March 5, 2020

A history of the tourism economy of Hermanus

Writer: Dr Robin Lee In 1896, two events occurred in Hermanus that began the long life of the town as a tourist destination – as it still is today. The first event was the building of a Sanatorium in Marine Drive. Dr Hoffmann and his wife launched this initiative to […]
March 5, 2020

Angling and the birth of tourism in Hermanus (1900–1970)

In last week’s article (Visbaai – The history of Hermanus as a fishing village) we followed the rise and fall of the fishing economy around Visbaai, resulting in a fishing culture that still lives on. But, Hermanus became equally famous for another kind of fishing, which also had economic consequences, […]
March 5, 2020

Visbaai – bay of fishes

The history of Hermanus as a fishing village 1855-1960 Writer: Dr Robin Lee F or the first 100 years of its life, Hermanus was a fishing village. True, fishing became industrialised, and the village became a town. But, in the popular mind, fishing was the ethos of the settlement, and […]
February 3, 2020

Klip Kop Cave – home to early humans in Hermanus

The Village Explorer Writer: Dr Robin Lee The Overstrand coastline is full of caves. This is because the entire coast and even mountains now kilometres inland were under the sea for millions of years. The Table Mountain Sandstone deposits, which predominate in this area, had many weak spots, and scouring […]