Colonial Park Cemetery in Savannah

Colonial Park served as Savannah's cemetery for more than a century and contains over nine thousand graves. Established in 1750, by 1789 it had been expanded three times to reach the current size of six acres. Nearly everyone who died in Savannah between 1750 and July 1st, 1853 was buried here.

The cemetery closed in 1853 after becoming so crowded and unkept that citizens petitioned for a new place to bury their dead. The city then developed plantation land into Laurel Grove Cemetery, and at about the same time, Bonaventure and Cathedral cemeteries were established. Some families with burials in Colonial Park moved the remains of their loved ones to these new cemeteries. Many famous Revolutionary War heroes are buried in Colonial Park Cemetery.

The old cemetery continued to deteriorate during the second half of the 19th century. Proposals to build a courthouse or run streets and a railroad through it threatened its existence. When the City of Savannah decided to tear down the surrounding wall, Christ Church sued to save it. The city won the lawsuit and demolished the wall. However, the judge also ruled that the city was to protect the gravemarkers and convert the old cemetery to a park. The Park and Tree Commission began to beautify the spot in 1896.

Markers placed by the Georgia Historical Commission stand beside a number of graves. These describe important events or individuals who contributed to the state's history.

The cemetery has also been known as Previously known as the Old Cemetery, Old Brick Graveyard, South Broad Street Cemetery, and Christ Church Cemetery.

Many famous Revolutionary War heroes are buried in Colonial Park Cemetery. Button Gwinnett was buried in the cemetery in 1777. He is one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. He was also the acting governor of Georgia during the Revolutionary War. He was not on good terms with General Lachlan McIntosh, the leader of the Continental troops in Georgia. Gwinnett challenged Mclntosh to a duel. Gwinnett died three days later of a leg wound suffered in the duel. General Lachlan McIntosh died in 1806 and was also buried in Colonial Park Cemetery. Opponents in life, they're neighbors in death in Colonial Park Cemetery.

The remains of Major General Nathanael Greene were laid in the Graham vault until they were reburied at Johnson Square in 1901. There were also many ordinary civilians buried in Colonial Park Cemetery. Over 700 citizens died during the Great Yellow Fever epidemic of 1820. They were all buried in Colonial Park Cemetery. Even though there are only about 600 burial markers still standing in the cemetery, over 10,000 bodies are buried there.

During the Civil War, Union troops were stationed at the cemetery because it was ideal for horses. The troops often searched for valuables among the graves. Since most of the soldiers were mischievous, they switched a number of dates on some of the tombstones. If the tampered dates are correct, then the oldest person buried there lived to be 1700!

The Trustee's Garden Club has done much to maintain and restore the cemetery by installing lighting, repairing broken sidewalks, as well as pruning and planting.

Entrance -- The arch framing the main entrance to Colonial Park Cemetery was placed here in 1913 by the Savannah chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Made of Georgia granite, it was erected to honor Revolutionary War soldiers buried in the cemetery. Most of the palmetto palms and crepe myrtles along the walkways and fence were planted by the Park and Tree Commission in 1896. The crepe myrtles, beautifully gnarled with age, display pink flowers throughout the summer.

Earliest Grave -- The small, but elegant, marble tabletstone for William Bowen Williamson is the earliest gravemarker in the cemetery.

Literary Legacy -- Eugenia Price's popular novels often interweave both real and fictional characters with the early history of Georgia and Florida. The McQueen, Mackay and Smith families are central to several of her books. In the novel Savannah, Margaret McQueen walks to the old Colonial Cemetery every day to visit the grave of her husband. The McQueen, Mackay and Smith graves here are forever entwined with Savannah?s literary traditions, as well as with its history.

Moravian Memorial -- A small band of Moravians, followers of a Protestant sect founded about 1722, arrived in Georgia soon after the colony was established. Although Moravian missions in the Caribbean fared well ministering to the large slave populations, slave holders in nearby South Carolina objected to their activities. The group eventually moved into North Carolina and Pennsylvania. The eight people memorialized by this tablet would have been buried in Savannah?s first cemetery, which was located near the present-day intersection of York and Bull streets.

Burial Vaults -- When the cemetery closed in 1853, some burial vaults were dismantled and rebuilt at the new cemeteries. Other vaults were bricked over, with inscribed marble tablets attached (the Odingsells and Gugel-Purse vaults are examples). Some vaults, deteriorated and long since torn down, are still apparent by the outlines of their foundations, especially when the ground is dry.

Recarved Markers -- The numbers on Capt. Jonathan Cooper?s gravestone, and on several others scattered throughout the cemetery, have been recarved. This prank has been blamed on General Sherman's troops, who occupied Savannah near the end of the Civil War, and also on British troops who were in the city during the Revolutionary War. Although the British did destroy the fence around the graveyard, no historical documentation has been found that specifically confirms either theory.

Table and Box Tombs -- The markers at the Berrien family plot represent a funerary style popular during the first half of the nineteenth century. 'Boxes' and 'tables' were built over graves, and marble ledgers were placed on the tops, often inscribed with details about the deceased's accomplishments and family connections. During the 1896 effort to beautify the cemetery, many of the box tombs were dismantled and their ledgers placed at ground level. Imagine how different the cemetery looked when its box and table tombs were standing!

Mystery Vaults -- The ownership of these four vaults was discovered in 1901, when a search was made for the remains of Maj. Gen. Nathanael Green and his son, George Washington Green. After all four vaults were opened, and skeletal remains, coffin nameplates, etc., examined, it was determined that the large vault closest to Oglethorpe Avenue belonged to Col. Richard Wylly, the deputy quartermaster-general of the Continental Army. The vault proved to be the one in which Nathaniel Greene had been interred. The next vault to the south belonged to the Jones family (the remains had been moved to Bonaventure Cemetery). The fourth vault, with a high arched front, was tentatively identified as belonging to the Thiot family.

Baldwin-Brigham Vault -- Most burial vaults built during the 1700s had high, ornate fronts. Vaults constructed in the 1800s were usually less ostentatious, with a 'stepped' design on the front wall. Despite hurricanes, fires, and neglect, this step-style vault appears almost as it did when it was erected. It was constructed of imported 'Philadelphia' brick, with a sandstone roof and capstones on the façade. The narrow 'butter joints' in the mortar shows the skill of the brick mason. When this vault is compared with others in the cemetery, it is evident that many of them have been rebuilt. Differences in brick size and type, and in the width of the mortar joints, are clues to reconstructions.

The Wall -- Over the years, many changes and repairs have been made to the cemetery's eastern wall, the only section remaining of the 1796 surrounding wall. Most of the gravestones attached to the wall were either 'orphans,' displaced during the years of neglect, or markers relocated in order to construct park pathways.

Faux Stone -- The exterior of the Johnston vault was stuccoed and scored to resemble finished stone blocks. This common masonry practice refined and decorated brick structures, and protected the soft brick from deterioration. Much of the stucco on this vault had deteriorated over time, and in 1995, as part of the City's ongoing restoration project, it was replaced with new material. The new stucco was carefully scored to replicate the 'stone blocks' of the historical stucco.

Catholic Section -- Although Catholics were originally banned by the Georgia colony's 1733 charter, within a few years a small Catholic population lived in Savannah. In 1791 they received land for a church, and the city assigned Catholic burials to the southwest corner of the cemetery. Many of the persons buried in this area have French or Irish surnames. Cathedral Cemetery became the Catholic cemetery after Colonial Park closed in 1853.

Refugees from St. Domingue -- The Catholic section includes persons who escaped the slave revolt in the French colony of St. Domingue (today's Haiti). The insurrection began in 1791 and ended in 1804 with the establishment of an independent government by the freed black population. During successive waves of violence during the thirteen years, white refugees fled the island and settled in southern seaports such as New Orleans, Charleston, and Savannah. Some of the marker inscriptions here reveal persons native to St. Domingue--including Onsime and Nerestan Legriel, who arrived in Savannah as small children. The dates on this marker have been altered by vandals.

Chevrier-Thomasson Vault -- The marker attached to this vault memorializes the last known burial in the cemetery. William Francis Joseph Thomasson died in 1861, eight years after the cemetery closed, and was probably buried here to join his brother, Marc Honore Paul Pierre Thomasson, who died in 1851. (There have been subsequent burials in Colonial Park, such as those for Major General Samuel Elbert and his wife. However, their remains were relocated from the family burial ground in 1924).

Screven Vault -- Many of the cemetery's vaults resembled this one before being rebuilt or demolished. The high, graceful arch and decorative brickwork on the front wall indicate the skills of the brickmason and also suggest the social and economic status of the Screven family. According to Savannah's Register of Deaths, the remains of John, Sarah Ann, and a 16 month old daughter, Sarah were moved to Laurel Grove Cemetery in 1870.

McIntosh Vault -- The McIntosh vault was apparently demolished in the late 1890s because of deterioration. The cast iron fence surrounding the McIntosh gravemarkers approximates the size of the original vault. Gen. McIntosh died at the age of 80 and was brought to the cemetery from his house on St. James Square. His wife Sarah, at her death was described in the Register of Deaths as a 'truly respectable old Lady.'

LeMoine (Neyle) Vault -- When a sidewalk was proposed for Abercorn Street in 1896, the Neyle family permitted the Park and Tree Commission to change their family vault so it would not interfere with the walk's alignment. Some tablets may have been moved from the western front wall, but the fence was placed in such a way that the vault was preserved. The Register of Deaths indicates that members of the Neyle family were buried here as early as 1799. Fr. LeMoine is probably buried in the Catholic section of the cemetery, but this location was selected for the bronze plaque which honors him.

Gugel-Purse Vault -- An 1896 photograph shows the 1828 Purse vault which once stood on this spot. In appearance it was very similar to the Screven vault, with a high arch on the front wall. In 1896 Park and Tree Commission officials, with the family's permission, lowered the arch, perhaps to make it less noticeable in the new park. Later, the vault was completely demolished and an inscribed marble slab was placed as a memorial.

In 1990, the City of Savannah began an extended preservation project to maintain Colonial Cemetery for future generations. Several areas of investigation were undertaken in order to understand the site thoroughly.

Historical research documented changes that took place over the site's 250-year history. Researchers updated an existing map and photographed and inventoried all markers. Burial records, city council minutes, newspaper articles, probate records, and early maps revealed additions to the site, periods of disrepair and upheaval, landscaping changes, ownership changes, and previous restoration efforts.

Archaeology was used to locate unmarked graves. In addition to the 557 marked graves, archaeologists located 8,678 unmarked graves, suggesting the likelihood of overburials and overlapping of graves from different decades. The conservation philosophy of the project was one of minimal intervention, seeking to stabilize markers without making them look like new. Conservators treated hundreds of deteriorating tabletstones, ledgers, vaults, box tombs, and iron fences. Some markers were broken in several pieces, while others had pieces missing. Some stones tilted or leaned precariously. Vaults needed repair to roofs and repointing of failing mortar joints. Ironwork was treated, using original construction techniques, whenever possible. Cleaning for its own sake was not a priority, in part due to available funding and in part due to the damage that is ultimately done in repeatedly cleaning even sound stone.

Markers to be treated were selected by balancing public safety, urgency, vulnerability, and historic and artistic significance. One way of judging the success of the conservation efforts is to see how many markers do not appear to have been repaired. If the work is not readily apparent, treatment is considered a success.

Gravestone designs tell us a great deal about changing attitudes towards death and resurrection during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The designs found on markers throughout the cemetery give clues to the shifts in religious thought and to the time period of the burials.

The earliest designs symbolized the certainty of death and the harshness of loss - an end to earthly life, but with the hope of immortality (the winged skull or death?s head is conspicuously missing from the iconography of Colonial Park Cemetery).

A later, more hopeful design, the winged cherub or soul effigy symbolized the soul in heaven.

Finally, the urn and willow memorializes the deceased with an emphasis on those left to grieve: the willow a symbol of mourning, the urn to hold ashes of the mortal remains.

Lettering styles were different during earlier centuries: on some gravestones in Colonial Park the number 1 and the letter I often appear to be a capital letter 'J.' This is obvious on the earliest gravestone in the cemetery, the marker for William Bowen Williamson.

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, an ?S? in the interior of a word resembled today's lowercase 'f.' The interior S is used on Hannah Morel?s marker (next to the McQueen and Mackay gravestones). Her epitaph tells that she "was killed by a fall from a horse," but use of the interior S makes the word appear as if it is spelled "horfe."

Notable Buildings near Colonial Park Cemetery:

Mary Marshall Row -- (1855) East Oglethorpe Avenue, facing south, ending at Lincoln Street. Four houses that were within hours of being demolished in 1960 for their valuable Savannah grey bricks and marble steps.

Location:

Colonial Park Cemetery is located at the intersection of Abercorn Street and Oglethorpe Avenue. It is open to pedestrians from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. daily and is a very popular site for local citizens and tourists.