Savannah businessman, Peter Wiltberger purchased Bonaventure from Josiah Tattnall, III with the intention to develop a public cemetery on 70 acres, including the Tattnall Family burial ground which had been used for burials since 1794. The cemetery was designed around the ruins of the Tattnall mansion using the existing live oak tree lined roadways to provide access and separate the major cemetery sections. The Evergreen Cemetery Company of Bonaventure was incorporated by Wiltberger and others in 1847.

Many Savannah families removed the remains of their deceased loved ones from other cemeteries to the new Evergreen cemetery. The first monument was the Noble Jones monument installed in 1848 for the Jones family removed from South Broad Street (Colonial) Cemetery. The remains had previously been moved from the Jones Cemetery at Wormsloe Plantation to South Broad Street.

The first interment which was not a removal from elsewhere was Susan Green Wiltberger, the wife of Peter Wiltberger, who was buried in 1849. Peter Wiltberger died and was buried in 1853. The Evergreen Cemetery Company at Bonaventure developed Sections A through H of the rural cemetery and purchased adjacent property for expansion. The corporation made several attempts to sell the cemetery to the City of Savannah as lots in Laurel Grove North Cemetery were sold out as early 1868. The City did not purchase the cemetery until 1907, but has maintained it ever since.