places of worship

Read more about the article Tarkastad Dutch Reformed Church – A big church in a small town
Firefly the Travel Guy

Tarkastad Dutch Reformed Church – A big church in a small town

The small town of Tarkastad is located between Cradock and Queenstown on the R61. It's off the beaten track and most people passing through are traveling between the Transkei area and the Western Cape. Tarkastad has a PEP stores so it can be termed a town. Anything without I would call a village. It's still very small though and I only got to visit it for the first time recently when my son moved there for his first job. The…

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10/01/2025
Read more about the article A Moravian Mission church in Clarkson in the Tsitsikamma
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
Read more about the article Somerset East’s Dutch Reformed Church at the top of Beaufort Street
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
Read more about the article The beautiful stone Dutch Reformed church in Kareedouw
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
Read more about the article The Victorian era designed Dutch Reformed Church of Jansenville
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
Read more about the article Steynsburg, the small town with a big church
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
Read more about the article The Moederkerk in the heart of Cradock
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
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St Mary’s front and back

On Tuesday I posted a picture of St Mary's Cathedral in the Port Elizabeth city centre.  I realised that although people may know what the cathedral looks like from the outside, that not many may have been inside the cathedral yet.  So today I'm posting two pictures taken inside the building, one looking to the front...... and one looking back at the pews.

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15/03/2018
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3, 2, 1 stained glass windows

A week ago I posted a picture of the big stained glass window in the St Augustine's Cathedral.  When I was doing the post I considered posted the three pictures in this post along with it, but decided that it was magnificent enough to warrant a stand-alone post.  So here is stained glass post #2 featuring a 3, 2, 1 combination of stained glass windows. So...3 21

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30/11/2017