Mepkin Abbey

   Our favorite abbey is not Downton but Mepkin near Charleston at the appropriately named Monck's Corner, SC. Mepkin started not as a Trappist monastery but as part of a 1681 land grant. In 1762 it was sold to Henry Laurens as Mepkin Plantation. Descendants of Laurens, who had served as President of the Continental Congress, sold the property that was eventually purchased in 1936 by Henry Luce, influential publisher of Time, Life, Fortune and Sports Illustrated. An impressive landscape garden was commissioned by his wife, Clare Booth Luce, who was herself a journalist and author of fiction, drama, and  screen plays. In 1946 she converted to Roman Catholicism and in 1949 the Luces donated the gardens and a large part of the property to the Trappist monks.
   The abbey is open to the public for casual visits as well as guided tours. Access to the abbey church, as a monastic enclosure, is restricted to guests on guided tours and to retreatants hosted by the monks who observe lives of work, prayer, reflection, and silence. They initially supported themselves and their missions by raising chickens for the sale of eggs to Charleston area restaurants and markets. Objections raised by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) caused them to adopt the cultivation and sale of fresh and dried mushrooms instead. The abbey gift shop sells their mushrooms plus books, religious items, and jams supplied by other Trappists.
   The gardens, containing the burial plots of members of the Laurens and Luce families, are especially attractive in spring.

Bonaventure Cemetery

   Observant readers may have noticed that there are photos of Bonaventure filed in the Savannah post. Still, after our recent return to Bonaventure I concluded that it deserved more than has been granted to date. The monuments represent the height of Victorian era funeral art with many commissioned to talented Italian sculptors. Scan through these and I think you will agree with Shirley and me that Bonaventure is worth more than a just a brief visit.
   You may choose to go with a tour group, with a personal guide, or with a recorded narrative available at the Visitor Center. Yes, there is a visitor center at the cemetery because it attracts so many who are enthralled by its beauty, peace, and serenity. There is a story behind each of the monuments that makes the experience that much more touching and valuable. Shirley and I make a point each time to visit the plots for Johnny Mercer, Corinne Lawton, and little Gracie. But it is not the graves themselves but the context in which we find them that is so outstanding.

It is customary to leave a few "pennies from heaven" on the grave stone.

You may have noticed the use of tag lines from Johnny 

Mercer songs on monuments in the family plot.

The monument of Corrine Lawton is widely used to represent Bonaventure.

Behind her is the grave of her father, Brig. Gen. Alexander Lawton.

Little Gracie Watson died of pneumonia at age 6. She was a 

favorite with guests at the Pulaski Hotel managed by her father.