Bonaventure Cemetery

I haven't been to many cemeteries just for touring.  It's not that they aren't nice places to learn some history and remember our past, it's just that they're creepy.  It doesn't seem to matter if they're really stinking old or if they're brand spanking new, they're still creepy.  However, I think it's really hard to truly see Savannah without seeing a cemetery (or apparently two). 

This afternoon we ventured to Bonaventure Cemetery.  Yes, that's the famous one you always hear about.  The one where the statue made famous by Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil used to stand (it's now in a museum).  And Bonaventure is something.  Just take a look:

(Twilight Zone music playing...)

You know what's even creepier?  I have a cousin with the last name of Morgan and grew up just down the street from the Bells.  I don't know a Theus though.  There were a lot of Morgans spread throughout the cemetery though.  My cousin's family is from Georgia, so that's no big surprise.

Spanish Moss is all over the cemetery.  Most of the trees are very, very old oaks and are covered with the moss.  Spanish Moss is spread via air, so it needs a bit of a breeze to multiply.  Since the cemetery is right next to the river, it gets enough breeze to move the moss from tree to tree, hence the thick coverage.

This cemetery is huge too.  It may not be the size of Arlington National Cemetery (and I'm too lazy to look that up to find out) but it's definitely quite large.  We parked in the back corner by the river and walked for quite some time and never even saw the front of the cemetery.  We couldn't even see the entrance in the distance.  The cemetery goes on forever.  Here's a picture of the "eternal" road -

That looks down towards the river.  And the view from the other direction -

The cemetery is filled with all sorts of neat finds and stories.  Like the stones and monuments in honor of this proud family of Scottish heritage that quickly embraced the South:

Each grave/memorial spot in this family plot is marked with stones like this:

Look at that cool Celtic cross.  It rained on us during our visit, which just added to the ambiance.

And many of the graves were marked with this marker:

"CSA" stands for the Confederate States of America.  This is the Deep South, y'all. 

This cemetery is truly beautiful and worth touring.  It's so neat too to see how families memorialized their loved ones and how the language on the headstones changed through time.  I discovered that in the 1800's, it wasn't uncommon to list out the age of the person, down to the month and day, regardless of age.  

And, in Savannah, they have a very different view of cemeteries than most.  The cemeteries here are considered parks.  People often picnic here.  They don't view these places as creepy, but rather just another piece of important history to be learned about and enjoyed.  And, I have to admit that Bonaventure was more serene than creepy today.