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Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Bonadventure Cemetery, Savannah postcard


If you go to Savannah – go to Bonadventure Cemetery. It is amazing. It looks like it is a true place for the meeting of the dead. It is ghostly looking with the Spanish moss hanging from the swooping limbs and eccentric are memorials all around.

Hmmpphhh! It gives me the shudders just thinking about it.

The card does not do justice of all the sights there to see. In the picture, the top left photo is the Mercer plot.

It is a huge cemetery that overlooks a waterway River just a few miles from downtown. I saw dolphins playing in the river when I was there.

About three years ago I spent just about a full day in the cemetery while Anna was at a business meeting. And after the meeting week was over before we went home I took her and showed her my discoveries, like the Johnny Mercer family plot, the Jewish section, Tyson relatives, and much others.

It is a cemetery worth visiting.

13 comments:

  1. We lived in Hilton Head for a while, including when The Book came out. Loved all about Savannah. Including the Cemetery and The House. Great city.

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  2. Si,
    Yes it is.... but, after saying that, my neighbor's daughter works in Savannah at night - walking to her car the other night someone grabbed her and told her to get down and give her all her money. She refused to get down and refused to hand over her money. Her friend scream and the mugger took off running, only to be nabbed by a cop.
    My neighbors' other child, a son, is in Iraq... they fear for her safety more than his.

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  3. Anonymous1:44 AM

    Bird has been to Savannah, but not me. She loved it.

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  4. Steve,
    Y'all should go and Bird could be your free tour guide. You will love it.

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  5. Eddie,

    I noted this post - I will get there to see it this summer.

    I wonder how the crime statistics are for Savannah? Given that it is a huge and old city, crime is probably close to cities around metro-Atlanta.

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  6. Deborah,
    I have not seen any statistics, but from watching the masses of poor houses surrounding Savannah, I bet they have a high crime rate. So, with that in mind, keep your guard up and don't venture too far away from your room and car at night.
    My neighbor's daughter just recently graduated from Southern State with a degree in Hotel Management and landed a job at one of the better hotels there - either the Hyatt or the Hilton, and while her and another female co-worker were walking to their car a man followed them and finally grabbed the other girl's arm and demanded their money. The neighbor's daughter, over 6 feet tall, refused, then he told her to lie down, which she refused that too.. then the other girl screamed and cops materialized and the guy took off running and was caught.
    So, what I am saying, it is a fun place to go, very historical and beautiful - but just be alert!

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  7. Anonymous3:19 PM

    Deborah,
    A lot of Savannah is layed out in several city squares. If you stay close to those you are pretty safe.
    Bay Street close to the Riverwalk and the City Market area are also fairly safe.
    The area of Victory Drive and Liberty St. are also good places to visit. Abercorn St. and Bull St. can be driven all the way from the Riverwalk and Bay St. area out to the I-95 area. Beautiful avenues of Oaks!!
    Savannah is just an unreal beautiful, historic place to go. It will take multiple trips to really appreciate it. They have some fantistic restaurants, Carey Hilliards (multiple locations), the Pirate's House, the Lady and Sons, the Shrimp Factory restaurants are all good. Be sure to go to the welcome center on Bay St. as soon as possible. They have a museum and plenty of help about what to see.

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  8. Skip,
    Didn't George Washington eat at The Pirate's House? If I remember correctly, it has a tunnel that used to be a secret - they would knock out somebody in the establishment woozy with booze and take him down the tunnel. He would later wake up on board of a ship at sea... he had just been recruited.
    If George Washington did eat at the Pirate's House - then George and I have something in common other than a love for money.
    Seriously Skip, thank you for your suggestions and advice.

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  9. Anonymous4:53 PM

    Deborah,
    Hmmmmm...don't think G.W. slept there but Blackbeard the Pirate supposedly did. There may have been a tunnel since the place is on a bluff. The restaurant is also said to be haunted. Cheers

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  10. Skip,
    That was me who made the George Washington statement. I believe I read that when we visited Savannah years ago about George Washington eating at the Pirates' House. Really! When we started reading about different places to go and do, and people plugging their restaurants, that is what the Pirates' House claimed. Time slot wise, it would have been when he visited Savannah to visit General Nathan Greene's widow at their Mulberry Plantation.
    By the way, General Lighthorse Harry Lee (Robert E. LEE's father) died and Mulberry Plantation when he visited Mrs. Greene.

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  11. Anonymous5:55 PM

    Apologies Deborah, ET, my Faux Pas on the respondee.
    I still can't find anything on G.W. sleeping there or anywhere in Savannah.
    Here is where history gets confusing. George Washington Greene was Nathaniel Greene's son. George Washington slept at the Pirate's house in Charleston, S.C.

    Here's the link:
    http://www.charlestonhomelistings.com/Historic_Charleston_Present_and_Past.htm

    Who would of thunk it.

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  12. Anonymous5:59 PM

    For some reason,the link was truncated when I published the text.
    I'll try again.

    http://www.charlestonhomelistings.com/Historic_Charleston_Present_and_Past.htm

    or

    http://www.charlestonhomelistings.com/
    Historic_Charleston_Present_and_Past.htm

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  13. Anonymous6:03 PM

    not to labor over this but as you can see the first link before the 'or' got truncated again. There is a bug in the blogging software. Anyway, if you choose the second one (making sure to get all the text from both lines together) it will take you to the info.

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