This beautiful gable house, hidden at the back of Metanoia and Heemstede, was built by a famous Stellenbosser, and his neighbour was also a legend.Prof G.G. Cillié and mr. Paul Roos lived as neighbours in two identical houses in Van Riebeeck Street. Most of the houses in this street (today Heemstede's lawns) had similar layou...  Continue reading

Someone calls Stellenbosch the 'spine' of Stellenbosch. The meandering path breaks the grid pattern of most towns and tells about the intimacy and authenticity of Stellenbosch. This 'carriage road' to the Cape ("de wagenweg naar de Caab") was a road slowly shaped by the wheels of wagons and coaches driving between the Cape of...  Continue reading

When doing research for my previous blogs I often came across the name “Denneoord” and wondered what it refers to. The primary school I attended, Stellenbosch Primary, once had that name. What is the story of Denneoord and how does it fit into the Stellenbosch heritage?The short answer is that Denneoord was the institution fr...  Continue reading

The Jan Marais Park was created exactly 101 years ago. 1916 was the year BMW (The Bayerischen Motoren Werke) was founded, as well as the year that Albert Einstein published his relativity theory. #triviaSo what is the story behind the park?Why has there been so much effort to protect the Jan Marais park (for more than 100 yea...  Continue reading

As early as the 1800s a variety of sports were practiced in Stellenbosch, according to Dr. Danie Craven in Stellenbosch's 300 year commemorative book (with F. Smuts).The sports practiced by the early pioneers (from the time of Adam Tas) mostly comprised of hunting, playing cards, billiards and later horse racing, although chi...  Continue reading

What do the four earliest streets in Stellenbosch tell us about what people valued at the time?Dorp street - the unofficial firstDorp street, 'de wapad naar de Caab',  joined the Cape to Stellenbosch and was one of the first roads to develop. This was the main trade route for farmers wanting to sell wine, wheat and other prod...  Continue reading