Somerset East, Eastern Cape

Overview

Somerset East is a beautiful town in the Blue Crane Route in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, which was founded by Lord Charles Somerset in 1825.

The Blue Crane Route follows the national road R63 from Pearston, via Somerset East, to Cookhouse. Somerset East, at the foot of the Boschberg Mountains, is a quaint, serene little town that's as famous for the natural beauty as it is for its many beautiful national monument buildings.

The forested, mountainous backdrop creates a dramatic setting for the town (which is within sight of no less than 16 waterfalls). This is where you'll find the thickly wooded Boschberg Nature Reserve, with its popular hiking trails - including a 15 km circular route to an overnight hut at the summit of the mountain. As the Route's name suggest, Somerset East is an excellent bird-watching destination - other adventures include trout fishing on five local dams, as well as Rainbow and Brown trout fishing in the Glen Avon Waterfall pools, malaria free safari and hunting operations. The highly-rated 9-hole golf course is said to be one of the most beautiful in the country.

Amongst the many noteworthy buildings in the town are the Old Wesleyan Chapel, which now houses the Somerset East Museum, and the officers' mess, which now houses the largest collection of paintings by the renowned South African artist Walter Battiss.

Annual events include the Castle Lager Biltong Festival, which was started in 1991, the Bruintjieshoogte Marathon, Bruintjieshoogte Cycle Tour (run between Pearston & Somerset East) and the Spring Rose & Flower show - Somerset East is known to produce some of the finest roses in the country.

History

The first settler in this area was a man called Willem Prinsloo. He settled under the Bosberg, very close to where the Museum is today. Prinsloo was the unofficial veld cornet of the district where at least 20 other families had settled by 1774. They send a famous petition to Cape Town asking for the establishment of a Drostdy and a church in the area. This was how Graaff-Reinet came to be established.

At some stage Prinsloo gave up parts of his farm and a farmer called Otto moved into the corner now known as Bestershoek. The Trichardt family followed, as well as the Besters.

Lord Charles Somerset, taking up the ideas promulgated by Cradock and Caledon that there should be a settlement on the Eastern Frontier, initiated a plan for an experimental farm in the area. American botanist, dr. Mackrill, was given orders to find a suitable farm, and was told to look at three places, the Gamtoos Valley, the Swartkops Valley and Bosber, which he naturally chose.

The farm was established in 1815, for the purpose of improving stockbreeding in the Cape Colony and providing produce for the soldiers at the Frontier. It was called "Somerset Farm".

Ten years later, in 1825, the project was cancelled, a new Drostdy was declared, and the town of Somerset was established. The "East" was only added on 30 years later.

External links

* [http://www.somerseteast.co.za Official Somerset East Information Guide] Information