Eastern Cape Provincial Article - South African Vacations
Eastern Cape Provincial Article - South African Vacations
Eastern Cape Provincial Article - South African Vacations
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ART AND CRAFTS<br />
Walter Battiss Art Gallery: The gallery houses the country’s largest collection<br />
of work by this acclaimed artist.<br />
Museum shop: Do not leave town before you have purchased a jar of the<br />
Museum’s home-made rose petal jam or apple mint jelly. Various other art and<br />
crafts are for sale at this venue and at the Walter Battiss Art Gallery.<br />
HISTORY AND ARCHITECTURE<br />
Andries Vosloo Monument: The fountain of the Andries Vosloo Monument, at<br />
the entrance to the Town Hall, commemorates Andries Vosloo, one-time<br />
Administrator of the <strong>Cape</strong>, who grew up in the town.<br />
Comley Memorial: Comley Memorial was erected in honour of Commander<br />
William Comley who fought in the Frontier Wars of the 1870s.<br />
Delville Wood Monument: The monument was erected to honour those<br />
citizens who died fighting in the two World Wars.<br />
Historical buildings: Paulet, Beaufort and Charles streets have many old,<br />
historical buildings. Noteworthy buildings include: Hope Church, the Anglican<br />
and Dutch Reformed Churches, the Walter Battiss Art Gallery, the old Mill<br />
House, believed to have been part of the first homestead in town, and the<br />
Langenhoven Library. The beautiful school buildings of Gill College High<br />
School include two national monuments.<br />
Old Pastorie (Rectory): The rectory is surrounded by a beautiful garden.<br />
Peace Cross: Representatives of all the inhabitants of the town erected this<br />
cross in 1993, along the scenic Auret Drive to the summit of Bosberg<br />
Mountain.<br />
Somerset East Museum: This Georgian-styled building, whose beauty is<br />
enhanced by some 700 rosebushes and an herb garden, has been declared a<br />
national monument. It gives visitors a glimpse of life in a nineteenth-century<br />
parsonage and features late Victorian household items and furniture, a<br />
collection of old wedding gowns, historical photographs and documents and<br />
handmade dolls. It also includes a blacksmith’s workshop and the town’s<br />
oldest existing graveyard.<br />
FAUNA AND FLORA<br />
Bosberg Nature Reserve: The 2 050-ha, thickly-wooded Bosberg Nature<br />
Reserve, with its prolific bird life and magnificent lookout points, overlooks<br />
Somerset East. It is situated 1 615 m above sea level and is overgrown<br />
with fynbos and the rare Dohne Sourveld vegetation. The two dams in the<br />
reserve, the Besterhoek and Bosberg Dams, are well stocked with trout. Take<br />
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