Cradock

Uncategorized

Cradock’s Mother Church

The Dutch Reformed Church at the top of Church Street in Cradock is probably this Karoo town's most imposing landmark.  The first Dutch Reformed congregation in the town was established in 1824 and the church was the town's first.  Paul Kruger, who went on to become the President of the Transvaal Republic, who was born on a farm near Bulhoek south of Queenstown in 1826 was christened (by a Welsh pastor) in the original church and his name appears in the register. The present building,…

1 Comment
06/03/2014
Uncategorized

Cradock celebrates 200 years

Cradock is one of the main towns in the Karoo Heartland and this year celebrates 200 years since being founded.  By the late 1700's Graaff-Reinet had been established as a magistrate district and Dutch farmers has settled in the area.  In 1814 Sir John Cradock decided to build a series of forts along the lower Fish River and all the way up to present day Cradock to try to contain the Xhosa people to the East of the Fish River which by then…

2 Comments
03/03/2014
Uncategorized

Cradock attractions

Its been a year or two since my visit to Cradock here in the Eastern Cape, but I found a couple of pics of attractions in the town that I haven't posted before.The historic NG Moederkerk (Dutch Reformed Church)The church was completed in 1868 for the local Dutch Reformed congregation that was established in 1824, a mere 10 years after the town received it’s name. The design of the church was based on the design of "St. Martins-in-the-Field" in London's…

5 Comments
28/08/2010
Uncategorized

Tuishuise and Victoria Hotel

We spend a weekend at the very interesting Tuishuise in Cradock recently. The Tuishuise is an elegant collection of beautifully restored Victorian era craftsmen’s houses in this Karoo town about 3 hours north of Port Elizabeth. The more than two dozen Tuishuise line Market Street and are furnished with mostly antique furniture. Each house constitudes unit so you won't be sharing your house with anybody else. We were there in winter so the fireplace in our unit came in very…

1 Comment
24/07/2010
Uncategorized

Karoo churches

For today's "Random ..." theme I decided on Karoo Churches. Most of the small Karoo towns have magnificent old churches that are well know landmarks in these towns. The Dutch Reformed Church (Moederkerk) in Cradock. Built in 1868, the design is a near replica of St. Martins-in-the-Field in Londen. The Dutch Reformed Church (Grotekerk) in Graaff-Reinet. It was built in 1885 and the design was based on the Salisbury Cathedral in England. The Reformed Church in Venterstad, built in 1876.

8 Comments
24/02/2009
Uncategorized

Karoo Cactus

On our recent visit to Cradock we walked up Oukop, the hill outside the town. From the top there is a lovely view over the town. There is a wide variety of succulents and cactuses that grow in the area and this one I found very interesting.

7 Comments
23/08/2008
Uncategorized

Coral Aloe on Oukop

Coral Aloe is one of the many aloe species found in South Africa. Unlike most other aloe species, the coral aloe does not have thorny or spiky leaves. These aloes are in full bloom at the moment and in some areas in the Karoo the fields of aloe looks awesome at the moment. This coral aloe is growing on Oukop in Cradock.

3 Comments
20/08/2008
Uncategorized

Karoo cottages at moonlight

Ok, so its not the second installment of the Settler story yet, but that will still come. Last Thursday I took the step up from my compact digital camera and bought myself a new camera. Ok, so the budget does not allow for a professional camera with different lenses, but it did allow a Fujifilm Finepix S8000 with 8 megapixels and 18x optical zoom. I took it along to Cradock for our weekend away and here follows the first post…

2 Comments
18/08/2008