The motto for my life this year.
The best outings are those I don’t plan to do. Usually they are cooked up by my amazing husband who often knows what I will love long before I’ve even paid any attention to where we are going (Grand Place in Brussels, the city of Ghent, the ruins of Villers Abbey, Boulogne-Sur-Mer; the list just goes on). July was the mother of all unplanned activities.
In the span of mere weeks we found out we were leaving Nassau and rushed to do all the things I would normally have six months to a year to accomplish. Add to that the uncertainty of going to a US posting where there is no housing assignment, no welcome kit, no car, and every little piece of information I usually cling to, to get me through the limbo phase of moving, was absent. Because we couldn’t fly the dog with the bigger airlines in the middle of summer, we opted to take a charter flight into Ft. Lauderdale and rent a car for the long drive up to DC. My only goal was to get to our final destination as quickly, safely, and inexpensively as possible.
Our first night on the road was spent in a dodgy little Motel 6 off of I-95 in Savannah (we were splurging the next night for better digs in Myrtle Beach so I didn’t feel too bad about the decision). I expected us to hit the road early for our next stop, but my husband had done his homework. He suggested we go into Savannah to check out Bonaventure Cemetery with it’s Spanish moss-filled trees and famous old headstones. Wait, what? You had me at old cemetery, and clinched it with Spanish moss. He gets me. He really gets me…
Bonaventure began as Bonaventure Plantation in the mid 1700’s, eventually housing the family burial plot, which still exists on the property today. In 1846 the plantation was sold and the northeastern portion, which included the site of the original plantation houses (long since destroyed by fire) was turned into a public burial ground.
The economic success of the Savannah’s elite would see the cemetery transformed in the tradition of England’s garden cemeteries, with an infusion of lavish gravesites, artistic memorials and sculptures, and park-like landscaping. The cemetery was sold to the city of Savannah and the name was officially changed to Bonaventure Cemetery in the early 1900’s.
Most of us became familiar with the cemetery through movies in the 1980’s (you know the one in particular!) and associate it with a sense of magic, voodoo, and an eeriness that plays on the imagination.
Even at noon on a sunny, hot, and humid day the cemetery is both beautiful and haunting. You could easily envision questionable things happening within it’s walls after dark, whether manmade or paranormal.
On this trip we barely scratched the surface of this massive cemetery. We tried our best to visit most of the highlights, but there is so much more to explore (as well as the rest of the city!) on our next trip to Savannah.
Arklahoma Muse Photography and Design 