Bonaventure Cemetery, Savannah, Georgia  Oct 29, 2023

Cemeteries are not usually tourist attractions but Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah, Georgia, defies expectations. The city is often referred to as the most haunted in America, so devotees to all things spooky head here to test their nerves. A cemetery since 1846, the 160-acre site is perched on a bluff overlooking the Wilmington River. Its oak trees, dripping with Spanish moss, loom over walkways, monuments, and elaborate burial vaults. If it sounds like stepping into a southern Gothic novel, you"re on the right track: The cemetery featured in John Berendt"s 1994 bestseller "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil." Among the famous figures resting here is poet Conrad Aiken, whose grave is mentioned in the novel. His tombstone is a bench, said to have been designed to allow poetry lovers somewhere to sit to enjoy a drink in these soul-stirring surroundings.

© Kelly vanDellen/Alamy

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