Where once the Goringhaiqua and Gorachoqua... Looking North from Riverstone Wine Estate and Keerweder, Franschhoek, South Africa
Once the valley of the Goringhaiqua and Gorachoqua, indigenous peoples, and also of elephant breeding grounds...
In 1692 the Dutch East India Trading Company's governor of the Cape Colony, Simon van der Stel (1639-1712), granted to one Heinrich Möller (or Müller or Muller) of Basle, Switzerland, a large parcel of grazing land high up in the valley of what was then called Olifantshoek. This was seen as a warning name much as Banghoek in this same area: not then very hospitable lands; nor yet a wonderful Le Franschhoek Hotel on these same grounds. The fledgling estate was called Keerweder, because anyone attempting to climb higher over what is today Porcupine Ridge was forced to turn back by the impassably steep terrain. Keerweder proved to be well-suited for wine growing, and soon the first vineyards were planted on the hillsides but especially along the valley's small streams; today some here are Haut Espoir, Boekenhoutskloof, Stony Brook, Klein Genot..
In the Autumn of 1694 the first Huguenot familyies, nine of them, were allowed to settle near Keerweder, and quickly the entire valley became a thriving wine-growing community. The indigenous people were subdued and turned into slaves. In 1692 there were here seven slave holders with 43 slaves of the San and Khoi tribes. Things were made no better by the white folk hero Adam Tas (1668-1722) who in a kind of 'hate-speech' demanded of the government that 'white' privileges not be extended to indigenous poeples even if they were free. Adam Tas had himself been a victim of corrupt and high-handed East India Company officials who trampled over the rights and privileges and freedoms of its citizens. He and 63 Free Burghers of the Cape - among whom 31 Huguenots (who should know what freedom meant) - wrote a petition against the Cape governor - Willem Adriaan van der Stel (1664-1723), son of the earlier governor Simon - and bypassing him sent it to his overlords in Amsterdam directly. As soon as word came out, Tas was arrested by the governor's men and cast into the 'Black Hole' prison in Cape Town, which was closed entirely to any daylight. Released after more than a year..., the governor defamed and recalled to The Netherlands..., Tas renamed his homestead at Stellenbosch, 'Libertas', Liberty.
This photo is taken towards the northeast. At my back is Porcupine Ridge; the scene is across the new vineyards of the Riverside Estate; in the distance the discerning eye can just make out Cat se Pad, a trail leading over the mountains to Villiersdorp (of course, today there is a modern pass road as well, with incredible views). This is the general direction into which in the middle of the nineteenth century (accounts differ whether in 1836 or 1850) the last elelphants were seen making their way out of the Franschhoek valley...
On the slopes of the Wemmershoek mountains you can see vineyards climbing steadily upwards. It was clearing up after a rainy afternoon.
Where once the Goringhaiqua and Gorachoqua... Looking North from Riverstone Wine Estate and Keerweder, Franschhoek, South Africa
Once the valley of the Goringhaiqua and Gorachoqua, indigenous peoples, and also of elephant breeding grounds...
In 1692 the Dutch East India Trading Company's governor of the Cape Colony, Simon van der Stel (1639-1712), granted to one Heinrich Möller (or Müller or Muller) of Basle, Switzerland, a large parcel of grazing land high up in the valley of what was then called Olifantshoek. This was seen as a warning name much as Banghoek in this same area: not then very hospitable lands; nor yet a wonderful Le Franschhoek Hotel on these same grounds. The fledgling estate was called Keerweder, because anyone attempting to climb higher over what is today Porcupine Ridge was forced to turn back by the impassably steep terrain. Keerweder proved to be well-suited for wine growing, and soon the first vineyards were planted on the hillsides but especially along the valley's small streams; today some here are Haut Espoir, Boekenhoutskloof, Stony Brook, Klein Genot..
In the Autumn of 1694 the first Huguenot familyies, nine of them, were allowed to settle near Keerweder, and quickly the entire valley became a thriving wine-growing community. The indigenous people were subdued and turned into slaves. In 1692 there were here seven slave holders with 43 slaves of the San and Khoi tribes. Things were made no better by the white folk hero Adam Tas (1668-1722) who in a kind of 'hate-speech' demanded of the government that 'white' privileges not be extended to indigenous poeples even if they were free. Adam Tas had himself been a victim of corrupt and high-handed East India Company officials who trampled over the rights and privileges and freedoms of its citizens. He and 63 Free Burghers of the Cape - among whom 31 Huguenots (who should know what freedom meant) - wrote a petition against the Cape governor - Willem Adriaan van der Stel (1664-1723), son of the earlier governor Simon - and bypassing him sent it to his overlords in Amsterdam directly. As soon as word came out, Tas was arrested by the governor's men and cast into the 'Black Hole' prison in Cape Town, which was closed entirely to any daylight. Released after more than a year..., the governor defamed and recalled to The Netherlands..., Tas renamed his homestead at Stellenbosch, 'Libertas', Liberty.
This photo is taken towards the northeast. At my back is Porcupine Ridge; the scene is across the new vineyards of the Riverside Estate; in the distance the discerning eye can just make out Cat se Pad, a trail leading over the mountains to Villiersdorp (of course, today there is a modern pass road as well, with incredible views). This is the general direction into which in the middle of the nineteenth century (accounts differ whether in 1836 or 1850) the last elelphants were seen making their way out of the Franschhoek valley...
On the slopes of the Wemmershoek mountains you can see vineyards climbing steadily upwards. It was clearing up after a rainy afternoon.