Savannah Cemeteries: Bonaventure, Colonial Park, and Laurel Grove

Savannah cemeteries are best visited as historic sites, not spooky props: start with Bonaventure Cemetery for sculpture and riverfront beauty, add Colonial Park Cemetery if you are staying downtown, and choose Laurel Grove when you want a quieter, deeper look at Victorian funerary art and African American history. All three are free to enter during posted public hours, but they reward very different kinds of visits.

TL;DR — Which Savannah Cemetery Should You Visit First?

• Best first cemetery: Bonaventure Cemetery for the classic live-oak, Spanish-moss, sculpture-filled Savannah experience.
• Best downtown stop: Colonial Park Cemetery, a six-acre Historic District cemetery dating to 1750.
• Best quieter history stop: Laurel Grove North and South for Victorian monuments, civil rights context, and fewer crowds.
• Best pairing: cemetery morning, lunch from our best restaurants in Savannah, then a Savannah ghost tour after dark.

What Are Savannah Cemeteries Known For?

Savannah cemeteries: historic burial grounds that preserve the city's colonial, Victorian, religious, military, literary, and African American history through landscapes, monuments, graves, and local storytelling. They are among the best places to understand Savannah beyond the postcard version of squares and riverfront balconies.

The important thing is tone. Bonaventure, Colonial Park, and Laurel Grove are beautiful, atmospheric, and absolutely worth visiting, but they are also burial places. Some are still active cemeteries. We recommend treating them like outdoor museums with living memory attached: walk slowly, stay on paths where possible, avoid touching monuments, and give families privacy if a service is happening.

Local planning tip: Visit cemeteries in daylight, bring water, and check official City of Savannah hours before you go. Bonaventure and Laurel Grove are generally open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Colonial Park has longer daylight-saving-season hours.

Is Bonaventure Cemetery Worth Visiting?

Yes. Bonaventure Cemetery is the essential Savannah cemetery for most visitors because it combines riverfront setting, more than 100 acres of grounds, tree-lined lanes, notable burials, and the kind of funerary sculpture that made the site famous long before modern travel blogs discovered it. The City of Savannah notes that Bonaventure developed from the former Bonaventure Plantation, became a private cemetery in 1846, and became public in 1907.

Go in the morning if you can. The light is softer, the heat is kinder, and you will have more patience for walking. Bonaventure is east of downtown at 330 Bonaventure Road, so it is not the easiest cemetery to visit on foot from the Historic District. Drive, rideshare, or book a guided cemetery tour if you want interpretation instead of wandering with a map.

Should you take a Bonaventure tour?

A guided tour is worth it if you care about stories, symbolism, and finding notable graves without staring at your phone the whole time. Self-guided visits are free and flexible, but Bonaventure's scale can make it feel less intuitive than a downtown square. If your group prefers a broader evening story experience, pair a daylight Bonaventure visit with Genteel & Bard Tours or Sixth Sense Savannah Ghost Tours later.

What Should You Know About Colonial Park Cemetery?

Colonial Park Cemetery is the easiest cemetery to add to a first Savannah itinerary because it sits in the Historic District at 200 Abercorn Street. Established in 1750, it served as Savannah's public cemetery for more than a century and contains more than 9,000 graves. It closed to interments in 1853, which is why it now feels partly like a cemetery and partly like a historic public park.

This is the cemetery to visit between a Historic District walk and lunch. It is close to the squares, house museums, and restaurants, so you do not need to build the whole day around it. For nearby planning, use our Savannah squares guide, then continue toward The Olde Pink House, The Collins Quarter, or The Public Kitchen & Bar.

Why Visit Laurel Grove Cemetery?

Laurel Grove Cemetery is the one we wish more visitors understood. Laurel Grove North, at 802 West Anderson Street, has one of the Southeast's strongest concentrations of Victorian cemetery architecture, according to the City of Savannah. Laurel Grove South, at 2101 Kollock Street, is especially important for African American history: the city describes it as the most significant final resting place for African Americans who died in the 19th and 20th centuries in Savannah.

Because Laurel Grove is less central than Colonial Park and less famous than Bonaventure, it asks for a more intentional visit. Go when you have time to be thoughtful. Do not treat it as a quick selfie stop. If your Savannah interests lean toward preservation, civil rights, genealogy, architecture, or local history beyond the tourism core, Laurel Grove may be the most meaningful cemetery on the list.

How Do You Build a Savannah Cemeteries Itinerary?

Do not try to visit every cemetery in one rushed afternoon. Savannah's cemeteries are emotionally and physically tiring if you do them properly, especially in warm weather. Choose one anchor, then build food, shade, and transportation around it.

• First-time visitor: Bonaventure in the morning, lunch downtown, then River Street or squares in the afternoon.
• No-car visitor: Colonial Park Cemetery, historic homes, and a walk through the northern Historic District.
• History-focused traveler: Laurel Grove North and South, then the Savannah museums guide for your next indoor stop.
• Haunted-Savannah weekend: Colonial Park by day, dinner, then compare our best ghost tours in Savannah.

Are Savannah Cemeteries Free?

Yes, the major municipal cemeteries are free to enter during public hours. Guided tours, golf-cart tours, and specialty storytelling experiences are paid add-ons. That makes cemeteries useful for travelers balancing splurge meals, hotels, and tours. Spend the money where interpretation matters most to you.

If you are choosing between a paid cemetery tour and a broader ghost tour, decide what you want to learn. Cemetery tours usually go deeper on symbolism, families, and monuments. Ghost tours are better for evening atmosphere, haunted houses, squares, and storytelling across the city. Both can fit the same trip if you keep the cemetery visit in daylight.

What Etiquette Should Visitors Follow?

The simplest rule is to behave as if a local family could arrive at any moment, because they can. Stay off fragile graves, do not climb monuments, keep voices reasonable, and leave flowers, coins, toys, shells, and other offerings where they are. Photography is fine in public areas, but avoid photographing active services or grieving families.

Also plan for Savannah weather. Cemeteries have shade, but they are still outdoor sites with uneven ground, insects, humidity, and sun exposure. Wear comfortable shoes, bring water, and give yourself permission to see less in exchange for understanding more.

Bottom Line: What Is the Best Savannah Cemetery to Visit?

The best Savannah cemetery for first-time visitors is Bonaventure because it delivers the most complete mix of beauty, scale, sculpture, riverfront setting, and local lore. Colonial Park is the best easy downtown stop, while Laurel Grove is the best choice for travelers who want a quieter, more serious history visit. Together, they show three versions of Savannah: colonial city, Victorian city, and the deeper communities whose stories deserve more than a passing mention.

Planning the rest of the trip? Browse our Savannah travel guides, compare Savannah hotels, and choose dinner from our Southern restaurants in Savannah after your cemetery walk.