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  INFORMATION:
   MOSSEL BAY  

MOSSEL BAY HISTORICAL ROUTE
The age and history of buildings in South Africa cannot and should not be compared to the centuries old buildings in Europe. Southern Africa was the NEW WORLD discovered by the Seafarers and Explorers of the 15th Century. It is against this background that the visitor should look at the age of buildings and towns in South Africa. Mossel Bay is a fairly old town on the South African calendar, and there are many old and interesting buildings here. Many of the old stone buildings were demolished during the 50s and 60s, but the remaining buildings are jealously guarded by the Heritage Society.


1. THE SPRING
The natural spring used by Dias and the ships that regularly called at the Bay was described by a Mariner in the l7th Century. It is almost certainly the pond behind the Post Tree from which water still seeps through below the surface and flows under the railway bridge into the sea. There are many more springs in the town against the hillside, some of which seep through underneath homes.

2. THE POST OFFICE TREE AND SEAMAN'S BOOT POST BOX
This giant milkwood tree is estimated to be more than 800 years old and has been declared a National Monument. It is thought to have been underneath this milkwood tree where Pedro d'Ataide left a letter in 1500 in a seaman's boot (or under a stone) for passing ships. Today a replica of a seaman's boot serves as a postbox next to the tree and all letters posted there bear a special Post Tree postmark. 

This post box marks the site of the first "Post Office" on the African Sub-continent. A Portuguese Padrao, or stone cross, commemorating the padrao planted by Da Gama, was presented to the town in the early 60s, by the Portuguese Government. This Padrao was later moved to the rocky outcrop above Munro's Hoek, clearly visible from the Tree.

3. THE MARITIME MUSEUM -The Old Roller Mill and Saw Mill Building (1901)
The building was originally erected in 1901 to serve as a grain and sawmill. It was adapted to serve as a unique Maritime Museum and houses the impressive life-size replica of Bartolomeu Dias's caravel, the ship in which he sailed into Mossel Bay in the year 1488. It also displays ship models of a bygone era, route maps to the East and exploration of the Dark Continent in general. Visitors are allowed onto the caravel for a small donation and guided tours are available by prior arrangement. Tel: 27 (0)44 6911067
HOURS: Mon-Fri 09:00 - 16:45 
Sat, Sun & Public Holidays 09:00 - 16:00 
CLOSED ONLY ON CHRISTMAS DAY AND GOOD FRIDAY

The museum also has an informational website with Portuguese voyages of discoveries, as well as the Kids Club Newsletter which you can also subscribe to, to receive every month in your emailbox. www.voyages.co.za Afrikaans and English. 

4. THE CARAVEL
The most important function of the Maritime Museum is to house the Dias Caravel. This replica of a caravel was specially constructed at Vila do Conde, Portugal and sailed to Mossel Bay for the 500 year Commemoration of Dias' landing on the shores of Southern Africa.


It was built to the design of vessels used by the Portuguese during the l5th Century on their Voyages of Exploration and Trade. Above deck the ship is exactly like that of the original Caravels. Below deck there was modern refrigeration, kitchen fittings and sleeping accommodation added for the comfort of the crew who sailed her to South Africa. The vessel, made of pine and oak, is 23,5m long with a beam of 6,6m and a displacement of l30 tons. 
It has twin masts and two lateen sails with a total sail area of 220 square metres. By an amazing coincidence in l987 there was a Portuguese Master Mariner and yachtsman, Capt. Emilio da Sousa, living and working in Mossel Bay. He proposed the Voyage of Commemoration and was chosen to sail the Caravel from Portugal with a select crew of 17. They sailed from Lisbon on 8 November l987 and arrived in Mossel Bay dead on time on 3rd February l988, 500 years after Dias. Their journey took 3 months against the 6 months that it took Dias. They encountered good sailing weather and only had to use their auxilliary engine off Namibia.

5. THE GRANNERY
This long single-storey yellow building opposite the Museum car park is considered to be the oldest building in town and was built by the Dutch East India Co as a grain and wool store in 1787. Grain was stored there by the farmers in the district for the sailing ships that called into the Bay. It is not the original building but an exact replica built on the old foundations in 1986 when all the old buildings were restored and the Museum Complex established. The Information Office for the Museum Complex is based here. Inside there is a permanent display of fresh specimens of wild flowers found in this region, and a good selection of photographs of the many mountain passes that link the coastal area to the Little Karoo.

6. THE SHIRLEY BUILDING - now the SHELL MUSEUM.
This sturdy double-storey stone building was erected in 1902 as an additional warehouse for grain storage and to house a sawmill. Joe Shirley, an eccentric, innovative and loveable Irishman conducted his plumbing business from here until l987, when the building was incorporated into the Museum Complex as a Shell Museum. An interesting shell collection portrays the use of shells by Man through the ages in daily living and religious practices. There is a model of a large 476kg Great White Shark caught off Hartenbos in l98l. Visitors are welcome to watch feeding of the fish at set times and may buy stamps and postcards.

7. MUNRO'S HOEK 
The Bay where Dias landed in February 1488 is known as Munro's Hoek. The area was named after a Mr Munro who settled here in l83l with a concession to cull seals. He built the quaint Old Cape thatched home in front to live in and the back building as a Tavern, one of the first two such drinking places in the settlement. These two buildings are considered to be the oldest Homes in the town. Munro's Hoek is a Nature Reserve with wild olives, milkwoods, aloes and other indigenous plants growing there. Munro's Hoek comprises the buildings of the Museum Complex, the Post Tree and Spring, the Padrao and some Malay Graves on the western corner, against the hill.


Munrohoek Cottages (1830)
The first building was built around 1830 by Alexander Munro from Scotland for £25. He operated a canteen on the premises, where unruly seamen met. His son got the first permit to cull whales on the beach below. The front house is one of Mossel Bay's national monuments.

8. THE ANNEXE - The Old Market Hall
The small white building next to the Tourists Information Centre was erected in l852 as a Market Hall. It is the oldest, original public building in the Town and has been used, variously, as the first Town Hall, a Library, a Telegraph Office, Market Hall, Dance Hall and a Licensing Office. The Mail Coaches used to depart from here for Cape Town three times per week, and they did the trip in thirty hours. The plastered quoins around windows and doors was a building feature of that time. This building houses an exhibition of Khoi and San artifacts, dating back 50 000 years, which were found on top of the hill overlooking the town near the Golf Course. Entrance is through the Cultural Museum.

9. THE CULTURAL HISTORY MUSEUM - Primarily a Local History Museum - Part of the Museum Complex
The dressed-stone building next to the Annexe and directly opposite the Liberty Centre car park was erected in l879, and faced the Market Square. Ox wagons used to outspan where modern motor cars park today. Many interesting historical items can be viewed here. The Wagon used by the Rocket Brigade, the forerunner of the National Sea Rescue Institute, is housed here. This rocket-launching wagon was used to fire lifelines by rocket to ships in trouble off the shore. It was used successfully when the crew were saved from the "Rosebud" when it sank off Dias Beach in the 1890s. The ship's bell is still in the possession of the Koen family in Hartenbos. In 1993 the wreck of the "Rosebud" was washed open on Dias beach in a storm. Another interesting exhibit in this Museum is the large wicker basket that was used for hoisting passengers aboard the Union Castle ships when these Lilac Liners still called at Mossel Bay. People with good connections could go aboard the big Liners to enjoy scrumptious dinners and bathe in the hot seawater swimming pools. The liners stopped calling in 1965 and the basket was donated to the Cultural Museum.

10. THE PORTUGUESE CHAPEL (This has never been found).
The Portuguese mariners were devout Catholics and often built small chapels wherever their Voyages of Discovery took them. Joao da Nova built such a chapel here in 1501. The remains of a foundation, possibly of a small chapel have been found but cannot be confirmed as being that of da Nova's chapel. A former resident of the town, Edwin Wassung, once told the writer that he knew of old foundations which could have been those of a little chapel, at the bottom of Bland Street above the harbour. From here the chapel would have been visible from the open sea to passing seafarers. Almost the entire area has now been covered over by buildings and streets but a search may be revealing and fruitful.

11. THE BARRY BUILDING OR OLD YELLOW OCHRE BARN.
This large building of dressed-stone was built in 1849/50 to store agricultural products for the ships sailing between here and Cape Town. The building was well placed on the central Market Square close to the harbour and jetty. In l94l a British firm The African Golden Ochre Company bought the building to work the ochre which they mined in the Albertinia area. The ochre was shipped to Britain with the Union Castle Liners that called regularly in the Bay. Dust from the milling stained all surrounding buildings a bright yellow colour. Ochre was used for centuries as a pigment in the manufacture of paint but with the advent of PVC paint demand fell off, the factory closed down and the building fell into disuse and disrepair. The building was restored and reconstructed inside by a private owner in the 80s. It now houses tourist shops Tourists Hotel. 

12. THE OLD ADVERTISER BUILDING - Opposite Corner to the Ochre Barn
This big double storey building was built in 1857 by a firm of export merchants. It has the same plastered quoins around the windows and doors as that of the Old Annexe Building. The entrance on the corner of the building, was a particular building feature of that time. The Advertiser occupied this building for many years.

13. THE FRUIT SHOP BUILDING - Lower Church Street
Almost next door to the old Advertiser Building, stands the quaint and only three-storey stone building in the town. The gable style is reminiscent of the buildings in Urk, Holland. It was built in 1904 as offices for clothing outfitters next door, was used by a well-known Lawyer of the town, Harry Miller, and for many years as a Fruit Store. It is once again the offices of lawyers.

14. THE OLD STANDARD BANK BUILDING - Facing the Fruit Shop in Church St
This imposing building was erected in l902 on the same site on which the original Standard Bank was built in l860. It certainly combines fortress-like dignity and stability, features that one would expect a Bank to have. When the road was widened the front porch with its pediment was demolished. The building is now used by the local newspaper The Mossel Bay Advertiser.

15. PRINCE VINTCENT BUILDINGS -Corner Church & Bland Streets
The original building was erected on the Corner Lot No 3 as a trading store, believed to be the first in the settlement, in l820. It is evidently built without foundations and with stone and soil rubble walls, as was the custom of the day. In l863 the firm became Prince Vintcent & Co and the fifth generation of the Vintcent family operates from the same building to this day. The Archway building was erected in 1901 for ox wagons to drive into the building through the arch and out the other side. Transport wagons would load up here for trading across the mountains in the Karoo and as far afield as Kimberley, before the railways came to the area.

16. DOCH-AN-DORIS BUILDING - Bland St next to Liberty Centre 
There were several schools in the settlement from 1847 onwards. This building was erected in l872 with donations from all over the area to serve as the "Undenominational First Class Boys' Public School". The boys used to eat their sandwiches under the huge wild fig tree in a beautiful garden. The tree is still there in front of Liberty Centre. 

17. THE OLD JOINERY - Montagu Street (Behind OK Bazaars)
This small double storey rose-coloured stone building is listed as a National Monument. It is believed to have been designed by Sir Herbert Baker and built in l898 as a Joinery Shop. It has been used as a Carpenter Shop, Antique Shop, Art Gallery and several other small business concerns. It now houses a leather goods shop.

18. THE OLD CHURCHES IN TOWN
The Old Dutch Reformed Stone Church - Church St (Pastorie (044) 690-3491) This old stone Church with steeple was consecrated in l880. A bigger Church was built lower down in George road in l845. This second Church was later demolished, but its stone foundations can still be seen. It was replaced in turn by the present DR Church on the corner. Old photographs show all three Church buildings together at one time. Most Church Bazaars are now held in the old Klipkerk.

St Peter's Anglican - Church Marsh St. (Rector (044) 691-2384)
This Anglican Church with its tall spire of dressed-stone, designed in the early English style was built in 1879 on ground donated by a Mr JF Hudson. The hammer-beam roof design with visible framing inside is copied from Westminster Hall, London, which dates back to 1397. The present Church and nave were built in l879, with the carved oak pulpit made locally. The Organ was installed in l894. The tall square Tower was completed in 1885, and the Sanctuary, the Chancel, and the stained glass windows were added in l906 by a Welsh builder. During a recent clearing out of some old cupboards, original building plans drawn on linen were found, still in fair shape.

The Methodist Church - Queen St. (Minister (044) 691-2376)
For decades the Methodist Community made use of the Dutch Reformed Church buildings and only built their Church in Queen Street in 1906. This Church is built from the usual sandstone used at that time, and has several interesting and colourful stained glass windows.

St Thomas Roman Catholic Church - Lower Marsh St. (Priest (044) 693-2321)
In 1868 a School was built in Marsh St where Services were conducted. This was enlarged in 1885 to its present form to serve as the new Church. Three Sisters arrived by ship in 1904. Sr Eugenia was the nurse who served the whole community in the absence of doctors then, and was known as Sr. Doctor to all for more than 50 years. The well-known and loved Sr Adelberta arrived in 1935 and served the whole Town for 50 years as the Sewing Sister until her retirement in 1985.

The Synagogue - Meyer St
The Synagogue was built in 1952, although there had been a Jewish Congregation in Mossel Bay since 1905. This Synagogue is no longer in use although there was a large Jewish Community up to the late 70s. 

19. ST BLAIZE LODGE, Lower Marsh (GP vd Spuy Tel: (044) 690-3195)
For ten years, from 1875, the Free Masons of the town used a building in Bland Street, now De Bruyns Cycles. The large dressed-stone Lodge was built in 1885 with some very beautiful stained glass windows. These windows had to be removed and the openings bricked up due to vandalism. The windows are now used as ornamentation inside. The 37 local members of the Lodge do a great deal of Social Welfare work in this area, especially for Children's Homes.

20. THE OLD GOODS SHED - Known as Die Langstoor, Bland Street
This large dressed-stone store was built in 1902 to serve the Railways and Harbours as a transit shed for all goods brought into the harbour by sea or rail. All goods were handled by Packers, from the 44 gallon oil drums to the tons of sugar in bags, offloaded by the ships. Goods were delivered in town by ox-wagons and later by big lorries. The big stone built into the street corner of the Customs building directly opposite the Langstoor, was to prevent the wheels of the ox- wagons from damaging the Customs Building. There is a plaque against the wall of the Customs Building commemorating this historical beacon. Goods from this Langstoor were stored in Harbour barges anchored off Munro's Bay for the big merchants of the town. The Langstoor is now the Goods Shed Flea Market - worth a visit.

21. LINLEY HOF - The turreted stone house in Lower Marsh Street 

This attractive stone house was built in l905 by a German resident of Calitzdorp. Over many years the building served as a residence for several mayors and other important citizens of the past. It was recently converted into a Guest House and Tavern.

22. ST BLAIZE TERRACE - Lower Marsh Street on the right
This beautiful Victorian building with its broekie lace front was erected in 1909 by a Mr Keating. It was used for l0 years as the St Blaize Hotel, later converted into flats and has since been subdivided into sectional title Town Houses.

23. THE OLD POINT HIGH SCHOOL - Bottom of Marsh Street
The old High School building of dressed-stone was built by the same builder in l909. It was The Point High School until the new school on the hill was opened in l976. Milkwood School, an English Medium Primary School, opened there in 1993. Every year during the summer holidays this School turns its large Sports Fields into a Caravan Park to generate funds for their school. 

24. LAZARETTO GRAVEYARD -Beach Road, seaward of Old Point High School 
This old stone-walled graveyard tells the story of inhabitants who wrote the history of this town. Fresh flower tributes are still put on the old graves but the graveyard is no longer used for burials. 


(From: "Tourists Guide to Greater Mossel Bay")
Booklets available from the Maratime Museum, Tourists Information Office, The Public Library, Central News Agency and Courtney's Stationers in Mossel Bay.