Sassy Savannah: Bonaventure Cemetery and Foods of Savannah

Bonaventure Cemetery

Today, we communed with the dead at Bonaventure Cemetery on an excellent tour with our guide Tim. With its striking statuary, beautiful old trees, and swaying Spanish moss, this is one of the most scenic cemeteries in the country.

Iron Confederacy marker

The place is filled with history and many of the graves display Confederacy markers to identify those who fought for the south in the Civil War.

Little Gracie Watson

One of the most famous gravesites belongs to Little Gracie Watson who died of pneumonia when she was only six years old. Her statue is remarkably realistic (sculpted from a photograph), and people still leave money and toys for the poor little girl.

Johnny Mercer's grave circled in red

Another major highlight was Johnny Mercer’s grave with a bench etched with the names of some of his most popular songs. Johnny was a prolific lyricist who wrote over 1500 celebrated songs, including hits like “Moon River,” "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive" and "Days of Wine and Roses."

Drinking beer at the Crystal Beer Palace

Tim dropped us off at a lunch spot that is a favorite with the locals called the Crystal Beer Palace. A fun place with delicious sandwiches and sides (we are addicted to collard greens), excellent beer, and to-die-for peach cobbler.

Alligator meat trio!

Afterwards, we took a slow walk back to our hotel, hip-hopping from square to square. We ended our night at Alligator Soul, one of Savannah’s best restaurants with an atmospheric, below-ground location. Of course, we had to try their specialty, and a special appetizer trio gave us a sampling of alligator chorizo, alligator tempura, and best of all, candied alligator, slow-cooked and maple-glazed. Outstanding food and impeccable service.

Kristen gives us a honey tasting on our Foodie tour

By now, you must be thinking we ate our way through Savannah, and that’s not far from the truth. The next morning, we took a food walking tour. We love taking these tours wherever we travel to sample the food but also to learn more about the culture. This wasn’t the best food walking tour we’ve ever been on, but it was a joy to wander this lovely city.

The tour started well with something we have never done before: a honey tasting. Excellent presentation, and we were surprised how different various honeys tasted.

Second African Baptist Church
(MLK gave his speech in front of the brown door
on the left)

The tour mixed history with food and other tastings included fried pork chops and more of our fave Leopold’s ice cream. Along the way, we saw the Second African Baptist Church where Martin Luther King did a dry run of part of his “I Have a Dream” speech before delivering the whole thing in Washington, D.C. Our guide Kellee also explained that the historic district is laid out in wards with a square at the center of each ward. The surrounding plots included residential housing (called tithe lots) and lots where churches, schools, and government buildings were peripheral to the square (called trust lots). The squares were the heart of neighborhood, centers of social activities and places where people would cook and hang their laundry out to dry.

Marked bricks to keep spirits from escaping

We stopped by the Colonial Park Cemetery where bored Union troops once displaced grave markers and altered some of the headstones--for example, changing the dates to make the deceased appear to have lived over 400 years. The pavements in this part of town had strange markings, and we learned the cemetery used to be much larger, which meant dead bodies were buried beneath our feet. The odd pavement designs were intended to contain the dead spirits and prevent them from roaming among the living.

Andrea and Sandy give Anne a lift

We had a good group on the foodie tour, but we will always remember our new friends Andrea (from Chicago) and Sandy (from Washington DC) who kept us entertained with their fun antics and tales of travel.