Colonial Park Cemetery

Colonial Park Cemetery in Savannah, Georgia has been closed for burials since the mid 1800s.  It is now a park and if you are ever in the city you should spend an hour strolling through it.  I visited it a few weeks ago with the kids.

Button Gwinett, signer of the Declaration of Independence is buried here along with many revolutionary war heroes and the first president of Georiga, Archibald Bulloch.  

 The are 700 less well known yellow fever victims from the early 1800s buried here too.  In total it is estimated that 10,000 were laid to rest in this cemetery.  

However, Sherman’s Union Army camped in the cemetery during the Civil War.  His men destroyed many of the head stones and what could be found of them has been secured to this wall in the rear of the cemetery.  As a result only about 700 remains can be clearly identified.

The cemetery, which is now a park, is full of history.  If you are half alive and have a heart you can feel the life of years gone past as you stroll through.  It is almost as if the sounds of the city do not fully penetrate the wrought iron fence that surrounds the park.

And although there are plenty of dignitaries, war heroes and heroines, and yellow fever fatalities placed here, this piece of a tomb stone spoke to me the most.  All that can be clearly read is, “died, age 3 months and 12 days.”