A work in Progress

Ever since being awarded the honour of hosting the 2010 Soccer World Cup, South Africa has been gripped by soccer fever. New stadia are being constructed around the country, many attracting a lot of controversy with strikes, deadlines not being met, and budgets which keep multiplying beyond original estimates at a terrifying rate.

Last weekend we went to check out how things are going with the Port Elizabeth Stadium. mmmmmm, well, a way to go yet! Watch this space!

The Old Fire Station

Another of the "Kloofs" in PE which carries a major arterial road used to be called Coopers Kloof, until Albany Road was built through it. Construction began in 1865. This building is Port Elizabeth's Old Fire Station, built in 1930, which has been replaced by a modern new facility in Summerstrand. It is now used as an office complex.
Behind it, you can see the cliff face that formed part of the river valley. Above it is the Old Erica School which we showed you recently, and on the edge of the cliff to the right of the school and round tower is the viewpoint from which this photo of the bay was taken.


Sorry to ONCE AGAIN flout the rules and post more than one photo, but I thought this old watercolour, done in the ninteenth Century, would interest you, this is looking down Cooper's Kloof to the sea, so the firestation was built a bit further down towards the sea on the right, beyond this old cottage.

Target Kloof

One of the main suburbs of Port Elizabeth is Walmer. In the early days, it was a seperate village with its own Town Hall, but it has long since been absorbed into the PE Metropole.

Because much of the coastal part of the city is built on a series of sandstone hills, bisected by fairly steep river valleys (known locally as kloofs from the Afrikaans, and pronounced more or less clue-if, with the two syllables flowing together) the main arterial links between parts of the city had to be constructed in or across these valleys.

One of the main ones linking Walmer to the city is Target Kloof, a long winding road that has a pretty bad track record of road accidents. It seems PE motoricts can't resist speeding around the sweeping s-bends, and taking street lamps and traffic lights with them!! (You can see an example of this here!)

Blast from the Past

This was taken in March 2006, when PE received a visit from the beautiful Goteborg, a replica of the original East Indiaman “Götheborg", which ran aground at the entrance to Göteborg, Sweden on 12 September 1745. The ship was fully laden with goods such as tea, porcelain, silk and spices, and had almost reached dock after her third voyage to China. This beautiful replica stopped off here on her way to China, following the original trade route. When she left port, she was given a resounding send-off, with shots being fired from canons, which is what caused the puffs of smoke in this picture. If you are interested to read more, you can visit http://www.soic.se/engelska/inenglish/theshipgotheborg.4.13382ddb109dc05c6d680002430.html

Places of Worship #7

Today, as promised last week, here is a glimpse of the Edwards Memorial Church, which overlooks the graveyard that started this whole saga. If you want to follow the Richmond Hill story chronologically, hop back to that post, and then read the post on the Synagogue, where the connection between the different elements of the next few posts is set out. Then skip out the New Years Eve and New Year posts, and begin again with the Red Location post, from there you can follow the story through.

This Chapel started out being built by the Congregationalists, and used by the London Missionary Society, to serve their congregation of workers who lived around it, mostly from the Xhosa, Fingo (today called Mfengu) and Basuto tribes. The foundation stone was laid on Feb 13th, 1875. The first minister was Roger Edwards, who came out for the LMS in 1823, and after a lifetime's service around the country, (including accompanying David Livingstone on the beginning of his epic journeys through Africa) retired to Port Elizabeth.

In 1921 the Dutch Reformed Church bought the building and in 1948 the tower was added and extensive renovations carried out.

(In photos taken in the late 1800s, a much simpler structure is seen, here it is on the top of the hill to the right, above the graveyards.)

A new Edwards Memorial Church was built at New Brighton to serve the workers who were relocated there from 1903.

Beehive Huts

Continuing with the Richmond Hill theme......
In the early 1800s, when the British Colonial Government in Capetown realised that it was facing opposition from the local tribes to its attempts to colonise the Eastern Cape, it came up with a plan to bring in a large number of British settlers to colonise the land, and act as a buffer against the marauding tribes. (Of course they weren't told this... in a climate of extreme economic hardship in Britain at the time, they were lured with promises of large tracts of land in wonderful sunny surroundings and endless opportunities to get rich...)

So in 1820 several shiploads of settlers were appalled to arrive in the bay and see in front of them a row of "barren sandhills". Rows of tents and piles of supplies were set out amongst the coastal dunes, and from this they had to start to build their lives and the town. As it grew, labourers were brought in to help load and unload ships, among other things. They were mostly from the Mfengu tribe, who were related to the Xhosas. They lived on what is now Richmond Hill, in traditional straw beehive huts.



This is a vintage photo taken in the mid 1800s, of part of that village on the hill. (It would have been in the vicinity of the Edward Street Synagogue we showed you on Sunday.)

The Bubonic Plague...

Continuing the Richmond Hill story from yesterday (and if you are new to this thread, go back to the post called Places of Worship #6 for the background history), the area known as the Strangers Location and the lands owned by the London Missionary Society had an outbreak of Bubonic Plague in 1903, and were burned down. The residents were relocated to the Red Location in New Brighton, about 6km away as the crow flies, so naturally getting to work at the Port became much more difficult for them. (This was before Apartheid became official policy, but certainly it set the foundation for later forced removals in the 60s and 70s, which caused so much heartache and suffering, as well as loss of heritage sites.) The photo shown here was taken in 1903 and shows the actual burning of the houses, while supervisors and spectators look on. It is a photo taken of the original which is on display in the Red Location museum.

Old House

The other day we gave a brief description of the history of the Richmond Hill area. We mentioned that part of it was called the Strangers Location, and next to it was a section owned by the London Missionary Society, and used to help house workers, mostly employed at the Port. Here is an old wood and corrugated iron house from their section, much of which was destroyed in 1903.... but that is tomorrow's story!

Red Location

As promised in our post on Sunday, 30 December here is a picture of some of the original houses that were built in what became known as the Red Location. Believe it or not people still live in some of these houses.


The Red Location was established around 1903, when the black residents of the Strangers Location and at Coopers Kloof (Albany Road) were moved from Port Elizabeth.

The name of the Red Location comes from the corrugated iron barracks, brought down from a defunct concentration camp at Uitenhage and the Imperial Yeomanry Hospital at de Aar; that had been used in the South African War of 1899 - 1902. In time, these sheds eventually rusted and turned deep red - hence the name Red Location.

Today the area is an eclectic mix of old and new, boasting the award winning Red Location Museum, which is surrounded by the original houses, new modern homes and a selection of wood and iron shacks.

January Theme, best photo of the year.

Because it is SOOOO hard trying to select our best photo for today's theme, we requested help over the last few days to decide on the best shot. Thanks to all those who checked them out and gave your opinions. Based on the results, the Rainy Day in Richmond Park is the one we are using. As we explained, because this is quite a new blog, we didn't want to redo any of the ones we have already posted just recently, so this is a new one.

So here, by popular choice, is the best PE photo.

However, I have another favourite, not taken in PE, but near Caledon on the way back from Capetown at Easter. Since some of you have already seen the one above while voting, I am also including this previously unseen one.


It was a misty morning and we left before sunrise. This is one of my favourites because it seems to say so much more than just "misty sunrise on the open road... it speaks of the joy of the journey, the open road spooling out ahead, the mystery of the landscape shrouded in mist, what does the journey hold for us? And the promise of a new dawn...... which seems very apt as we head into the misty sunrise of a New Year. What will it hold for us? Here's wishing you a great 2008!


Of course all this presupposes that we are talking about our photos. There are so many brilliant shots that we have seen in blogland this year, and it would be impossible to select just one, but we'd also like to give you a link to one which was particularly striking. Mike from quick snap 365 took it. It is the bottom one of the two tower photos, taken last Autumn.


113 City Daily Photo Blogs from around the world are participating in this theme, why not give yourself a treat and visit the links to experience some brilliant photography?!!

Paris, France - London, England - Hyde, UK - West Sacramento (CA), USA - Grenoble, France - Stockholm, Sweden - Riga, Latvia - Saint Paul (MN), USA - Manila, Philippines - Silver Spring (MD), USA - Weston (FL), USA - Prague, Czech Republic - New Orleans (LA), USA - Wichita (KS), USA - Cleveland (OH), USA - San Francisco (CA), USA - Hobart (Tasmania), Australia - Greenville (SC), USA - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Menton, France - Monte Carlo, Monaco - Mainz, Germany - Melbourne, Australia - Portland (OR), USA - Albuquerque (NM), USA - Wassenaar (ZH), Netherlands - Kyoto, Japan - Tokyo, Japan - Toulouse, France - Naples (FL), USA - Jakarta, Indonesia - Brussels, Belgium - Stayton (OR), USA - Selma (AL), USA - Mexico City, Mexico - Ocean Township (NJ), USA - Minneapolis (MN), USA - Port Angeles (WA), USA - Toruń, Poland - Fort Lauderdale (FL), USA - Budapest, Hungary - Baziège, France - Nashville (TN), USA - Saint Louis (MO), USA - Cottage Grove (MN), USA - Chicago (IL), USA - Prescott (AZ), USA - Bellefonte (PA), USA - Nottingham, UK - Moscow, Russia - Philadelphia (PA), USA - Evry, France - Trujillo, Peru - Arlington (VA), USA - Denpasar, Indonesia - American Fork (UT), USA - Seattle (WA), USA - Chandler (AZ), USA - Coral Gables (FL), USA - Montpellier, France - Joplin (MO), USA - Pilisvörösvár, Hungary - Crystal Lake (IL), USA - Bucaramanga (Santander), Colombia - Boston (MA), USA - Torun, Poland - New York City (NY), USA - Dunedin (FL), USA - Quincy (MA), USA - Stavanger, Norway - Chateaubriant, France - Maple Ridge (BC), Canada - Jackson (MS), USA - Wailea (HI), USA - Port Elizabeth, South Africa - Budapest, Hungary - Austin (TX), USA - Montréal (QC), Canada - Cypress (TX), USA - Bicheno, Australia - Wrocław, Poland - Brookville (OH), USA - Minneapolis (MN), USA - Nelson, New Zealand - Cheltenham, UK - Wellington, New Zealand - Rabaul, Papua New Guinea - Mumbai (Maharashtra), India - London, UK - Haninge, Sweden - Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation - Arradon, France - Jefferson City (MO), USA - Orlando (FL), USA - Mumbai, India - Terrell (TX), USA - Bogor, Indonesia - Delta (CO), USA - Radonvilliers, France - Saigon, Vietnam - San Diego (CA), USA - Adelaide (SA), Australia - Belgrade, Serbia - Auckland, New Zealand - Seguin (TX), USA - Inverness (IL), USA - Oslo, Norway - Singapore, Singapore - Las Vegas (NV), USA - New York City (NY), USA - Anderson (SC), USA - Torino, Italy - Susanville (CA), USA