A little over a year ago I wrote a post about some of the ghostly tales and odd stories that you’ll find still swirling around Bonaventure Cemetery. Legends and lore like these do not die or fade slowly. If anything, under all that moss and jasmine they tend to grow stronger. Ah, the mysterious South. Gotta love it! You can find that original post here – the well known Gracie and Corrine plus a story about a rare surviving grave bell and the bronze Eternal Jogger are also featured.
The Lawton family plot is often found when perusing professional photos of the cemetery and there’s a darn good reason. For stylized craftmanship, Bonaventure is a treasure trove and this one of those treasures! If you zoom in near the toes you’ll see that this monument had an Italian designer/sculptor and the cost must’ve been staggering for the time period. This arch is easily 12 feet tall…
This is Corrine Lawton. You can find her story here.
This grave belongs to Carvill Carson and I think the filagree styling towards the top is just lovely. Interesting fact: his brother’s wife was Mary Keene of Roanoke, Virginia and I believe I might be distantly related to her. I lived in Roanoke for a brief time right out of high school when I was attending Hollins College (now University), and while I dropped out during my Freshman year (I just wanted to follow the Grateful Dead some more…the parking lot scene had a hold on me…ah, youth) the city holds a lot of good memories for me. I went to the Roanoke Star a LOT to escape school and it’s where I fell in love with hockey. So, thank you Carvill Carson for being the catalyst to this trip down memory lane!
Famous funerary artist John Walz has a grave here, which is small and simple in comparison to his paid works, but considering he didn’t even have one at all until a local society created the one pictured, it’s a love dedication. There’s a garden named for him as well but not pictured because it was 1000 degrees, bright as hell and the cemetery was still packed. I was hot and overwhelmed so another time for that feature. But Walz’s works are legendary in Bonaventure, especially Little Gracie, since he created over 70 known monuments and you can read more about him here.
Lots of family interred within but some moved from Laurel Grove to this location.
One of the heavily featured motifs in Bonaventure = angels. They are everywhere and almost every single one has a different style…
This is only a small section of a towering obelisk that is dedicated to a young son (20) who lost his life on nearby Tybee Island. It’ll be 145 years this July 10th since he died of drowning. But stones are still left for him decades upon decades after his death…
Note the lamp and the hand reaching to extinguish the flame. From my research this type of motif is fairly uncommon and it is certainly eye-catching.
Wait and Hope indeed.
I’ve linked it numerous times but here’s one more – Four Weird, Tragic & Ghostly Stories from Bonaventure Cemetery.
