History Narratives

Every year one or more fires cause chaos and loss across areas of the Overstrand Municipality. These losses do not include the direct costs of extinguishing the fires – personnel, equipment, aerial services all cost. The fire in Betty’s Bay a couple of years ago is estimated to have cost […]

The territory now occupied by the Overstrand Municipality, including Hermanus, has experienced fire for millions of years. The first fires occurred for natural reasons, most often due to lightning strikes. No human beings witnessed the strikes, and the vegetation slowly adapted to these events. The various plants we include in […]

Over the years Hermanus received increasing numbers of visitors -we would call them ‘tourists’, who did not stay at one of thirteen hotels that were in business. They rather patronised small establishments that traded as tearooms or cafes. At one time, more than twenty such places for refreshments and meetings […]

For more than 50 years, between 1946 and the late 1990s, this business operated at a prime site on the (present) Blue Flag portion of Grotto Beach. It went under at least three names: The Goldfish Café, The Driftwood Den, and the Nautilus. The site is currently undeveloped and used […]