Stories Archive

October 2, 2018

Fires in the ’50s and ’60s

Part 3 of 3: The Great Fires of Hermanus In trying to identify as many fires as possible I have consulted all written histories of Hermanus, all written memoirs and scanned issues of the Hermanus Times, which has had different names over time. I have arranged the data in chronological order. […]
August 14, 2018
hermanus history Society

Hermanus’ links to The Great Escape

One of the great pleasures of studying local history is that a single person or event can lead you on to another person or event and then to another and, suddenly, you have links in a chain that takes you far away from your original starting place, writes DR ROBIN […]
August 14, 2018
Hermanus History Society

Life and times of the Balcony Building

The Balcony Building (numbers T58 – 62 Main Road) is today mainly associated with the Hermanus Factory Shop, which was opened in this building in 1983 by a Swiss national, Jörg Friedrich who managed the business for 30 years. The present owner, Fransien Koegelenberg took over in 2013 and has […]
August 6, 2018
Hermanus History Society

Reasons for fires

Part 2 of 3: The Great Fires of Hermanus The territory now occupied by the Overstrand Municipality, including Hermanus, has experienced fire for millions of years. The first fires occurred for purely natural reasons, most often the result of lightning strikes. No human beings were around to witness the strikes, […]