The Old Townhouse in Cape Town

If you ever come to Cape Town and visited the old Townhouse on Greenmarket Square stop and look at the following:

As you enter the Townhouse on the landing directly in front of the main entrance you will see a big white circle painted on the floor. Go stand on it and once you have done this you will be positioned on what is known to be the exact central position of the city of Cape Town. All measurements that are taken from the city, such as distances to nearby towns, are measured from this spot.

While in the old Townhouse wander through to the back of the building where you will today find a coffee shop. This little garden in which the coffee shop operates from used to be where the first fire station was in Cape Town. The fire engine of the day was kept in this area and when it was wheeled out to go fight fires the bell above the castle was rung so as to tell the people of the city how the fire fighting procedure was progressing. If the bell rang slowly then it meant that the fire was being beaten whereas if it rang quickly it signaled that the fire was spreading.and all volunteer hands were needed.

University of Cape Town

I wonder how many folk know where, when and how the University of Cape Town really came into being.

The University of Cape Town was born in the vestry of the Dutch Reformed Church in Cape Town on 14 October 1828. Heads of families all got together and discussed how better schooling could be obtained for their children as government and free school standards were on the decline.

The outcome of the meeting was the opening of the South African College at the Weeshuis or Orphanage on 1 October 1829. 100 students attended school in this venue until The South African College  was built. This school in turn superseded the Cape Town University on the slopes of Devils peak.

Cape Town's Metropolitan Golf Course

In Cape Town we have many golf courses with the one that is most accessible to those living on the Atlantic seaboard being the Metropolitan Golf course. The course, affectionately known as "The Met" is a 9 hole golfing challenge that is the second oldest golf course in South Africa with the Royal Cape golf course being the oldest. The course has existed for 105 years and was only closed to golfers for one period during its colourful history and that was during the Anglo Boer War when the British Army commandeered the area as an area for their tented barracks.


The Naming of Woodstock

If one asks most Capetonians where the suburb of Woodstock got its name from most will know that it did not come from the rock festival held in the sixties. At the same time most of them would not realize that the area was once called Papendorp after a certain Pieter Papendorp. In 1784 the name Woodstock came about by popular demand from the residents of the area when the name was changed to honor the favorite drinking hole of the locals viz. The Woodstock Hotel. <hic> (-:)


The Company Dairy

When visitors are shown around Cape Town a regular site to visit is the Natural History Museum / Planetarium in the upper part of the Company Garden. I wonder how many people realise that this site also has historic value in that it used to be where the Company dairy of the early Dutch settlers was housed over 3 centuries ago.


Articles submitted by: Selwyn Davidowitz
Email:cptn@mail.com

SATOUR accredited tourguide with an immense passion for Cape Town and its surrounds. To see more about Selwyn's services as a tourguide please click here .