Up next in 10
See the Azaleas Blooming at Bonaventure Cemetery - Paula & Eddie take viewers on a Bonaventure Cemetery tour and share Bonaventure Cemetery history while they view the azalea flowers in bloom!
Click here to SUBSCRIBE to my channel: https://bit.ly/2AwYIIU
------------------------
For more Love & Best Dishes videos, click here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2LHabI5sYyFSVQ49oX2ffNPnKt3F8_zB
------------------------
Follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pauladeen/
Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pauladeen_official/
Follow me on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/pauladeen/
Sign up for my Newsletters: https://mailchi.mp/pauladeen.com/youtube
------------------------
Sign up for my email mailing list and get 3 FREE helpful kitchen printables: https://www.pauladeen.com/printables/
Find more recipes and videos on my website: https://www.PaulaDeen.com
Click here to shop my products on my online store: https://pauladeenshop.com/
Click here to visit my Amazon shop page: https://www.amazon.com/pauladeen
------------------------
#pauladeen #loveandbestdishes
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
- Hey friends, I'm taking y'all someplace here in Savannah
0:03
that I have never brought y'all.
0:05
And Eddie was just saying, "Holly, you know
0:08
how everybody goes to The Masters
0:11
to just see the azaleas that are in Bloom?
0:14
Well, down here, you come to Bonaventure Cemetery
0:18
to see the azaleas."
0:20
So Eddie and I are gonna take you on a quick tour.
0:24
This is the most beautiful cemetery,
0:27
and this is where I would like to be laid in my final rest.
0:33
I don't know if there's anything available.
0:35
Everybody's been dying to get in here. (laughs)
0:39
- [Eddie] You know, when I first moved to Savannah,
0:42
this is what I ...
0:45
I've discovered it and weirdly,
0:48
I mean, I just fell in love with it.
0:50
I would spend free time just walking,
0:55
especially in the spring.
0:56
I mean all, I mean, every ...
0:58
- [Paula] It, it's, it's just incredible.
1:00
- [Eddie] Agreed.
1:01
- [Paula] And we're not in one
1:02
of the prettier spots right this minute.
1:04
- [Eddie] No, we'll, we'll get on the main drag and ...
1:07
- We are going to take y'all to an old grave
1:11
that a little girl named Gracie is buried in.
1:19
And back during the Civil War, ...
1:22
Wasn't it during the Civil War, Eddie?
1:24
That's there, Gracie.
1:26
- See the sign, Eddie? - Right.
1:28
- [Paula] Right here, but see the sign?
1:30
- [Eddie] Yeah.
1:31
- [Paula] See the sign.
1:31
It says, "Gracie Section".
1:37
And, uh, ...
1:40
And that is her, little Gracie.
1:44
And look at all the money
1:46
that people have dropped down here, Eddie.
1:49
- [Eddie] Yeah, I was told the, um ...
1:51
- [Paula] Look, even dollar bills.
1:52
- [Eddie] The Girl Scouts, I think, come here,
1:56
since Juliet Gordon Lowe from Savannah.
1:58
- [Paula] Yes.
1:59
- [Eddie] We get lots and lots of Girl Scouts here,
2:02
and they, they come and kind of ...
2:03
- Take care of it. - Maintain her.
2:05
- And the azaleas are about to be over with
2:09
right here at Gracie's grave.
2:11
So I'm gonna read y'all
2:17
the plaque right here.
2:18
It says, "Little Gracie Watson was born in 1883.
2:24
The only child of her parents, her father was manager
2:27
of the Pulaski House,
2:30
one of Savannah's leading hotels,
2:34
where the beautiful and charming little girl
2:38
was a favorite with the guests.
2:40
Two days before Easter in April, 1889,
2:45
Gracie died of pneumonia at the age of six.
2:50
In 1890 when the rising sculpture,
2:53
John Waltz moved to Savannah,
2:57
he carved from a photograph this life size,
3:02
delicately detailed marble statue,
3:05
which for almost a century has captured the interest
3:09
of all passerbys."
3:11
There's many, many
3:16
highly regarded people buried here.
3:20
Johnny Mercer was laid to rest in this cemetery.
3:25
The author, what was her name?
3:27
- [Eddie] Conrad Aiken ...
3:29
- Conrad Aiken, but the, the lady that, uh ...
3:34
Oh my gosh, she had a home downtown
3:36
and I used to do catering there.
3:38
What was her name?
3:43
It slipped my mind right now, but I'll think of it.
3:47
And who else is here, Eddie?
3:49
- [Eddie] Uh, let's see, um ... (indistinct)
3:53
- Uh-huh, uh-huh.
3:55
- [Eddie] And you know, most early Savannahians are here.
4:01
- Yes. - With their family plots.
4:04
- [Eddie] And probably what made Bonaventure really famous
4:07
was the "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil"
4:11
being filmed here.
4:12
- That's right.
4:14
John Berendt was just in town celebrating
4:19
the 25th anniversary of his book,
4:22
his most successful book,
4:24
"Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil".
4:26
And there was a grave out here that had the ...
4:31
- The little bird girl. - The bird girl.
4:33
- And didn't she have a set of scales that she held?
4:36
- [Eddie] Yes.
4:37
- But people would not leave that grave alone.
4:44
And finally, they had to take that statue
4:46
and I think it's in the uh, ...
4:48
- [Eddie] The Telfair.
4:49
- Yeah, the Telfair Museum now, right?
4:52
- [Eddie] Yes, well, you know ...
4:52
- Just, just like the bench that, um, that, um ...
4:58
(hands clapping)
5:00
- [Eddie] Forrest Gump.
5:01
- Forrest Gump sat on.
5:03
People kept messing with that,
5:05
so I think it's even in the Telfair Museum.
5:10
- [Eddie] Well, Gracie became so famous,
5:11
they had to put her inside.
5:14
She used to be not inside the fence like this.
5:17
- [Paula] Right.
5:17
- [Eddie] You used be able to go up to her.
5:19
She would just be covered with flowers people would leave.
5:22
- [Paula] Mmm.
5:23
- [Eddie] But they were afraid someone might steal,
5:26
- So they ... - Yes.
5:28
- [Eddie] They closed her.
5:30
But speaking of benches, let's go ...
5:32
- That carving is beautiful.
5:35
Okay, okay.
5:36
- [Eddie] He has a beautiful bench stone.
5:39
- Yes.
5:40
Johnny Mercer, for those that are too young,
5:43
he was a fabulous composer.
5:48
You know, "Moon River".
5:49
He actually wrote that out on Moon River.
5:53
It's been a very popular song for years and years and years.
5:59
♪ Moon River ♪
6:01
♪ Wider than the sky ♪
6:04
I can't remember the words, ...
6:05
(Eddie laughing)
6:06
But it was a beautiful, ...
6:10
It is still a beautiful song.
6:13
So y'all, this is Johnny Mercer's grave.
6:16
This precious woman right here was a good friend of mine,
6:21
Nancy Mercer.
6:23
And I can't believe she died in 2013.
6:28
She was the sweetest girl.
6:30
In fact, we were neighbors
6:33
and she actually gave me a recipe.
6:36
That's when I was writing the "Just Desserts" book.
6:41
And Nancy came down to the house
6:43
and she made Benne Seed Wafers,
6:48
because she said every Christmas after Johnny became famous
6:51
and a period when he was working real hard,
6:54
he would be out in California.
6:57
So they would have to cook all this stuff
6:59
and box it up and send to him.
7:01
And she said Benne wafers were always in the box.
7:05
I love you, Nancy.
7:08
But here is his bench.
7:11
And there is some of his song titles like,
7:17
"Come Rain or Come Shine", "The Days of Wine and Roses",
7:21
"Hooray for Hollywood",
7:24
"In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening",
7:28
"One for my Baby", "Skylark",
7:31
"Something's Gotta Give", "That Ol' Black Magic",
7:36
"You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby".
7:38
So that's just a few of some of his most famous songs.
7:46
And Nancy, his niece, had a great voice.
7:50
She could sing,
7:51
I get her to sing to me all the time.
7:53
I was telling y'all that if we walked straight,
7:56
we would hit the river
7:59
and I think that's one thing that is so beautiful
8:04
and appealing about this cemetery.
8:07
The fact that it's on the river.
8:20
Now, Eddie, what is this one right here?
8:24
Is that a mausoleum?
8:28
And can you read the names up there?
8:31
John?
8:34
Yeah, Monson.
8:35
- River. - This is open right here.
8:37
- I didn't realize it was open.
8:39
Let me go in and see what I can find.
8:43
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
8:46
All right, is there a bunch of folks in ...
8:48
- There is! - Yes.
8:50
- There's a bunch of folks.
8:52
Sarah, David, another Sarah,
8:56
Edmond, David,
9:00
Jane, Sarah ...
9:01
They believed in a lot of Sarah's.
9:03
Benjamin, Joseph and another Sarah.
9:06
It's the river, y'all.
9:11
- [Eddie] So when I was in college,
9:14
my roommate and I,
9:17
yeah, we drove out here one time just to see it.
9:21
And when we were driving around, we found out ...
9:26
We saw all this horrible (indistinct)
9:28
that they had put on the banks of the river here.
9:31
- Uh-huh, who had?
9:33
- [Eddie] You know, I guess the cemetery when they were
9:35
- Done cutting stones, ... - Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh.
9:37
- They would ... - Oh, okay, I got you.
9:39
- [Eddie] Layer the banks and (indistinct) ...
9:42
- How much did you take? (laughs)
9:48
- [Eddie] We made, we had some really nice end tables
9:51
and coffee tables for ... (laughs)
9:52
- No!
9:54
- No, that was a great idea! - Yes.
9:57
- Is there any left down there, do you think?
9:59
- [Eddie] I don't know.
9:59
- Because we could stand a coffee table,
10:01
couldn't we? (laughs)
10:04
- [Eddie] I dunno that I would dare go down there.
10:06
- (chuckles) Yeah, you don't have those
10:08
kind of guts anymore, do you?
10:09
Now that you've gotten older?
10:10
- Yeah. - And wiser? (laughs)
10:11
- [Eddie] I don't think I have the back for it either.
10:13
(both laughing)
10:15
- Look right there, Eddie!
10:16
There's an artist.
10:18
I think we ought to go down
10:19
and see what he's doing, what he's about.
10:21
And tell us your name.
10:22
- My name's Kip Bradley, I'm with the Telfair Museum.
10:25
And we have a Plein Air group that meets on Fridays
10:28
at different locations all throughout Savannah.
10:30
And there's about twenty of us that get together.
10:33
Some in the morning and some in the afternoon,
10:35
and we all just paint the beautiful, rich city.
10:37
- That's great.
10:38
And you, do you choose where you want to be?
10:40
Is everybody in different spots or do you settle on ...
10:44
- We meet year 'round,
10:45
so we kind of hit the same spots over and over again.
10:48
- Uh-huh, uh-huh.
10:50
- So some of my pick, uh ...
10:52
I pick them mostly.
10:53
I picked this one obviously,
10:54
'cause I knew the azaleas would be blossoming
10:56
and it'd be a good time of year.
10:58
- Well, it's not a more beautiful spot.
11:00
- Yeah, it is a gorgeous place.
11:01
- Not a more beautiful spot.
11:04
Well, thanks for letting us interrupt y'all.
11:06
- No problem.
11:07
Good to see you.
11:08
- (laughs) Good to see you too.
11:10
Now, we're in the car right now, y'all.
11:12
And we are leaving.
11:16
We're close to the entrance and the exit
11:21
here of the cemetery.
11:25
And it's a little bumpy road,
11:26
so that's why we're bouncing around.
11:29
And they have a new part of Bonaventure,
11:33
but there is really not a whole lot
11:37
of anything special about that.
11:39
Like I don't recall any trees being over there or ...
11:44
- [Eddie] It's on Forest Lawn.
11:47
- [Paula] Like Forest Lawn, yes.
11:49
But I know there's one grave over there
11:54
that people might come visit a lot.
11:58
And I can't remember his name,
11:59
but he is the young man that Jim Williams ...
12:07
He is the young man that Jim Williams shot dead
12:12
in the library of Jim Williams' home.
12:15
- [Eddie] Danny Hansen.
12:17
- [Paula] Eddie Hansen.
12:19
- Danny. - Danny!
12:20
- [Paula] Yeah, that's right!
12:21
His name was Danny Hansen.
12:24
That was all just a real sad story.
12:27
But didn't John Barrett cover all that
12:31
in "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil"?
12:33
- [Eddie] Yes.
12:35
- [Paula] Well, I hope that y'all enjoyed the tour
12:38
that Eddie and I did for you.
12:40
If you come to Savannah, ...
12:42
- [Eddie] Especially in the spring.
12:44
- [Paula] Especially in the spring,
12:46
you must come out to Bonaventure and see everything.
12:53
I just, I'm fascinated by old cemeteries.
12:57
I love reading the tombstones and all of that.
13:00
So this is the exit.
13:05
Look at how many graves in that one right there, Eddie.
13:07
That very first plot that you come in.
13:13
And I wonder who's in that mausoleum right there.
13:22
I don't know.
13:26
But if you are in Savannah in the spring,
13:33
the date of today is March the 15th.
13:37
We're two days away from celebrating St. Patrick's Day.
13:43
It's actually on a Sunday,
13:46
but the celebrations are lasting all weekend
13:48
and the parade will be tomorrow.
13:51
So if you plan on coming to Savannah, try to arrange it
13:55
in the spring when the azaleas are in bloom.
13:58
Because it does not get more beautiful, does it, Eddie?
14:01
- It does not.
14:02
And usually the peak is maybe
14:05
the week before St. Patrick's Day.
14:06
- [Paula] Yeah, you know, it really depends on
14:08
how much cold weather we've had.
14:11
And we've had a very, very light winter,
14:15
don't you think, Eddie?
14:16
- [Eddie] Oh, we did, we did have a very ...
14:17
- [Paula] Just a few days that got below freezing.
14:22
So loving best dishes, y'all.
14:26
And don't forget,
14:28
Bonaventure Cemetery is a place to die for.
14:31
(both chuckling)
14:35
Hey, y'all, it's Paula Deen.
14:37
Now, if you enjoyed this video, be sure to like it
14:40
and click the subscribe button as well as the notification
14:44
and bail to be alerted when I post a video.
14:48
Love and Best Dishes Y'all.
#Food & Drink
#Hobbies & Leisure