Then and Now – Van Stadens Pass drift

Approaching Port Elizabeth from the west you have to drive over the Van Stadens River Bridge about 40 kilometres outside of town.  Looking down into the gorge you can just imagine what an effort it must have been getting through that back in the earlier days.  The river was named after one of the area's pioneer farmers - Marthinus van Staden, who was the first person to plot a basic route through the gorge in the 1850's.  In 1867 Thomas Bain rebuild the…

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Then and Now – Donkin Reserve

The Donkin Reserve is truly one of Port Elizabeth's iconic attractions.  The pyramid (Donkin Memorial) was commissioned by Sir Rufane Donkin in August 1820 as a monument to his wife Lady Elizabeth after whom he named the town.  Sit Rufane was the Acting Governor of the Cape Colony and came to Algoa Bay to oversee the landing of the British Settlers  The Hill Lighthouse was brought into use on 1 June 1861 with Charles Hammond as the first lighthouse keeper.  The cottage adjoining…

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Then and now from the Donkin Lighthouse

After my last venture up the Donkin Lighthouse, Sue sent me two old pictures that were taken from the lighthouse in the late 1800's. She asked me if I had any pics taken in the same direction to be able to compare. I didn't, but took Chaos Boy to climb the lighthouse on Saturday and took a couple. I am sure that I recognise the rusty roof house in both the old and new pics. There is another one which…

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Then and Now- the Willows

We received this old photo of the Willows Resort, taken in 1959, from our friend Gaston. .. and here it is now, not so different, if you look at hese old chalets......... but there are also new chalets and a conference hall, seen here at sunrise,and as a bonus, as we stopped a bit further to photograph some of the new chalets through the fence, we had the delightful experience of watching a family of mongooses (mom, dad and 2…

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For Brenda….

This is for regular reader and ex-PE girl Brenda, who lived here a while back. We featured a "Then and Now" of her at the house in 1949 (now now, it isn't gentlemanly to do the maths!) recently and she wanted to see how it looks now, so here you are.

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casbah’s again

Since we seem to be on a nostalgic kick at the moment, let's feature another shot of PE in the 90s.... this is the Casbah Carvery that used to be in Cape Road, in the old Kine 500 complex. This was sent by Darren Theologo, who says :"The photo of the Limousine infront of the Casbah Carvery & Grill also taken 1992 , People in photo From left to right _1. Riaan Roux , 2.Darren Theologo , 3. Lillian Van…

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St Philips Street Then and Now

I can't believe our 1st blogiversary slipped by yesterday, we clean forgot about it, but would love to thank all our visitors who have really become friends in the past year.One of our readers, Brenda from UK, grew up in a house which is just across the park from us. She has sent us some lovely old photos from the 1930s to 60s, and this is one taken in 1949 in St Philips Street. Note the newly planted sidewalk trees…

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Then and now….

Our friend Gaston from France sent this photo of his son at the Donkin Reserve in 1960. I don't know what the occasion was but it looks interesting, can you just hear the skirling of the pipes?and now, somewhat quieter recently, as the sun rose behind the monument.........

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then and now, Cape Road

In the past, the main road to Cape Town lead up the hill from the City Centre, through what was a rocky gorge called Hyman's Kloof, until Russell Road was built through it. At this point it turns towards the West, and flattens out to become one of the major arterial routes through to the Western Suburbs, and eventually Cape Town. (Although, these days, few people would go that way, as there is a freeway leading West as well.) As…

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