Boo Business: Enjoy accessible tours of Savannah’s famous cemeteries using just your phone

I love exploring Savannah’s historic cemeteries. That sounds creepy, but it’s actually a good way to learn about the city’s history. Not everyone has the time to research the stories behind the people buried there.

Fortunately, there are some affordable and even free, ways to learn.

Bonaventure Cemetery is the one that comes to mind for many when talking about our city’s historic cemeteries. There are several tour companies that offer paid tours, but if you’re on a budget, have limited time, or have mobility issues, those aren’t always the best option.

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Tour Bonaventure Cemetery with the help of your phone

The Bonaventure Historical Society offers free walking tours one weekend a month. We’ve already passed the tour weekend for June, but July’s dates are the 9th and 10th.

These tours are led by a member of the historic society. They don’t tell any legends or ghost stories. They stick to the facts, but even some of the facts about Bonaventure are creepy. While the tours are completely free, you can donate to the Bonaventure Historical Society which helps them with historic grave plot restoration.

If you don’t have the time for a walking tour, the Bonaventure Historical Society also has an app you can download. It’s $4.99 in the Google Play and Apple App stores.

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The fee goes to the cemetery’s historic preservation fund. You can use the app to take a self-guided walking or driving tour. It’s not the most comprehensive tour, but it is easy to follow, and there is a narration that you can listen to as you walk or drive along. If you are driving, there are a few spots that you won’t be able to get to, but those locations are a short walk from the drivable paths.

Learn the history of Laurel Grove North and South cemeteries via your phone as well

Tours of Laurel Grove North and South Cemeteries are a little harder to find. There are a few tours that go through one or the other. I’ve listened in to bits of them as my dog and I have gone by on our walks, and they seem to know what they’re talking about.

But again, walking tours aren’t accessible to everyone.

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In May, Georgia Southern University announced that a graduate student named Mark O’Dell had put together free self-guided tours of both Laurel Grove North and Laurel Grove South Cemeteries. His website Benevolent Burials includes highlighted maps, guided narration, videos, photos, and written narration of some of the cemeteries’ interesting burial plots. It’s very well researched. I can’t get over the level of care and detail O’Dell put into this website.

“This project started with an idea a year ago to do a public history research project on people that were not covered in Savannah history that well; that had stories that needed to come out to the public,” O’Dell said in a video released by the City of Savannah on YouTube.

You won’t hear about the burials for James Pierpont, who wrote the song “Jingle Bells,” or Juliette Gordon Low, who founded the Girl Scouts, but you will hear about orphanages, schools, hospitals, and other benevolent societies. Benevolent Burials is a fascinating look into Savannah’s untold and underrepresented histories.

I know I’m a history nerd who could happily spend hours in historic documents, but if that’s not your speed, the Bonaventure Historical Society app and Benevolent Burials website are a great combination of visual and audio learning styles that help you better appreciate the history of Savannah.

Enocha Edenfield is no stranger to Savannah ghosts. You can find more of her ghost explorations on YouTube and TikTok.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah GA things to do: Bonaventure Cemetery, Laurel Grove tour app