Laurel Grove Cemetery, Savannah, GA

“A Picturesque and Beautiful Spot”

The city has secured to her people, for the burial of their dead, grounds well adapted to the sacred purpose, convenient of access to all classes of the community, …capable of such improvements as shall entitle Laurel Grove to an equal name with most of the Cemeteries which distinguish our country.

Mayor’s Report, November 22nd, 1851, reproduced in the Savannah Republican, Tuesday, Nov. 25, 1851 pg. 2

Rural Cemeteries

Concerns about overcrowding and disease from decaying bodies buried in urban areas led many municipalities to purchase land outside the city limits for burial. Mount Auburn Cemetery, founded in 1831 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is thought to be the first of these rural cemeteries in the U.S. The cities usually hired landscape architects and professional gardeners who strove to retain existing scenery and terrain, added meandering roads and paths to encourage Sunday carriage rides and picnics, and endorsed the construction of elaborate monuments and mausoleums. The City of Savannah, Georgia opened Laurel Grove Cemetery for public burials when the old city burial grounds – an African-American cemetery at what is now Whitefield Square and the graveyard presently called Colonial Park Cemetery – exceeded their capacity.

Dedication of Laurel Grove

Land for a new city cemetery was purchased in 1850 on the former Springfield rice plantation west of the Savannah historic district, and the parcel was officially named “Laurel Grove” in June 1851 after the native laurel oak trees that then inhabited the property. At its dedication on November 10, 1852, Savannah judge, diplomat, soldier, and poet Henry R. Jackson abhorred “the old practice of burying the dead in the heart of cities, in narrow ground, where generations are heaped upon generations.” He declared that, “No new grave [at the old city graveyards] could be opened without exhuming the relics of some fellow being who had formerly been interred on the same spot.” Laurel Grove, “situated on high ground, and bounded on its southwestern border by low ground covered with native forest, has all the elements of being made a picturesque and beautiful spot.” ¹ White citizens were buried in the northern section, slaves and free African-Americans in the southern section, with a central section reserved for Jewish burials. In the late 1960s, the I-16 37th Street Connector was routed through the property, permanently isolating today’s 90-acre Laurel Grove South from 67-acre Laurel Grove North.

According to the cemetery webpages, “Laurel Grove North is unique in that the interment rights to all of the available cemetery lots were sold out during the Victorian Era, and, as a result, this park-like cemetery probably has the highest concentration of Victorian period cemetery architecture in the Southeast.” Laurel Grove South – still open for burials – is laid out in a grid pattern, “and serves as a culturally and historically significant site for African American religion, education, civil rights, and business. [T]he cemetery [features] massive cypress trees towering from its wetlands.”

A Quiet Beauty

I was struck by the simple beauty of the cemetery, some portions in deep shade while others are in full sun (sometimes attributed to occupying Union troops who in January 1865 felled much of its timber for firewood). The tufts of Spanish moss hang not only from the trees, but also from some of the cast iron fencing and memorials. While Bonaventure Cemetery on the east side of Savannah hosts a continual stream of out-of-town visitors and a regular schedule of tour buses, at Laurel Grove you’ll typically greet more city maintenance workers than pilgrims.

There are numerous notable burials on both sides, including Juliette Gordon Low, founder of the Girl Scouts U.S.A.; James Pierpont, the composer of “Jingle Bells”; and Jane DeVeaux (1811-1885), a remarkable woman who for decades risked her own freedom to secretly teach slaves to read and write. Her weathered tombstone reads, “A devoted Christian… she has built for herself a name more enduring than monuments of stone or brass.”

Family Burials at Laurel Grove North

Our maternal grandparents Mary Julia Bell Grayson (1909-2001) and Leon Harman Grayson (1906-1993) are Savannah natives, though they lived most of their lives in Washington D.C., and are are buried in Maryland. A hundred or more of their relatives are buried at Laurel Grove North.

• Matriarch – Frances Ann Harvey/Grayson/Gugel/Lewis/Bell (1800-1862), Leon’s paternal 2nd great grandmother (2GGM). Frances married 2GGF John Robinson Grayson (1779-1822) at age 15, outlived three husbands, and was survived by a fourth. She had at least seven children, one or more by each husband. See Lot 441 below.
• Patriarch – Richard T. Turner (ca. 1808-1877), Leon’s maternal GGF. His origins are a mystery, but his legacy endures. A life-long Freemason, the Richard T. Turner Masonic Lodge in Bloomingdale, GA is named for him. The lodge still safeguards a sizeable portrait of Richard that was painted during his lifetime. See Lot 448 below.
• First Known Family Burial – Frances L.B. (Fannie) Grayson. Frances Ann’s one-week old granddaughter died in 1851, was initially buried in the old cemetery, and reinterred at Laurel Grove in April 1853. Lot 442, according to cemetery records. Almost certainly lot 441 in actuality. See below.
• Last Known Family Burial – Laura Amanda Patterson Grayson (1847-1916), Leon’s grandmother. See Lot 2435 below.

Here is a list of family plots at Laurel Grove North, subject to updating as family research deepens.

Lots 85 and 969 – Patterson/Cole and Patterson/Rosse/Molina

James Gilbert Patterson (ca. 1819-1876) and his wife Catharine E. Wall Patterson (ca. 1819-1865), Leon’s paternal great-grandparents, both hailed from Gillisonville, South Carolina, the one-time seat of the Beaufort Judicial District. Gillisonville was burned by Union troops in early 1865, by which time the Pattersons had lived in Georgia for about a decade. The Gillisonville Baptist Church and its small graveyard survive, in which lie some Wall ancestors. Catharine died June 6, 1865 (cause of death, “chronic diarrhea”), a 23 month-old infant named Catharine P. Patterson (a child of her old-age?) was buried with her a mere 10 days later, and her only son James G. Patterson, Jr., a 17 year-old victim of cholera, was buried with them in December 1866. These three Pattersons share Lot 85 (Aisle 11 between Bay and Willow) with at least fifteen others, most with the surname “Cole.” A headstone with that name adorns the otherwise empty plot. According to cemetery records James Patterson, Sr. (d. 1876) lies separately in Lot 969 (Aisle 11 between Oleander and Pine) with Leonora R. Patterson (d.1880, his second wife) and 12 others. No headstones, but they share the plot with two people named Rosse that predeceased them, so perhaps this is her family plot.

Lot 441 – Grayson/Gugel (Aisle 17 at Camelia Dr)

Eighteen recorded burials include matriarch Frances Harvey/Grayson/Gugel/Lewis/Bell, four children counting her oldest John Langston Grayson (1817-1869, Leon’s GGF), at least five grandchildren, and fourth husband Henry Styles Bell (1810-1884, no relation to Mary Bell Grayson’s ancestors). Only three headstones exist in the plot, the most interesting being that of Frances’ grandson John Gugel Grayson (1854-1892) which reads: “My beloved husband who died at the throttle while in the discharge of his duty as engineer on C.R.R.” The small stone on the right has a resting lamb lovingly etched into its arc. Below, it reads: “Our Little Lawrence and Fannie.” Presumably the aforementioned Fannie Grayson (buried 1853) and another infant grandchild. Laurel Grove Records list a Lawrence Gugel (d. 1856) in lot 341. A mis-transcription?

Lot 448 – Turner/Urquart (Aisle 17 at Mulberry Dr)

Richard T. Turner’s stone is tall and ornate, and clearly indicates his connection to the Freemasons. His wife Mary Ann Smith Turner (ca. 1810-1856) has a smaller stone, as does “Little Ella” Urquart (d. 1876), their 21-month-old grandchild.

Lot 1083 – Grigor/Gregor/Catherwood (Aisle 13 between Locust and Oleander)

Only one stone lies in this framed plot, albeit a particularly large one. Fifteen burials are recorded in Lot 1083, the first being a Normon Gregor (sic) in 1861, followed by Samuel C. Catherwood (b. ca. 1822) in 1873 and John S. Catherwood (b. 1856) in 1876, Mary Bell Grayson’s paternal GGF and granduncle respectively. Seven burials are Gregor/Grigors, whose connection to our family is unclear. Other mysterious surnames in the plot are Cavanaugh, Darrell, Davidson, and Prendergast.

Lot 2137 – Turner/Grayson (Aisle 3)

Leon’s maternal grandparents George Thomas Turner (1842-1888) and Margaret Alice Johnson Turner (1844-1910) share a majestic stone, and a plot with their daughter Henrietta Turner Hette (1883-1933) and their grandson, 22 month-old William Turner Grayson (d. 1899), Leon’s brother. Nearby is one of the most popular gravesites in Laurel Grove North, that of Savannah’s “Waving Girl” Florence Martus (1868-1943. Aisle 5, Lot 1979). Her beautifully etched memorial depicts a lonely lighthouse atop a pile of rocks and reads: “In Memory of the Waving Girl and her brother [George], Keepers of the Light House on Elba Island Sav’h River for 35 years.” Give her a friendly wave as you pass by, and be sure to visit her statue at the end of River Street.

Lot 2435 – Grayson/Patterson (Aisle 16, west of Jassamine)

This Grayson plot is near the western edge of Laurel Grove North, about 25 yards from the 37th Street Connector. The headstones and framing are askew, as if the ground has shifted. Perhaps the highway construction had something to do with it? Leon’s GGM Elizabeth Amelia Hale Grayson (1829-1910) outlived all but two of her nine or ten children. Her husband John L. Grayson and at least five of their children including young Fannie and railroad Engineer John G. are buried in Lot 441. Amelia is buried in this plot, along with her son Edward Fahm Rucker Grayson (1847-1901) and his wife Laura Amanda Patterson Grayson (1847-1916), Leon’s grandparents. Also buried there are Laura’s sisters Eliza Patterson (1844-1921) and Mary Ellen Patterson Davis (1853-1928), both of whom lived with Leon’s family for most of his youth.

Getting There

• Laurel Grove North’s physical address is 802 W. Anderson St., three blocks west of Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
• Laurel Grove South’s physical address is 2101 Kollock St., about one mile south via Ogeechee Rd at the intersection of W. 37th St. and Kollock St.

¹ Quoted in “Stories From Our Souls: The Living Narratives of Savannah’s Burial Grounds” © 2016, Savannah Morning News, Savannah GA pgs 48-63. A newspaper insert with beautiful photography. https://issuu.com/christophersweat/docs/storiesfromoursouls