Somerset East

Read more about the article The All Saints United Church in Somerset East
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
Read more about the article Gill College, the Somerset East school that was supposed to be a university
Firefly the Travel Guy

Gill College, the Somerset East school that was supposed to be a university

The history of Somerset East dates back to 1815 when Lord Charles Somerset established an experimental farm at the foot of the Boschberg. Somerset Farm was started to supply food to the British troops manning the eastern frontier of the Cape Colony, provide their horses with feed, and partly to cultivate tobacco for export purposes. By 1825 Lord Charles stood on the stoep of the house in 9 Paulet Street and surveyed Somerset Farm, dividing it into erven, thus starting the…

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17/01/2024
Read more about the article The old mill building in Somerset East
Firefly the Travel Guy

The old mill building in Somerset East

One of the buildings in Somerset East that I find the most interesting is the little building on the corner of Paulet and Beaufort Streets. It is one that draws a lot of comments and speculation about its origins although the general thought is that it was a mill dating back to the early days of Somerset Farm. Information collected by Sheila van Aardt suggested it was used as a mill with the water wheel on the Beaufort Street side…

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27/12/2023
Read more about the article Exploring the fascinating Somerset East Museum
Firefly the Travel Guy

Exploring the fascinating Somerset East Museum

Nestled against the foot of the Boschberg above Somerset East stands a building just about as old as the town. The land was originally given to Wesleyan missionaries for a chapel and graveyard with the chapel getting consecrated in 1828. A mere four years later in 1832, the property was transferred to the Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk of Somerset and in 1975 the Somerset East Old Parsonage Museum was inaugurated during the celebration of Somerset East’s 150th anniversary. In 1834 Ds.…

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18/08/2023
Read more about the article The Roodewal historic site outside Cookhouse
Firefly the Travel Guy

The Roodewal historic site outside Cookhouse

Big monuments and historic buildings are easy to spot and often stand out. It's the ones that are often a bit obscured that very few people actually know about or get to visit. One such site is the Roodewal historic site next to the N10 near Cookhouse in the Eastern Cape. This site doesn't just have one, but three separate heritage-related items all linked to the same place. Roodewal Farm. I knew about one of them because there is a…

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23/03/2023
Read more about the article Hiking along the Somerset East parkrun route
Firefly the Travel Guy

Hiking along the Somerset East parkrun route

The Somerset East parkrun has become a popular outdoor activity for both locals and visitors to this beautiful Karoo Heartland town. But the parkrun hasn't just created a Saturday morning outing, it's also created a fantastic safe hiking trail option for the town. What is better than one trail? Two trails, as you can do the whole 5km route or opt-out about halfway. I spent a couple of days in Somerset East and Desiree of Mountain View Guest Inn took…

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16/09/2022
Read more about the article The war memorial in Somerset East
Firefly the Travel Guy

The war memorial in Somerset East

No matter how big or small the town in South Africa, you are very likely to find a war memorial of some sort somewhere in or close to it. As you come into the Karoo Heartland town of Somerset East from the Graaff Reinet side the town's war memorial stands on an island on the left-hand side. The War Memorial commemorates the men of Somerset East and the surrounding district who lost their lives in the First and Second World…

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06/09/2022
Read more about the article Slagtersnek, reminders of a Boer rebellion in the Karoo Heartland
Firefly the Travel Guy

Slagtersnek, reminders of a Boer rebellion in the Karoo Heartland

If you're driving along the N10 south of Cookhouse in the Eastern Cape and you keep your eyes open on the eastern side of the road, you'll spot a monument that remembers quite a significant piece of history linked to this district's early years. A sign on the gate identifies it as the Slagtersnek (or Slachtersnek) Monument, but what is Slagtersnek, what happened here and what led to it? Back in the early 1800s this area was the eastern border…

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30/08/2022
Read more about the article The museum ghosts of Somerset East
Somerset East Old Parsonage Museum ghost stories
Firefly the Travel Guy

The museum ghosts of Somerset East

You know that feeling when you walk around a very old place, often on your own? Yes, that feeling when you think to yourself that you really don't want to be alone there after dark. That feeling that you are sure something goes bump in the night there. Yes, thaaaaaatttt feeling. The one when the hair on the back of your neck rises and something crawls slowly down your spine. Somerset East has two excellent museums with a lot of…

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22/07/2022
Read more about the article Marveling at a beautiful Karoo Heartland sunset from Bruintjieshoogte
Firefly the Travel Guy

Marveling at a beautiful Karoo Heartland sunset from Bruintjieshoogte

If you travel eastwards on the R63 from Graaff Reinet, you drive along fairly flat terrain all the way through the town of Pearston. You will only encounter the first significant change in elevation 20km east of the town when you start to ascend the Bruintjieshoogte Pass on the way to Somerset East. The pass is named after the surrounding Bruintjieshoogte mountain range which lies between the Sundays River, Renosterberg, the Groot Winterhoek Mountains and the Sneeuberge. The range forms a watershed for the Little Fish River (a tributary…

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03/07/2022