The town of Stellenbosch was established by Simon van der Stel in 1678 and in 1680 he planted some 100 000 vines in the Constantia Valley. The Dutch however, had almost no wine tradition, and it wasn’t till 1688, when some 150 French Huguenots emigrated to the Cape Colony and settled mainly in the Franschoek Valley, that winemaking in South Africa really took root. The French brought with them a rich tradition of winemaking, and today still their skills have left an indelible impression on the SA wine industry.

 

The dreaded phylloxera disaster destroyed millions of vines in the Cape in 1886, after which the wine industry was in a steady decline and suffered much hardship, until the efforts of Charles Kohler in 1918 led to the establishment of the Ko-operatieve Wijnbouwers Vereniging van Zuid-Afrika Beperkt (KWV). An umbrella for its farmer members, the KWV brought stability to the industry, placing it on the road to growth and prosperity.

 

The foundation was laid for today's thriving wine industry.

 

 

Until 1686, church services in the area was held in the Castle in Cape Town or on shipboard in Table Bay. IN this year the Reverend Johannes Overneij persuaded the Governor, Simon van der Stel, regarding the importance of a church, and the foundations were laid for the first church of the Cape Colony.

 

Constructed out of stone and clay and finished with a rough plaster and lime coated finish, it could well be said that this was by far one of the most imposing buildings in the colony at the time! Inside finished were most probably done using yellowwood beams and boards, as well as a simple gable and thatched roof. A certain E.V. de Stade made some of the earliest recorded drawings of Stellenbosch, and from these it can be seen that the little church had a small belfry as well.

 

In May of 1687 the church was completed and consecrated, only to be destroyed by a fire in December 1710. The fire was assisted in it’s fiery path of destruction by a fierce south-easterly gale that swept it through the frontier village.

 

Only in 1802 an Inn was opened on the site of the church by the Wium family after it was deconsecrated and divided into erven (stands), and for all that time the site stood empty. Today this is the site for d’Ouwe Werf Country Inn, which has the honour of being South Africa’s oldest and most historic hotel. The remains of the first little church can be seen beneath the floorboards!

 

Old Stellenbosch definitely did not have much luck with fires, and in 1803 yet another terrible fire reduced much of the town to ashes. A total of 42 buildings and houses were destroyed, amongst which was d’Ouwe Werf. This time however, nature wasn’t to blame, but rather two slaves who were subsequently tried and publicly hanged for arson.

 

In it’s place was then erected a Cape Dutch Inn, complete with front gable and typically steeped thatched roof, but in the 1890’s a third fire destroyed this structure! In the main lounge one can still see charred window and door frames from this last fire. Even though the last building destroyed was moulded on vaguely Georgian lines, the heart of d’Ouwe Werf remains pure Old Cape.

 

Safe to say then, that Stellenbosch might be called a “Hot” town, with such a fiery history!