churches - Firefly the Travel Guy

A Moravian Mission church in Clarkson in the Tsitsikamma

I'd like to think I know most of the western part of the Eastern Cape very well. Places like the Tsitsikamma I know like the back of my hand, so I couldn't figure out why I have never been to the Moravian Church in Clarkson when I saw a couple of photos of it on social media recently. Well, it was time for a detour. The village of Clarkson is a former mission station of the Moravian Mission Society. It…

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30/10/2024

Firefly the Travel Guy

Somerset East’s Dutch Reformed Church at the top of Beaufort Street

Whenever I visit a new town the first thing I do is to go and find the town's Dutch Reformed Church. In most small towns in South Africa, they are the oldest church in a place and often a beautiful and interesting building. I did just that the first time I drove into Somerset East. These days I visit Somerset East a couple times a year but I still stop by the church every time to try and get a…

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04/10/2024

Firefly the Travel Guy

The beautiful stone Dutch Reformed church in Kareedouw

Kareedouw is the first town you get when driving along the R62 through the Langkloof coming from the eastern side. Like the rest of the region, it's a beautiful area with the Tsitsikamma Mountains to the south and the Kouga Mountains to the north. Standing with its back to the Tsitsikamma Mountains facing the town is the Kareedouw Dutch Reformed Church. The Kareedouw congregation separated from the Humansdorp Moedergemeente on 9 February 1906. The first call for a minister was…

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13/09/2024

Firefly the Travel Guy

The Victorian era designed Dutch Reformed Church of Jansenville

Each Karoo town has a different charm and atmosphere just like each one has an unique historic Dutch Reformed Church. The town of Jansenville is in no way any different. The Dutch Reformed Church in Jansenville is unusual in that the bell tower is separate from the church. The church is of typical Victorian-era design, complete with decorative plaster quoins on the corners of the exterior walls. The building was designed by prolific ecclesiastical architect Carl Otto Hager, whose plans…

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24/05/2024

Firefly the Travel Guy

The All Saints United Church in Somerset East

In 1848, during his travels through the Eastern Cape, Bishop Gray of Cape Town paid a visit to the young town of Somerset. He was struck by the scarcity of clergyman having only seen one in 900 miles of travel from Cape Town. He undertook to arrange for some 20 Anglican ministers to emigrate from England, and because he believed that there were sufficient English settlers and others to support an Anglican Church, he promised to provide the area with…

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20/03/2024

Firefly the Travel Guy

From a pear tree to a beautiful church – the story of the Pearston Dutch Reformed Church

I get disappointed if I visit a small town and find that there isn't a historic church somewhere to visit and photograph. One of the towns that didn't disappoint was Pearston. Located on a very flat landscape the church is easily spotted in the town's very limited skyline. The village of Pearston is located 48km west of Somerset East in the Eastern Cape's Karoo Heartland. Like so many of the small towns and villages of the Karoo, the village had…

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05/01/2024

Firefly the Travel Guy

Steynsburg, the small town with a big church

The town of Steynsburg in the Eastern Cape's Karoo Heartland developed around the Reformed Church which was established in 1872 and was administered by a village management board controlled by the church. Steynsburg is named after Douwe Gerbrandt Steyn, grandfather of President Paul Kruger. The members of the Dutch Reformed Church from the district had to travel long distances (64km) to Burgersdorp by horse, horse cart and ox wagon to go to church and there was a need for their…

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25/01/2023

Firefly the Travel Guy

Have you seen the pink Karoo church of Hofmeyr?

The small Karoo town of Hofmeyr is located about 63km northeast of Cradock and was founded in 1873. One of the town’s landmarks is its pink church built in 1933.

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23/01/2023

Firefly the Travel Guy

The Moederkerk in the heart of Cradock

The first Dutch Reformed congregation (and also the first church) in Cradock was established back in 1824, 10 years after the town received its name. The present Dutch Reformed Mother Church building, situated on the upper end of Church Street, was completed on the original site as the first church in 1868 at an apparent cost of some £24,500. The building’s design was based on St. Martins-in-the-Field on Trafalgar Square in London. At the opening ceremony, the builder refused to hand over the door…

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20/01/2023

Firefly the Travel Guy

Nieu-Bethesda’s historic NG Kerk

Whenever I visit Nieu-Bethesda I just seem to be attracted to the historic Dutch Reformed Church (Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk or NG Kerk). There is just something to this beautiful building in this tiny village that has me going back to it time and time again. Also, the fact that there are so many different angles to look at it and then add to it the time of day and different weather conditions. I did a post on the church last…

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21/03/2022