Bonaventure Plantation
Bonaventure Plantation. Josiah Tattnall was born at Bonaventure, on his father's plantation near Savannah in 1762. His father and grandfather were Tories who fled to England during the American Revolution, their estates being confiscated. His father was Josiah Tattnall, Sr. of Beaufort, South Carolina who had settled on St. Augustine's Creek alongside his father-in-law, Colonel John Mullryne. Josiah, Sr. married Mary Mullryne and many of the old oak trees in the cemetery were planted in the shape of the letters "M" and "T". In 1771, Mullryne and Tattnall owned over 9,000 acres stretching from Ebenezer to Sunbury. Among those Tories who escaped from Georgia to England was the Royal Governor, James Wright, and he stayed at Bonaventure just before departing.
Josiah Tattnall, Sr. was also declared a traitor and the Revolutionary Council in Savannah confiscated Bonaventure along wit it's 750 acres and sold it at auction in 1782 to John Habersham. After the Revolutionary War, Josiah Tattnall, Jr. returned to Savannah (1785) and bought the Bonaventure plantation from John Habersham. The next year he was married to Harriet Fenwick in Savannah, and by her had three children. Josiah died in the Bahamas in 1830, but was buried beside his wife at Bonaventure, and the plantation was bequeathed in trust to their three children who were sent to live with their grandfather in London. The plantation ultimately became Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah.
