Colonial Park Cemetery-Savannah

Tombstones rescued from further deterioration or moved to make pathways line a brick wall in Colonial Park Cemetery in downtown Savannah, Georgia. The second cemetery in colonial Savannah, Colonial Park was established about 1750. Originally the burial ground for the Christ Church Parish, the cemetery was enlarged around 1789 to accommodate all denominations.

Many dueling victims are buried there as well as around 700 victims from the 1820 Yellow Fever epidemic and distinguished Savannahians, among those are Button Gwinnett, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, Archibald Bulloch, first president of Georgia and Hugh McCall, an early historian of Georgia. Naturally, the cemetery has its share  of ghosts, the most famous being Rene Asche Rondolier, a disfigured giant of a person accused of murdering and mutilating two girls found in the cemetery. Rondolier was dragged from his hiding place in the cemetery to a swamp and lynched.  However, the killings continued and it was said that his ghost was responsible.

The cemetery was closed for burials prior to the Civil War, so no Confederate soldiers are buried there, but Union troops took over the grounds during the occupation of Savannah looting and desecrating the graves and even changing the dates on the tombstones. Colonial Park Cemetery was designated a city park in 1896. Source.