Places of Worship #6

Part of Richmond Hill was originally known as "The Location for Native Strangers" and was set aside in 1855 for the Khoi San and Mfengu workers who mostly worked on loading and unloading the ships at the fast growing Port. (Yup, I’m afraid the British Colonial Government established Apartheid long before the Nats actually gave it a name…..)

The London Missionary Society was granted the land, and set up a Chapel for these workers. They also allocated plots and rough houses were built on them. Many were beehive grass huts, others were wood and corrugated iron structures.

In front of the Chapel was the graveyard which we featured yesterday, divided into Catholic, Wesleyan and London Missionary Society sections. The Park opposite our house, which has often featured in our photos, was at that time the graveyard for the Mfengu and Khoi San workers.

There is a part of the suburb where, for 2 blocks, the houses are noticeably newer than the historic ones in the rest of the area. This is because in 1903 there was an outbreak of Bubonic Plague, which devastated this community. By this time, the Government had realised this was prime residential land close to all amenities, so the plague was used as an excuse to relocate the workers to Red location, so named because of the rusted corrugated iron used to build their homes.

Over the next few days, after the New Year Theme Day, we will feature some pictures of all this, including the Chapel, a surviving corrugated Iron house, a fascinating photo taken in 1903 of the burning of Strangers Location during the Plague, and the award winning Red location Museum, with some of the original shacks and buildings.


However today, we are showing you a fascinating old building, the Edward Street Synagogue, built on part of the land vacated by the removal of the location. It has distinct Art Nouveau details, but in a uniquely Israeli style. It was built for the Jewish tradesmen who moved into the area, but since the late 70s the Jewish population of Port Elizabeth has declined sharply, and this building is now used only rarely for services. It houses a Museum of Jewish History in PE, which we will also visit one of these days.

We need help to choose which photo to use for the January 1st Theme day! Thanks so much to those who have already done so. If you have a chance, and haven't seen the choices yet, please go to the slideshow and let us know in the comments there which one you like best. Thanks!

Misty morning in the Graveyard

This morning we woke to a shroud of mist. This usually means that the day will be a scorcher (in fact we have been warned to expect a 3 day heat wave with temperatures going up to 35 degrees C!) so we took the opportunity for a stroll before it warmed up too much. This old graveyard on Russell road is one of our favourite spots, there always seem to be opportunities to get moody shots, and this morning was no exception. It has a fascinating history, if you want to read more, and see lots of pictures, both Max and I have done previous posts on it, and also on the St Mary's Graveyard in South End.

We need help to choose which photo to use for the January 1st Theme day! Thanks so much to those who have already done so. If you have a chance, and haven't seen the choices yet, please go to the slideshow and let us know in the comments there which one you like best. Thanks!

Lame little fun fair

Every year around Christmas, the kids wait with excitement for the fun fair to arrive and set up on the dunes at the edge of the Kings Beach car park. It used to be quite impressive, with roller coasters, a big wheel, wall of death and pirate ship which flipped right over, but as the years have gone by it seems to have gone into a decline. This year it was quite a sad and dismal sight to see the few scuffed and jaded "attractions" which were put up. One can't help but feel sorry for the owners as their livelihood disintegrates in front of their eyes. In the tent to the left are the dodgem cars. To the right of the picture is the water slide which is a permanent feature of Kings Beach.

Please check out the post before this, we need your help to select our photo for January 1st Theme Day!

Please Help us to select.....

We need your help! It is SOOOO hard trying to select our best photo for the 1st January Monthly theme. As this is quite a new blog, we didn't want to redo any of the ones we have already posted, so these are all new ones. We finally pinned it down to 12 (they are not the absolute best, because those were taken out of PE, but we decided to stick to PE photos for this challenge.) Please look through the slideshow, make a note of the name of the one you like best, and drop us a comment, we'd be so grateful for the help.
(if the captions don't show, click on the little quote bubble on the bottom left)

Another view of the Old Post Office

The gracious old Post Office building in Baakens Street, Port Elizabeth is one of our heritage buildings that is rapidly falling into disrepair through neglect.

Places of Worship # 5

This is St Augustines Catholic Church, just off Market Square in the City Centre. It is built on a steep cliff face on the side of one of the streets leading up the Hill to Central.

The foundation stone was laid in 1861, and the steeple completed and the church consecrated in 1866. It became a Cathedral in 1939. In 1897 Frances Livingstone Johnston, a pyromaniac, attempted to set it alight, but fortunately failed. She succeeded in burning two down other churches (which we will show you in coming weeks) and was arrested and sent to Robben Island, where she also set light to the Government offices while the officials were attending an evening party.

Happy Christmas!

Wishing you and your loved ones a Very Happy Christmas from us and ours!

Icing on the Cake

I love this wonderfully maintained old building which is just round the corner from our house. It was a gracious mansion at one time, but is now used as offices. This kind of decorative detail always reminds me of cake icing!

Beachfront Restaurant: Cafe Brazilia

Because of our generally pleasant climate, and the geography of Port Elizabeth which has quite steep hilly areas right next to the beachfront, offering commanding views across the bay, most of our Restaurants and Cafes along there have outside patios as well as indoor seating. There are few things more relaxing than enjoying a meal in the fresh air, with a sea breeze playing around you, and a view of the ships coming into the harbour to be off-loaded. This is Cafe Brazilia, taken on a perfect day last week....

And this is the view we enjoyed as we ate.

(Yes yes, I know, its a tough job but someone has to do it!!!)

The Main Library

A gracious old building, completed in 1901, and home to a wonderful collection of historic books, documents and photos, dating back to the very beginning of the city's establishment.