My first post took the story of Lemm's corner to 1983 when the Trustees of the Old Harbour Trust acquired ownership of Lemm's Corner and planned The Fishermen's Village, a project that was not finally realised.
At the time all this was going on, a group had been formed to take over the Old Harbour as a national monument and create a museum there. A Board of Trustees represented it, and this body decided to preserve the Lemm's Corner site, also as a heritage site. They privately raised the enormous sum (for those days) of R180 000 and bought the site from Monex. (To be fair we should record that Wiese reduced the selling price by R70 000 from an original R250 000, as his contribution to the history of Hermanus.)
Under a vigorous Museum Curator, Dr Oscar Prozesky, plans were drawn up to build a 'fishermen's village', with typical Hermanus style cottages that would be erected, furnished in period style and made available to the public as an open-air museum. Commercial interests in the town vehemently opposed the proposal. Delays arose in implementing the Fishermen's Village, and Lemm's Corner became an eyesore while waiting for action. Some of the photographs with this post show the area in the early 1980s. I have taken pictures of the site as of Sunday 6 December 2020 that show changes over the years.
I have collected an enormous amount of detail about these events, the personalities involved, a good deal of public squabbling and the delays and disappointments linked to the site. It looks as if this work could result in another book to add to the four I have already published about Hermanus history. Hermanus is not your average small South African town in any way, and its history deserves to be researched and made known. I have dedicated the rest of my life to do that.
As time went on, the Old Harbour Museum made several advances. An early Hermanus cottage from a site near the DRC was dismantled and re-assembled to become the de Wetshuis Photographic Museum. A completely new building was put up to house a Whale Museum. The sole remaining original cottage on the site was renovated as The Fishermen's Cottage Restaurant. You can read all about these developments in the captions to the images with this post. I have drawn on the vast supply of images in the Photographic Museum to make up combination images from various perspectives.
More recently, the whole area has been paved and grassed where appropriate. Trees have been planted, and some signage erected. Sculptures decorate the place. But something is missing. We need an explanation for tourists (and, probably, residents) of the vivid history of this open space at the heart of our town. Or, better – a living museum for future generations.
Perhaps Prozesky's ideas could be implemented once the lockdown is lifted.
Just a note to readers: my latest book "For Keeps- Articles about Hermanus history worth keeping" is on sale at The Book Cottage in Hermanus. This is the only outlet. All income from the book goes to researching Hermanus history. It is a great holiday gift for family and friends and anyone interested in finding out why our town is like it is.
Also, dozens of articles about the history of Hermanus by other researchers and me are available on www.hermanus-history-society.co.za These articles are independently researched and are not just the rehash of earlier work that is found on so many websites about the town—all free.