Savannah: Like No Place Else

By Amy Flurry, FrontDoor.com | Published: 2/25/2009

Some of Savannah's earliest residents are buried beneath the live oaks of Colonial Park Cemetery. Amy Flurry

Off-the-beaten-path eateries
Situated on a quiet corner on Troup Street, Firefly Cafe (321 Habersham St., 912-234-1971) keeps locals in the love but away from anglers with a much-buzzed-about weekend brunch. Locals crave the Memphis-style pulled-pork sandwiches at Angel's BBQ (21 W. Oglethorpe Lane, 912-495-0902).

Ghost tours
Plenty of companies offer nightly tours of haunted old Savannah. Hearse Tours (912-695-1578) picks you up at your hotel in a convertible hearse, and Savannah Haunted Pub Crawl (912-604-3007) is a bar-hopping, story-swapping tour of the historic district that stops at bars along the way for cocktails. Sixth Sense Savannah (866-666-DEAD [3323]) offers cemetery strolls and ghost walks at midnight.

Bonaventure Cemetery
(entrance at 330 Bonaventure Road, 912-651-6843)
This public cemetery built on a bluff overlooking the Wilmington River is city's more notable residents, including the songwriter Johnny Mercer, are buried. More recently Bonaventure was made famous when featured in "The Book" (see Local Life and Lore in Savannah). The now-famous Bird Girl statue that graced the book's cover was originally located in Bonaventure but in 1997 was relocated for its protection to Savannah's Telfair Museum of Art (207 W. York St., 912-790-8800).

Colonial Park Cemetery
(entrance at corner of Abercorn and Oglethorpe, 912-944-0455)
This cemetery opened in 1750, and many of Savannah's earliest residents are buried here beneath the live oaks. It was closed to burials in the 1850s, so its graves and ghosts date to the Revolutionary War era. This is the final resting place of Button Gwinnett, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He died in 1777 after a duel with Lachlan McIntosh, a major general in the Continental Army (McIntosh is buried here too). The cemetery is also (allegedly) haunted by the ghost of Renee Rondolia Asch (or Rene Asche Rondolier), a disfigured orphan who lived in the cemetery in the early 1800s and was lynched after he was accused of murder.

The Pirates House
20 E. Broad St.
912-233-5757
Only a block from the Savannah River, this tavern was a favorite place in the 18th century for pirates and ne'er-do-wells who shanghaied unsuspecting men to sail their ships. Today, it's a themed family restaurant, and the entrances to the secret tunnels through which unwilling sailors were dragged to the harbor are on display. It's the most touristy place in town, but it's fun to take your out-of-town guests there for a taste of Savannah, the Legend. Longtime employees report seeing ghosts of all sorts (of course). It's also said that old Captain Flint from the classic novel Treasure Island died here in an upstairs room and that his ghost still treads its boards.

Read More About Savannah, GA:

• Search Homes for Sale in Savannah
• Profile: Savannah, Georgia
• 5 Great Neighborhoods in Savannah
• Savannah Essentials
• Local Life and Lore in Savannah
• Tybee Island: Savannah's Laid-Back Beach Town
• Slideshow: Get to Know Savannah, Georgia

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