The Gaston Tomb

The Gaston Tomb

The tomb pictured in 2018
Location	Bonaventure Cemetery, Savannah, Georgia, U.S.
Coordinates	32°02′42″N81°03′00″W / 32.04511°N 81.04999°W / 32.04511; -81.04999
Material	Marble
Completion date	1844(181 years ago) (1844)
Dedicated to	William Gaston

The Gaston Tomb (also known as the Stranger's Tomb) is a tomb in Bonaventure Cemetery, Savannah, Georgia. It was built in memory of William Gaston, a prominent merchant in Savannah who died in 1837. The tomb was built seven years later, initially in Savannah's Colonial Park Cemetery. It was moved to Bonaventure in 1873. ^{[1] [2]}

Standing immediately inside the cemetery's gates, one of the tomb's vaults was used as a temporary resting place for visitors to Savannah who died while in the city. It allowed time for the relatives of the deceased to make arrangements for their burial. ^{[2] [3]}

Gaston, nicknamed The Perfect Host, was initially interred in New York Marble Cemetery in Manhattan, but was later removed to the tomb at the request of William Ker, Gaston's nephew. ^{[1] [2]}

References

1. "Stories that lie within Bonaventure Cemetery". www.savannahnow.com. Retrieved April 25, 2022.
2. Georgia, Historical Society; Johnson, Mandi Dale; Wilson, Amie Marie; Johnson, Mandi (November 1, 1998). Historic Bonaventure Cemetery: Photographs from the Collection of the Georgia Historical Society. Arcadia Publishing. p. 98. ISBN   978-0-7385-4201-0.
3. The Georgia Review. University of Georgia. 1951. p. 302.