the guests to pick up their plates and follow him to the garden. There, they finished their dinner and drinks, watching the home go up in flames. Another brick mansion was built as a replacement, but it too burned in 1804.
Bonaventure During the Revolutionary War
By the time America had begun its revolution in 1775, the two families had pledged their allegiance to King George III. They even helped the Royal Governor, James Wright, escape from rebel captors by offering him a place of refuge at Bonaventure until he could board the ship Scarborough and travel to England.
Mullryne and Tattnall were forced to flee Georgia, as well, after being accused of treason by the Revolutionary Council in Savannah. Mullryne fled to the Bahamas, where he died in 1786, and Tattnall went to England. In 1782, the 750-acre Bonaventure was confiscated and sold at auction to John Habersham.
Josiah Tattnall Jr. would eventually return to Savannah in 1785 after the Revolutionary War had ended and purchase Bonaventure from John Habersham. Josiah Tattnall Jr. didn’t seem to share his father’s political views. Acquiring Bonaventure meant it’d been returned to the Tattnall family once more.
He introduced sea island cotton from the Bahamas to the plantation. By 1801, he’d made quite the name for himself and was elected governor of Georgia.
Josiah Tattnall Jr. married a Savannah girl by the name of Harriet Fenwicke. They had three children: Edward Fenwick, Harriet, and Josiah III. Josiah Tattnall Jr. had made great strides at Bonaventure, but his life was marked by tragedy like many others of that era. In 1802, his wife Harriet died and was buried at Bonaventure next to the couple’s four children, who died in infancy, and he passed away the very next year. Bonaventure was then placed in a trust for their three young children. They were sent to live with their grandfather in London.
The land was returned to the children in 1817. Harriet died in 1819, followed by Edward Finwick in 1832, leaving Bonaventure in the care of Commodore Josiah Tattnall III.
Josiah joined the US Navy in 1812 and became a distinguished naval officer. He’s reported to have coined the phrase, “Blood is thicker than water.” He fought in the Civil War and the Mexican War. He died in Savannah in 1871 and was buried with his family at Bonaventure.
The Commodore rarely spent time at Bonaventure because of his military career and sold 600 acres to Peter Wiltberger, a Savannah businessman, in 1846. The sale did not include the family burial plot, but Wiltberger promised to maintain it anyway. Wiltberger planned to turn 70 acres into a public cemetery. Before his plans could be realized, however, Wiltberger passed away in 1853. His son, William, inherited the estate and began working to fulfill his father’s vision of a public cemetery at Bonaventure. In 1868, William formed the Evergreen Cemetery Company. He died in 1872 and was buried in his family’s section of Bonaventure. After his death, the remaining plots of Bonaventure, then called Evergreen Cemetery, were placed in the hands of the Evergreen Cemetery Company.
If you’re interested in stories about Savannah, check out the terrifying story of the Gribble House.
The Enslaved at Bonaventure
Before we venture into Bonaventure’s second life as a cemetery, like many of the plantations of that time, Bonaventure ran on the labor of enslaved people. Legal documents record Peter Wiltberger’s estate of Bonaventure. The papers are from around 1868 and include an inventory of 30 enslaved people, mentioned by their first names, as well as six other deeds and bills of sale for other enslaved people owned by the Wiltberger’s from 1840-1855. But even before Peter Wiltberger owned Bonaventure, it had a long history of slavery. In Claudia Mullryne’s will and testament from December 10, 1781, it’s noted that her granddaughter Claudia Cattell Tattnall was to inherit the enslaved.
Slavery was originally illegal in Savannah, but by the 1740s, slavery had bled into Georgia. By this time, enslaved people from South Carolina were openly sold in the city. Slavery officially became legal in Georgia in 1750. The farming of rice and sea island cotton increased the demand for enslaved labor.
Slavery definitely left a sad and horrific mark on Bonaventure and the rest of the South. While roaming Bonaventure’s lovely pathways, it’s difficult to imagine such a terrible time. I’m convinced that its melancholy vibrations are cast not only by the whispers of the dead but the reminders of a practice so awful we still feel its pains today.
A Victorian Cemetery
Despite its tragic past, Bonaventure is a remarkable treasure of distinct Victorian gravestones and monuments. Bonaventure is a reflection of the shifting thoughts surrounding death for Victorian Americans. Death became almost like a dance, with both ritual and romantic notions, to be performed after a loved one’s passing. Cemeteries became beautiful places with stunning gardens that transformed a place of death into a heavily decorated and cared-for “city of the dead.” People began visiting cemeteries for a chance to relish in their beauty. One author said this about Bonaventure, “Death is robbed of half its horrors.” Even now, I have to say that I agree. If this is where my bones were laid to rest, I could see not feeling half so bad about it. Perhaps that was the goal of the Victorians, who experienced so much death—maybe these glamourous cemeteries helped comfort loved ones about the passing of their friend or family and ease their own fears about what they’d also face, probably much too soon.
An early visitor of Bonaventure wrote:
“This hallowed burial place is like a natural cathedral, whose columns are majestic trees; whose stained-glass its gorgeous forage; whose tapestries are draperies of long gray moss; whose pavement is the flowery turf; whose aisles are avenues of softened light and shade; whose monuments are these elaborate and tasteful marble shafts, which tell in simple lines the names of those who here repose in dreamless sleep.”
Bonaventure Cemetery Today
In 1907, the city of Savannah purchased Evergreen Cemetery at Bonaventure for $30,000. Bonaventure is now maintained by the city’s Park and Tree Commission. Bonaventure was the fourth of five cemeteries the city owns and maintains.
In his book, A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf, John Muir wrote of Bonaventure:
“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.”
Today Bonaventure is visited by thousands every year. It comprises over 100 acres and is a testament to Victorian burial traditions. With its stately live oaks, winding pathways, bloom-busting azaleas, river-side views, and ornate headstones, it’s a true site to see. Whether you’re a taphophile or not, Bonaventure is a reminder that there is beauty and peace after this life. It’s a treasure trove for photographers, historians, and those fascinated by Victorian culture.
Additional Sources:
- Bell, Karen. “Atlantic Slave Trade to Savannah.” New Georgia Encyclopedia, last modified September 24, 2020. https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/atlantic-slave-trade-to-savannah/
- “Bonaventure Historical Society – Bonaventure Cemetery – Cemeteries, Savannah, GA.” Bonaventure Historical Society, December 15 2021, www.bonaventurehistorical.org.
- Taylor, B. F. “Abstracts of Wills of South Carolinians Recorded in Savannah, Ga.” The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, vol. 41, no. 2, 1940, pp. 81–83. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/27571625. Accessed August 17 2022.
- “The History of Savannah’s Bonaventure Cemetery.” The History of Savannah’s Bonaventure Cemetery: From Private Estate to Public Cemetery, www.arcadiapublishing.com/Navigation/Community/Arcadia-and-THP-Blog/September-2017/%E2%80%8BThe-History-of-Savannah-s-Bonaventure-Cemetery-F. Accessed August 17 2022.
- Wilson, Amie Marie, and Mandi Dale Johnson. Historic Bonaventure Cemetery: Photographs from the Collection of the Georgia Historical Society. Arcadia Pub., 1998.
Music:
-The following music was used for this media project:
Music: At Rest by Kevin MacLeod
Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/3388-at-rest
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Artist website: https://incompetech.com
– The following music was used for this media project:
Music: Heartbreaking by Kevin MacLeod
Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/3863-heartbreaking
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Artist website: https://incompetech.com
– Ghostpocalypse – 6 Crossing the Threshold by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed
under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
