Things to do in
Carnarvon and surroundings
Tourism
page 1
The
Carnarvon Museum
originally served as a community hall for the Dutch Reformed Church.
The hall was built in 1907 and when the new community centre was inaugurated in
1973, the hall was donated to the Municipality to be used as a museum.
Presently the museum hosts a large variety of
antiques that were either donated or are on loan from community members.
One of the most valued articles on show is the old
hearse that belonged to the Dutch Reformed Church and was donated to the museum
when it was not longer in use. The hearse was in the care of Frans
Mans who was also the driver. The wooden canopy of the hearse was
built by a local Carnarvon carpenter, Mr Mocke.
The corbelled house outside the museum is an
excellent example of the many corbelled houses that can be found on farms in the
district of Carnarvon. This specific corbelled house was removed from the
farm Biesiespputs near Carnarvon on the road to Loxton. A local man
of all trades, Roy Riley removed it section by section and rebuilt it on
its present site. Mr Riley also rebuilt the English fort on Koeëkop
on the exact spot where it stood during the Anglo-Boer war. As a kid
he used to play in the ruins of the old fort and never knew that he would one
day be asked to rebuild it.
In the gallery below a small sample of the
beautiful and valuable articles on show, can be seen.
Wooden ceiling in the main hall of the museum
Antique vehicles in the main hall
Corbelled house outside the museum
The roof of the corbelled house as seen from inside
Inside the corbelled house
Inside the corbelled house
Roy Riley and his wife Ellen -October 2010
Both Mr Riley and his wife made a huge contribution to the community of Carnarvon over the years and are still valuable members of the comunity.
Wooden ceiling in the main hall of the museum
The name
Koeëlkop
was derived from the bullets (Afrikaans = koeël) of the English
soldiers, from the period of the Anglo-Boer war, that were often
found lying around on top of this prominent hill, that overlooks
Carnarvon
One can assume that Koeëlkop would
have been an important lookout point for the guards during the war,
but today it serves as a site for the water reservoir that supplies
water to Carnarvon. Lately the remnants of an old
English fort was rebuilt on top of Koeëlkop.
From the top of Koeëlkop one has a
birds eye view of Carnarvon to the north-east, the abattoir in the
East, the Skietfontein settlement in the west and the airfield to
the south-west. It is a wonderful experience to watch
the sun go down from this high elevation, see the countryside
changing in colour and the shadows moving in, with a Vaal Korhaan
protesting loudly in the distance.
On the way from the entrance gate to
Koeëlkop, it is worthwhile to take a detour to the left, stop at the
memorial of the Ossewatrek and experience another glimpse into the
history of South Africa.
View from Koeëlkop in late
afternoon
Monument in commemoration of the Ossewatrek in 1938 English fort from the Anglo-Boer war
on top of Koeëlkop
Pick a hiking trail
(See the "contact us" page to book a
guided tour)
The
Skietfontein hiking trail
starts at the antique shop of Dieter German in Church Street and
then follows Van Riebeeck Street past the "Skema". It follows the
winding footpath that workers and pupils from Skietfontein use to and from
Carnarvon, all along the bank of the river. The length of the route
is about 8 km in total.
On the way to Skietfontein, hikers can experience
typical Karoo veld with a variety of interesting shrubs (Karoo bossies) with
beautiful views of the Karoo hills and windmills as well as water fowl in the pools of
water in the river.
When walking this route the first
time, I enjoyed the interaction with Skietfontein residents coming in the
opposite direction on their way to Carnarvon.
At Skietfontein remnants of the ancient stone
houses of early inhabitants can still be found, as well as a few typical Karoo
houses and very friendly people. At the enclave where the
Hendriks family live, right at the far end of the settlement, we stopped at the
house of Louisa Hendriks and had a hard time persuading her to let us go
without a cup of coffee. We wanted very much to stay as she is one
of the older inhabitants and has wonderful stories to tell, but we had an
appointment and had to be back in Carnarvon in time.
On our way back through the river and hiking on
another route on the opposite side of the river, we met Ben Maritz, also on his
way to Carnarvon. Ben was carrying a plastic bag which I assumed was
his lunch pack, but as the conversation continued Ben told us that it was full
of goat dung (bokmis). A family member in Carnarvon had the small
pox (smallpox) and they use the bokmis as medicine as it works better than the doctors
medicine.
On our way back we followed a route past one of
the permanent springs in the area, although at this stage the spring was
very weak and only a small amount of water was seeping out between the rocks.
We went past Dellville, the small farm of the Ahmed family, and then followed the
road past the graveyard, up Mark Street, over Unieplein, past the historic U.R.
Church (former Rhenish Mission Church) and then reached our starting point in Church
Street. We did
not have time to enjoy the route as much as we wanted and at our relatively fast
pace it took us an hour and thirty minutes from start to finish.
Please enjoy a few photos that we took on our way.
Click photos to enlarge
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Pools of water in the river
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Small filly wary of the stangers
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On the throne
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Brightly painted Karoo style house at Skietfontein
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Karoo style house at Skietfontein
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Some of the houses at Skietfonein
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Small fountain near Skietfontein
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The Historic Houses trail
Many of the
original houses of the settlement at De Bult, as well as many
of the Victorian houses and stylish mansions, that were built before
and just after nineteen hundred, still exist today.
The hiking trail starts at Dieter
German's antique shop in Church Street, as there are nice shade trees to park under on
the opposite side of the road. We start with a visit to
the antique shop. The antique shop is an example of a Karoo type house and the cute
cottage next door, in which Dieter and his wife Ebeth live, is a
saddled roof house with Carnarvon type frieze.
From Church Street we move to the Uniting
Reformed Church on Unieplein and from there to the parsonage of the
U.R.Church. As we hike down Mark Street we see many of the
original old houses on either side. As we turn right
towards the early settlement of De Bult, there is a monument in the
middle of the road, in commemoration of the soldiers from the
coloured community that died in skirmishes between 1914 and 1945.
On our left the original houses of the first settlement in Carnarvon
, De Bult, are still in use.
After viewing the original Karoo houses
we go up with Sterrenberg Street, where more examples of the old
houses can be seen. Where Sterrenberg Street meets Van Riebeeck
Street, a quaint little church provides a nice focus point
for the street. From Van Riebeeck Street the route
goes up Nuwe Street and then left into Hanou Street, past the
public library, post office, municipal buildings, until it reaches
the corbelled house and the museum. We spend some time
at the museum and keep on with Van Riebeeck to view more splendid
historic houses. The route then goes North East with
Rivier Street, where more beautiful houses can be seen.
Also in Rivier Street can be found the old mansion in which former
writer and school teacher D.F.Malherbe used to live as well as
another beautiful mansion in which the former writer, teacher and
mayor of Carnarvon, A.G.Visser lived.
From Rivier Street we move to
Daniel Street, where the parsonage of the Duch Reformed Church,
built in 1912, is located as well as some other excellent examples
of historic houses. Also in Daniel Street is the
main entrance of the Lord Carnarvon guest house, located in two old
historic houses, that each have an interesting history of their own.
Your tour guide will let you in on the history and if you are lucky
to catch the very busy owner, Pieter Hoffman, he will give you
a firsthand version of the history of these two beautifully restored
buildings.
The historic houses route ends in Church
Street, where your vehicles will be standing safely in the shade of
the trees.
In the gallery below, please view a
sample of the buildings and monuments that you will see on the
route.
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Antique shop in Church street
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Dieter's beautifully restored home
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Uniting Reformed Church built in 1858
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Parsonage of the Uniting Reformed Church, built in the 1850's
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De Bult - original settlement
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Original setlement at De Bult
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De Bult
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De Bult
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De Bult
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De Bult
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De Bult
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De Bult
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De Bult
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De Bult
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De Bult
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Sterrenberg street
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Sterrenberg street
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Sterrenberg street
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Sterrenberg street
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Sterrenberg street
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Friendly ladies in Sterrenberg street
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Chruch building at the top of Sterrenberg street
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Old mansion presently owned by Hentie Maritz
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Corbelled house - see photos of inside on museum page
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Museum - see more photos on museum page
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Old Anglican Church in Hanau street
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Beautifull historic building of the Collins family
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War memorial erected after second wold war
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Inscription on back of war memorial (1939-1946)
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Previous residence of the well known A.G.Visser
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Photo of A.G.Visser (second from left) among the photos of previous mayors of Carnarvon
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Previous residence of the well known writer D.F. Malherbe
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Dutch Reformed Chuch building in Daniel street
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Beautifully restored building of the Lord Carnarvon Guesthouse with the rose garden of the church in front.
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Parsonage of the Duch Reformed Church built in 1912
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