Stories Archive
January 26, 2016
Fire has been an integral part of the Overstrand and Hermanus for millions of years. The first fires happened for purely natural reasons, probably most often started by lightning strikes. The plant ancestors of our fynbos adapted to these periodic fires, probably over hundreds of thousands of years. Then, species […]
October 15, 2015
Magdalena Urina “Swallow” Neethling Born: 28 May 1877 Died: 7 Aug 1953 1895 at age of 17 began teaching at Kwartelfontein Caledon district. In 1896 during a holiday in Hermanuspietersfontein she was approached by the then school principal who asked her and convinced her to come and teach in HPF. […]
October 13, 2015
The graves of Sir William and Lady Hoy on the summit of Hoy’s Koppie are (regrettably) damaged from time to time. Three months ago vandals with crowbars made a serious attempt to remove the large granite blocks that border the graves. They did not succeed in opening the graves, but […]
September 29, 2015
I came across a website www.buzzfeed.com recently where a follower, called travelguru, rated Clarence Drive (or, more prosaically, a portion of the R44) as the best scenic drive in the world. But there is no mention of the interesting history of Clarence Drive. In the 17th century, individuals and families started moving […]