The Bonaventure Jogger – Savannah, Georgia - Atlas Obscura
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The Bonaventure Jogger

Bonaventure Cemetery
Savannah, Georgia

An eerie smiling woman looms above the granite tombstones. 

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The Bonaventure Jogger. ddmaxfield (Atlas Obscura User)
The Bonaventure Jogger. ddmaxfield (Atlas Obscura User)
Stone base of Smith's monument. ddmaxfield (Atlas Obscura User)
Bonaventure Cemetery walkway. ddmaxfield (Atlas Obscura User)
A runner checks out the Runner alysonsousa1 (Atlas Obscura User)
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If you’re wandering amongst the Spanish moss and live oaks of Savannah’s historic Bonaventure Cemetery at dusk, a grinning green woman with sunken eyes might jump out at you from behind a corner. Don’t worry–you’re not the first to be spooked by the bronze jogger.

The unusual monument is dedicated to the memory of Julia Denise Backus Smith, a prominent member of Savannah society, who died by suicide in 2003. As her epitaph indicates, she worked with compassion for the less fortunate of Savannah as a Chatham County commissioner. She was also the first woman from her city to compete in the Boston Marathon and went on to win races in Georgia.

While it’s a touching memorial to a woman doing what she loved, the statue’s bronze skin has now oxidized to an eerie shade of green and her eyes have gained a blackened shadow, so it can give quite the start to those unaware.

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