Day Trip Hermanus To Genadendal
Posted: 2 March 2012 by Jenny Meyer Category: Arts and Crafts, Attractions, Days trips from Hermanus, festivals, Things to do, Tours, Uncategorized Tags:Day trip Hermanus to Genadendal
To be read in conjunction with our blog Hermanus day trip to Greyton. A day trip Hermanus to Genadendal is a must while staying at Eastbury Cottage. This day trip will be filled with adventure, history and mostly beautiful scenery of our “tapestry quilt like” Overberg.
Travel on the R43 from Hermanus towards Botrivier, turn right onto the N2 before Botrivier and continue to just before Caledon and take the R406 turnoff to Greyton on the left. Drive through rural farmland and wheatfields. Keep a lookout for the graceful and shy, Blue Crane, which is our National bird. You will reach the historically rich town of Genadendal after about 77kms. Genadendal, translating to ‘valley of grace’, was the home to the first mission station of South Africa.
In 1738 a German Moravian Evangelist, Georg Schmidt, settled in the area to convert the Khoi-san people who lived in the area. Schmidt made great progress amongst the dwindling Khoi-san and was able to set up a Christian congregation even though the Khoi-san were previously believed to be unable to be saved. After only seven years, however, Schmidt was forced to leave as the church felt his baptisms were illegal as he was not an ordained minister.
Today, the quaint historic part of the town Schmidt helped start is the main attraction of Genadendal. The town centre is a community run project and allows visitors to take in the best of the 300 years of history that the town has to offer. All the buildings in the Genadendal Church Square were declared national monuments and the museum complex has a total of 25 museums. These house extraordinary displays of old household equipment, medical equipment, musical instruments and much more. The printing museum offers a beautiful old printing press – one of the oldest in South Africa. There is a working water mill that offers bread baked in open-air ovens, a group of weavers, a pottery, a place you can see knives being made by hand and much more. Finally, the original Moravian church holds the oldest pipe organ in South Africa.
Genadendal is a beautiful place to take a breather from the demands of the present and slip back into the beauty and nostalgia of the past. Don’t be surprised to find a few farm animals like donkeys, cows, horses or even a pig, wandering down the streets.
Travelling a bit further on the same road, one will come to Greyton – about 84kms from Hermanus. Read our post on a Day trip to Greyton. Combine your visit to these two villages into one day…but we guarantee you, you will want to spend more time exploring these little villages. For more information contact Genadendal Tourism
Author: Danica Kreusch
Edited: Jenny Bowes Meyer
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