Diary of Orrin Brown, Savannah, Georgia
Sunday–Jan. 15th
I was one of the detail so I had to work on the fort all day today. The weather was quite cool this morning but it was quite warm through the day. There was two soldiers burried today right here in sight of our camp. And here I will mention that our camp is within about 20 rods of the City Graveyard and it one of the most beautifull graveyard I have ever seen I never saw any in the north that would begin to compare with it. I should judge there were 200 Beautifull Vaults and each yard is fenced with a nice Iron fence and beautifully ornamented with evergreens of all kinds. We drew one days rations of soft bread today.
Colonial Park Cemetery occupies 6 acres in Savannah’s historic district, and was the primary burying grounds for the city from 1750 to 1853. Laurel Grove Cemetery at the Springfield Plantation, on the west side of Savannah, was developed after 1850, so is likely the location where Pvt. Brown was camped. The City’s website notes the park-like site has a unique concentration of Victorian architecture: “The 67-acre cemetery was designed around a natural ravine and included a large Central Green with curving roadways.”
The most famous cemetery in Savannah may be the Bonaventure Cemetery, site of the Southern Gothic book and movie Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Begun as a private plantation cemetery, the private site on a bluff on the Wilmington River was purchased by the City of Savannah in 1907, and has become a unique tourist attraction. The statute on the book cover has since been relocated to an art museum for safekeeping.
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