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Colonial Park Cemetery served as Savannah’s cemetery for more than a century and contains over nine thousand graves. Established in 1750, by 1789 it had been expanded three times to reach its current size. Colonial Park Cemetery is approximately 6 acres in size and is located in the heart of Savannah’s Historic District. The cemetery is open to pedestrians from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. November - March and 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. March - November, and is a popular site for local citizens and tourists. The park-like cemetery has been closed to interments since 1853 and is the oldest intact municipal cemetery in Savannah. Previously known as the Old Cemetery, Old Brick Graveyard, South Broad Street Cemetery, or Christ Church Cemetery, the cemetery served as the primary public cemetery from 1750 to 1853.
Colonial Park Cemetery (locally and informally known as Colonial Cemetery) is a historic cemetery located in downtown Savannah, Georgia. It became a city park in 1896, 43 years after burials in the cemetery ceased.
The cemetery was established in 1750, when Savannah was the capital of the British Province of Georgia, last of the Thirteen Colonies. By 1789 it had expanded three times to reach its current six acres bounded by East Oglethorpe Avenue (to the north), Habersham Street (east), East Perry Lane (south) and Abercorn Street (west). Savannah's primary public cemetery throughout its 103 active years, its previous names have included the Old Cemetery, Old Brick Graveyard, South Broad Street Cemetery, and Christ Church Cemetery.
Originally built as the burial ground for the Christ Church Parish, in 1789 it became a cemetery for Savannahians of all denominations. The cemetery was closed to burials in 1853, some eight years before the start of the American Civil War, so no Confederate soldiers are interred there. After Union troops occupied Savannah on December 24, 1864, the graveyard became a temporary home to "several hundred" Union soldiers. Soldiers allegedly damaged or defaced some of the stone markers (including altering some dates and ages) and sheltered inside vaults.
Established in 1750. Oldest intact municipal cemetery in Savannah. Primarily Public cemetery from 1750-1853. DAR Patriots' Arch erected in 1913 (completed in 1914) by the Daughters of the American Revolution to memorialize the Revolutionary War Veterans buried in Colonial Park Cemetery.
Who is Buried Here:
Revolutionary War Veterans: Samuel Elbert, Revolutionary War soldier and Governor of GA; Lachian Mcintosh, Major General of the Continental Army; Button Gwinnett, signer of the Declaration of Independence; Joseph Clay, Major in Georgia Line, Revolutionary War; and others.
Form Submitted By: St. Andrew's Parish Chapter, NSDAR 9/10/2014
According to the historical society, any plot number starting with XXXX or X-X-X-X indicates that the person was buried at Colonial Park but the grave site is unmarked and unknown. The number indicates the order in which that person's name was entered into the computer system.
Address:
200 Abercorn Street
Savannah, Chatham County, Georgia
31401