Some cemeteries become famous because they are beautiful memorial sites, and others for being haunted, and in a dream combo, a beautiful cemetery has a haunting aspect. Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah, Georgia is it.
Established in 1846 originally as "Evergreen Cemetery." It was 60 acres of what was originally the Bonaventure Plantation. Eventually, it expanded to 160 acres.
It says a lot about the mood and visual of the cemetery, as it was featured in the 1994 novel "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" by John Berendt, and the subsequent movie directed by Clint Eastwood, based on the book.
And, it would be hard to imagine that a cemetery this beautiful and historic, with dripping Spanish moss on live oak trees, isn't haunted. Well, yes, it is!
The most famous haunting at Bonaventure is a little girl, Gracie Watson, who passed away from pneumonia at 6 years of age. A beautiful statue stands at her gravesite.
Visitors often leave gifts and trinkets at Gracie's grave. Both the age she died and the fact her parents immortalized her in marble and then moved to New England, leaving her behind, makes for some romantic musing.
Many claim to have seen this little gowned girl haunting the cemetery and other areas nearby where her parents had businesses. In fact, her grave is the most visited grave in the cemetery, even with there being Civil War famous figures buried there.
I think when I go there to visit, I will take hundreds of photos. What a gorgeous memorial cemetery that embodies the proud South.
