Winelands

Slaves were the backbone of the colonial economy. They outnumbered Europeans, yet it is all but forgotten who built and maintained public buildings and roads in the colony, who did the back-breaking work in the vineyards and orchards of Boland farms, who helped to build the imposing homesteads and who made furniture, vats, wagons, clothes and other forms of cultural material that we still see around us today.

STELLENBOSCH

Rhenish Mission Church (on the Braak) The Stellenbosche Medewerkende Zendelings Genoodschap was established in 1801, and the name changed to Het Stellenbosche Zendelings Genoodschap in 1838. The society was concerned with the spiritual and educational needs of slaves. The first missionary and teacher was Meeuwes Janse Bakker and meetings were held at his house. Reverend Erasmus Smit took over in 1822. A church was built on a donated plot of ground and dedicated in 1824. After 1829 the Rhenish missionary Luckhoff worked among slaves on neighbouring farms and started evening schools for them. The congregation joined the Dutch Reformed Mission Church in South Africa in 1948 but kept the name of the Rhenish Dutch Reformed Mission Congregation.

Row of slave houses in Herte Street The Rhenish Mission Church provided a row of houses for freed slaves in Herte Street.

Bletterman House and Grosvenor House, Stellenbosch Museum (37 Ryneveld Street) Many of the old buildings making up the Village Museum in Stellenbosch have rich histories relating to slaves and slave owners.
Bletterman House was the home of the Storm family, whose daughter and husband lived in Grosvenor House. A painting of the family can still be seen hanging in Bletterman House. The long building on the corner of Plein and Ryneveld streets was originally the slave quarters of Bletterman House. From 1825 to 1833 it served as a school for slave children under Reverend Erasmus Smit and was equipped with 50 benches. Since boys and girls were taught separately, a wooden partition was installed between them. At first the school had 73 pupils, but by 1824 numbers had risen to 124 pupils. When the school closed, the children were accommodated at the Rhenish Mission Church.
Slaves were also once housed in the western half of the cottage of Grosvenor House (today it is Collins Cottage).
Tel: 021 887 2937

Kromme Rivier (Paul Kruger Street) This estate was granted as a farm to Jan Jansz van Eeden in 1683. Many structures were erected on this farm during its history, including a 1730's building where slaves are presumed to have been housed. It was changed considerably over time and today it is a double-storeyed flat. The property belongs to the Roman Catholic Church and is known as St Nicholas Roman Catholic Priory.

Elsenburg (on the R304) In 1752 Martin Melck became the owner of the farm. He was also one of the biggest slave owners at the Cape, having 200 slaves at his command. In his time the farmhouse, slave quarters, outbuildings and a school for slave children were erected. On smaller farms there were no special living quarters for slaves; they slept in kitchens, attics and barns, or out of doors in summer. A story exists about Moses of Bengal, a slave from Elsenburg who was sold to the owner of Loevenstein in Parow. He was mistreated by his new owner and ran back to Elsenburg where he set the slave lodge alight. His punishment was that he was burned alive.

The old house, outbuildings and slave bell have survived and form part of the Elsenburg College of Agriculture campus. It is open to the public.
Tel: 021 808 5008

Goede Hoop (R310) A modern slave bell, dated 1934, marks the centenary of the abolition of slavery.

Boschendal (R310) The farm Boschendal, with its imposing buildings forming a formal werf, is a landmark of the wine route. During the period of slavery, a long building divided into individual rooms, adjacent to the stables and kraals, was constructed to house slaves. It is still there today.
Tel: 021 870 4200

Paarl Museum (303 Main Road) Wilhelm Gebhart was sentenced to death for maltreating a slave who subsequently died on the farm Simonvlei near Paarl. Gebhart had the slave Joris flogged (139 lashes) for not working to his satisfaction. Joris was found dead the next day. After a protracted court case Gebhart was found guilty and sentenced to death. He was hanged on 15 November 1822. His gravestone is in the museum, a building which was once the Gebhart family's home. His father was the minister at the Strooidakkerk (Thatch Roof Church). An example of slave chains and entries into a transfer register can also be viewed in the museum.
Tel: 021 872 2651

Het Gesticht (Main Road) Mission work started early in the 19th century in Paarl. Het Gesticht was erected in 1813 by the Friends of the Mission Movement with the aim of providing religious training to slaves and coloured people. Before this, slaves and coloured people attended church services in the Strooidakkerk (Thatch Roof Church in Main Street) but it soon became too small to serve the community. The Paarlse Sending Genootskap took over the building as well as the training programme in 1819.

Nuwe Plantasie (Plantasie Street, behind Grand Roche Hotel) Hermanus Bosman was the sieketrooster from 1707 to 1748 in the Drakenstein congregation. He applied to the Council of Policy for land in 1715 which, on receiving, he called De Nieuwe Plantage. Here he built a church for his slaves in 1737. It is open to the public.
Tel: 021 863 2727 for an appointment to view

Kleinbosch (R303, Dal Josafat) In the cemetery on this farm slaves called Ou Ta, (Klaas) Flora, and Clara, are buried. They were freed slaves who settled with the Du Toit family. Klaas worked on the farm and his wife Clara worked as a respected midwife from 1830 to 1850. Kleinbosch belonged to DF du Toit, farmer and owner of Kleinbosch, and the father of the Reverend SJ du Toit, the well-known theologian and leader of the first Afrikaanse Taalbeweging. It is open to the public.