Historic George Archives

THE OLD TOLL HOUSE, GEORGE

Are you wondering what to do in George on a wet or beautiful sunny Saturday morning? We took the gravel road up the historic Montagu Pass. – It is one of the four passes that traverse the Outeniqua mountains. You will stumble upon the old Toll House. The gravel road leads up the 8km long pass and is signposted from the N12 towards Oudtshoorn. Starting from the George side and travelling up the incline, it is the first and only building that you come across. Until the building of the Outeniqua pass as we know it today, the Montagu pass was the main route between Cape Town and Grahamstown. The Toll House dates back to the year 1855. According to old records the toll was as follow: a whopping two pennies per wheel a penny per draft animal two pennies for losloop animals and half a penny for each sheep,… Read more >

HISTORIESE GEORGE

Die storie van George, wat na King George III vernoem is, begin reeds op 23 April 1811. Ek begin stap in Yorkstraat, wat vernoem is na die Duke of York en tweede seun van King Geroge III, by die Old Town House. Dit is reeds in 1847 opgerig en het eers die George Museum gehuisves, maar vandag dien dit as restaurant. Dan 100 jaar later in 1911 word daar op die hoek van Mark- en Hiberniastrate, ‘n gedenksaal opgerig wat vandag die Ingenieurs Departement van die George Munisipaliteit huisves. Ek kruis die straat en stap na die witgeverfde Poskantoor met sy mooi houtdeure en kenmerkende rooi posbusse. Nie net is dit in 1948 voltooi, maar spog ook met ‘n hout kloktoring. Dan verder op in die straat kry ek onverwags, agter mooi ysterhekke in ‘n lowergroen tuin, ‘n glimps van die statige Bishops Lea, huis van die Diocese of George…. Read more >

ST MARKS CATHEDRAL, GEORGE

I took some time off from my day job and did a bit of exploring in my own town. I must confess that I have been living in George for more than 15 years and have never visited the little stone cathedral in the middle of town. Arriving over the lunch hour on a sunny day I found the gardener attending to the lawn with love and care. He only gave me a quick glance and carried on with his tasks at hand. Today the little stone church stood out against the blue sky with picture opportunities aplenty. This is another one of the legendary Sophy Gray churches. The design of the cathedral is based on the Littlemore Church near Oxford in England which was designed by Henry Jones Underwood. Three stonemasons were used to build the cathedral and it was completed in only 13 months. Without the modern technology… Read more >

Tag Archive: Historic George

THE OLD TOLL HOUSE, GEORGE

HISTORIESE GEORGE

ST MARKS CATHEDRAL, GEORGE