Bonaventure Cemetery

SAVANNAH, GA - December 20, 2015

A nice morning stroll though the cemetery. It sounds odd but remembering that you are walking through a cemetery can be difficult in this particular cemetery. This Victorian cemetery is very large in size and is difficult to know where you are unless you have a map. I believe the Victorian statues were made of marble. It is crazy how these statues have lasted from the Victorian Era all the way up to now.

Walking through each and every grave marker, it is easy to forget reality. It is as if you are dreaming. It almost feels like nothing is real and you are walking freely through history without even knowing it. The Spanish moss hanging from the trees really adds a fairy tale effect to the cemetery which also ties into the feeling of dreaming.

The Spanish moss seemed to hang from the trees in a very lovely way. The way the sun would shine through would just make you feel at peace. It seemed to be in every tree and even though it was winter, the Spanish moss lived on.

Some of the grave sites had different plants growing around them. I saw many with brightly colored red berries. Others had different flowers or bushes. I suppose it gave each grave a personal touch.

Some graves sites even had very intricate and beautiful fencing around them, which also gives a very personal touch to the person's grave. The fencing was a very beautiful way to enclose their loved one in their own personal space of remembrance.

Even the mausoleums were created very beautifully with very intricate and special designs. Some of them looked medieval to me and put me in mind of a tiny castle, but I know that they are not. Someone must have put so much thought in the design of the mausoleums because they were designed very nicely.

There seemed to be multiple mausoleums with the same design but the doors were the only difference. Each set of doors had their own design.

Some of the grave locations were shaded very well by the trees which seemed to make you think you were in a fairy tale forest. Even the shapes of the trees, the twists and turns of the branches could make anyone confused of where they might be, in Savannah, GA or in an enchanted forest.

There were many beautiful monuments and each seemed to have a particular meaning which I thought was interesting. The Victorian Era had a meaning for the things or symbols families would put on their dead loved one's grave. Most, if not all, were made of stone. Many of the monuments or symbols symbolized who the person was and what they meant to family and friends. They also had symbols that showed what hope they may have had for their loved ones after their death.

Even a few of the headstones had intricate carvings. The designs were very beautiful and looked so real. It was very impressive, especially for the Victorian Era.

A lot of the statues did show some wear, But I feel like that is what makes them beautiful. I mean there is something way back from the Victorian Era that has stayed intact enough for us to see today.

I seem to catch myself imagining the funeral of these people. I think of the mourning family members and friends all dressed in black and standing around the grave where their dead loved one will be put six feet under. They are forced to let go of the person they once knew and leave them behind. I suppose it sounds pretty familiar. But imagining it in that time period kind of make it somewhat different. I imagine the statue and headstone being placed over where there once was a gaping hole. Where the statue has been there ever since.

These statues have seen many years of different people and visitors of the popular cemetery. They have seen many faces. But they won't see the face they were placed there to represent.

The statues have many lovely details about them but how can something be lovely when it represents death? Or does it represent death? Like I said earlier, they seem to represent the person and who they were. But why are they so sad? Or are they representing the family and friends that are missing an important person in their lives.

I found it interesting how not all of the statues were of angels. Most cemeteries only have angel statues, but not Bonaventure.

Bonaventure had a few angel statues but there seemed to be more statues of women mourning than angels. I couldn't help but think of Doctor Who when I saw this particular statue.

It is always sad when a family member you love dies. I began to wonder, if someone's mate dies, why does the widow or widower put "My Husband" or "My Wife" on the headstone? In the vows that have been repeated in weddings for many years, "Til Death Do Us Part", that means that they aren't married anymore right? Maybe it is just a memory for the widow or widower who lost their spouse and they want to display love for the person. But what if they were to get remarried? I suppose it is all up to the person and what they feel they should do and how they cope with the grieving process. I have never been in that situation so I am not sure.

Quite a few monuments had a design with a cup, or chalice. The cup, or chalice in the Victorian Era meant The Christian Sacrament. A lot of monuments also had columns as well. The columns in the Victorian Era meant Noble Life.

There were also some monuments that had urns on them. I found out that in the Victorian Era the urn meant Immortality, penitence, death of the body and its return to dust in the final resting place. I found that very interesting.

There was an arch that I saw that had torches, I found out that the torches in the Victorian Era meant Immortality, purification, truth, wisdom. 

It is always sad when children die. The parents are devastated of course. In the Victorian Era there seemed to be quite a few children deaths. The statue of Mary and Emma is absolutely heartbreaking. Two very young children who never had a chance to show the world who they were.

Gracie Watson is very iconic at the Bonaventure Cemetery. She had to be fenced in because I am assuming that people could not seem to leave her grave alone. But regardless, to see a statue of a child who faced death way too early is so heartbreaking and all I could think about is how upset her family must have been.

There was a stone with information about Gracie right in the fence with her. It stated: "Little Gracie Watson was born in 1883, the only child of her parents, her father was the manager of the Pulaski House, one of Savannah's leading hotels, where the beautiful and charming little girl was a favorite with the guests. Two days before Easter in April 1889, Gracie died of pneumonia at age six. In 1890, when the rising sculptor, John Waltz, moved to Savannah, he carved from a photograph this life sized, delicately detailed marble statue, which for almost a century has captured the interest of all passersby."

Right next to Gracie's grave was this cute little chubby bird sitting on a headstone. I walked so slowly and quietly to get close enough for a photo.

There were many graves of children and somehow you can tell that they were Victorian children. It is like the sculpting and the art of that time period had a special look to it, I always know the Victorian look when I see it.

Walking through the cemetery I did see this statue of a child with angel wings. I was kind of curious as of what it meant exactly. Was there a little girl buried there and her family and friends wanted a statue to re imagine her as an angel? I am not sure but the details of the statue were beautiful. The girl had to be modeled after someone right?

There was also a Jewish section of the Cemetery. I believe there was something about the Holocaust, like a memorial. I was so excited to find this because it was so different and neat to see.

The headstones were in a foreign language so many of them I couldn't read. I thought it was so interesting how some of the headstones had photos of the person on their headstones. I have never seen that before.

Some of the headstones had Jewish stars on them. They were engraved into the stone. Some of the stones were rounded at the top and that is where the star would be located.

The Bonaventure Cemetery is quite an adventure. You can really enjoy taking a nice relaxing walk through the cemetery while smelling the salt air from the cemetery's waterfront. There is so much to learn and so much to see.

There are so many secrets and so many clues to decipher to find out the truth about the people who are at rest inside the Bonaventure Cemetery.