Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Bonaventure Cemetery, Savannah, Georgia - A Photo Essay

I am currently writing a YA vampire short story. I've chosen Savannah, Georgia as my setting. The live oaks shrouded in Spanish moss, the historic buildings, the haunted graveyards, and the narrow cobblestone alleyways by the river make this the perfect setting for a vampire to sink their fangs into.

One of the most beautiful cemeteries I've visited is Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah. The cemetery is founded on the property, formerly home to Bonaventure Plantation, first owned by Colonel John Mullryne. The first house burned down in 1771 and was rebuilt. The plantation's history is rich and varied, including the historical escape of Royal Governor James Wright from Revolutionary captors in 1776. It was also used as a hospital in the Siege of Savannah during The American Revolution in 1779.

The cemetery was designed around the ruins of the plantation, incorporating the existing roadways. It opened for private interment in 1846 and to the public in 1907, though the Tattnall family, late owners of the property, were buried there as early as 1794. It is nearly 100 acres and great for photographing. There are also a bunch of ghost stories associated with the graveyard, also great for any writer to reference. Bonaventure was also featured in the popular novel, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt, later made into the movie.

Here are some of my photographs, which I hope inspire your own stories. I visited Bonaventure on a dark and misty day, quite phantasmagorical. I found the cemetery charming.























15 comments:

Krisztina Clifton said...

I have a strange obsession with cemeteries. These photos are so amazing!!! Thanks so much for linking up at theblogentourage.com :)

~Christina

Nora B. Peevy said...

Thank you for the great blog hop. I am obsessed too. There are other cemetery posts on here and more to follow in the coming months.

Shah Wharton said...

Oh I'm liking these pics and the sound of your short story. Hope it get to read it. Looking at this has totally inspired me to write more of my novel, which is so typical because I now have to go out. Grr.
Love it if you could answer the question top of my blog?

Also, todays post might interest you?
http://wordsinsync.blogspot.com/2011/10/novels-for-teens-who-love-twilight.html

Shah .X

Nora B. Peevy said...

Shah,I will hop over to your blog after I post for today for the question.

As for the story, I will probably post an excerpt from it at some point. It is a submission, so I won't post the entire thing. ;)

Jessica @FoundtheMarbles said...

That is unbelievably cool. I look forward to reading the story!

Nora B. Peevy said...

Jessica, I hope to go back again and explore the cemetery some more and the others as well. I did a ghost tour, which covered some of the history of the city and walked around on foot a bunch, but there is so much to see in Savannah. It was a great vacation.

Unknown said...

Always been fascinated by that cemetery since my Savannah friend gave me a copy of The Garden Of Good and Evil.

D.G. Hudson said...

Hi, liked your photos of the Savannah cemetery. Am following now.

Cemeteries contain our ancestors, and a lot of history. We visited Pere LaChaise Cimetierre in Paris. Don't miss it. You need a map to navigate through the streets in the City of the Dead, but it's worth it.

Unknown said...

Never thought i'd catch myself saying a cemetery looked beautiful, but there's something about this one. Fab pictures!

Passing through for the Halloween blog hop!

I'm not really a fan of anything horror related to be honest. I used to be, but the movie Halloween H20 scarred me for life! I won't be dressing up this year until the late celebrations in November...haven't decided what to go as yet

Great blog :-)

TToria
xo
http://ttoria.blogspot.com

Nora B. Peevy said...

Thanks for the nice comments everybody.

Paris cemeteries ... YES! I have to get there sometime. They are on my list. I've checked out the books from the library and loved them. Now I have to see them in person. Wanted to get there since 1999.

Amberr Meadows said...

I am a Georgia native and have always known of the lore surrounding this spooky cemetery.

I'm here from the blog hop, and I love your blog!

My favorite scary book is IT (scared the crap out of me when I was a kid), movie that horrified me most was Rob Zombie's remake of Halloween, and I did not dress up this year, because I'm lame. Maybe next year ;-)

Happy Halloween!

Nora B. Peevy said...

Love IT. You are so lucky to live in GA. It was my first time visiting your beautiful state.

Anonymous said...

I have visited Savannah twice, most recently this past August. I love it there! Hope your story is progressing well!

Nora B. Peevy said...

It is going well. I will definitely make the December 31st submission deadline. Probably, even before then. I even have the story plotted, which is odd for me. Normally, I work organically and let the characters take me where they will. Of course, as I'm writing that might happen anyway. We'll see. If something feels right, I'll run with it, even if it isn't scripted. I've found sometimes that's the way I've killed off characters unexpectedly. LOL I thought they would live -- NOPE. They died surprisingly to the author too. LOL

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