The site was 600 acres (2.4 km2), including a plantation house and private cemetery, located on the Wilmington River, about 3.5 miles (6 kilometres) east of the Savannah colony.

[4] "The high ground, an extended river view, etc., made it one of the choicest sites near the city of Savannah and the first house was erected at that time, facing the center walk of the old garden," wrote Charles Colcock Jones Jr. in 1890.

[2][5] Per Claudia Mullryne's will and testament, dated December 10, 1781, her daughter, Catharine Moore, a widow, was left "the mansion house called Bonaventure where she now resides."

The host "rose calmly, clinked his glass, and invited guests to pick up their dinner plates and follow him into the garden", where they ate the remainder of their meals in the glow of the flames.

[2] When Savannahians ousted and arrested royal governor James Wright in February 1776, John Mullryne and Josiah Tattnall aided his escape through Bonaventure to HMS Scarborough, a British naval vessel nearby.

John Mullryne, who, along with Josiah Tattnall Sr., had fled the colonies during the Revolutionary War, died on January 6, 1786, in Nassau, Bahamas.

[8] Wiltberger died while in Brooklyn, New York,[11] shortly after purchasing Bonaventure and was buried at the estate beside his wife, Susan (1788–1849), and their son, Rutherford (1827–1932).

[12] The following notable members of the Tattnall family are buried in today's Bonaventure Cemetery,[13] on Mullryne Way:[8] Adjacent to the north is section F, which is known as Plantation Square, presumably where the mansion formerly stood.