history

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193 years of being called PE

If you could go back 193 years in time to this day in 1820, you would see the arrival of Sir Rufane Donkin, Acting Governor of the Cape Colony, in Algoa Bay to oversee the arrival and settling of the British Settlers.  You would also see him look around at the beautiful bay with the small settlement on the coastline and name the town in honour of his late wife, Lady Elizabeth, who died not long before of fever in India.  He also proclaimed the…

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06/06/2013
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Landmans Lake

Yesterday I posted a picture of the lake on Lakeside Road saying that I haven't been able to find any information on the internet where the actual name of the lake is given.  In general people just talk of Lake Farm but you never hear a proper name. Last night Grant Slater, one of PEDP's regular followers, sent me the above which is a Surveyor General map dating back to 1860.  On the map the lake is named as Landmans Lake.  Just shows…

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21/05/2013
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Uitenhage Concentration Camp Memorial

Not a lot of people know that Uitenhage had a concentration camp right on their doorstep during the Anglo-Boer War between 1899 and 1902.  The concentration camp used to be situated on 10 hectares of land on the outskirts of town where the festival grounds can be found.  During the war a large number of women and children were dying in a Bloemfontein camp because of extreme temperatures.  It was decided to establish a new one which had to be somewhere near water and…

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15/05/2013
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Water scheme memorial

Very few locals would know that the Prince Alfred Guard Memorial forms the certral ornamental feature of Port Elizabeth's second oldest water reservoir. In the early 1900's it was decided to supply water to Port Elizabeth from the Bulk and Sand Rivers and the St. George's Reservoir was constructed as a part of this scheme.  Excavation for the reservoir was commenced at the end of August 1906 and on 6 November 1907 the Treasurer-General, the Honourable Edgar H. Walton, turned the water into the new Service Reservoir…

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30/04/2013
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The Arc of the 30th Meridian

Someone once sent me an email asking if I've ever been to the trig beacon on Lovemore Heights along with all the information about the beacon.  I'd never even heard of it and decided to drive up there, coming up against a closed gate and filing it away for future exploration.  After I took up Geocaching I noticed that there was a cache hidden close to the trig beacon and grabbed the opportunity to try and find it again, this time with…

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29/04/2013
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Schoenmakerskop fortress

I have posted in the past about the series of Fortress Observation Posts that was built around Port Elizabeth at the start of the Second World War as harbour defences, showing in particular the one in Cape Recife.  The FOP most people may have seen before is the one sitting on the hill above Schoenmakerskop.  Notice the curves along the edges which was part of the design to make it blend in against the bush and hills behind it.  This was done so that…

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18/03/2013
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Old Harbour Board Building

The old Harbour Board Building in Flemming Street in the city centre was used as the Port Elizabeth Harbour's administration building for 70 years.  The foundation stone was laid by J Searle who was the Managing Commissioner of the Harbour Board in 1904 and the building is regarded as one of the best examples of Art Nouveau architecture in South Africa.  The exterior of the building has impressive stonework while the interior has richly ornamented woodwork and stained glass windows. …

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28/01/2013
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Captain Evatt’s tomb stone

Captain Francis Evatt who was commander of Fort Frederick from 1817 - 1847 and amongst others oversaw the landing of the 1820 British Settlers was buried in St Mary's Cathedral after his death.  His remains were moved to a grave just outside the north wall of Fort Frederick in 1956.  With the moving of his remains to the new grave it was decided to put a replica tomb stone on the grave while the original tomb stone was installed in the cathedral's foyer.

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16/12/2012
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WW2 observation post

Port Elizabeth has arguably the most complete collection of surviving coast artillery buildings and equipment dating from the Second World War (1939-45) of any port in South Africa.  Before the Second World War the Port Elizabeth Harbour actually had no defence in place except for Fort Frederick which was built in 1799 to guard the original landing place in the early days long before a harbour was even built.  In 1942 it was decided to put harbour defences in place at all South Africa's…

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11/11/2012
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Steve Biko’s cell at Walmer police station

Today is the 35th anniversary of the death of Steve Biko, anti-apartheid activist and founder of the Black Consciousness Movement.  I was invited to visit the police cell at the Walmer Police Station where Biko was kept after his arrest in 1977 before he was taken to the Sanlam Building in town where he was tortured.  I hadn't seen the cell before and was glad that the opportunity has come my way as it is one of only a few heritage sites…

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12/09/2012