Pacaltsdorp is a suburb of
George, Western Cape
George is the second largest city in the Western Cape province of South Africa. The city is a popular holiday and conference centre, as well as the administrative and commercial hub and the seat of the Garden Route District Municipality. It is na ...
. In the
Apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
era, it was the
coloured
Coloureds ( af, Kleurlinge or , ) refers to members of multiracial ethnic communities in Southern Africa who may have ancestry from more than one of the various populations inhabiting the region, including African, European, and Asian. South ...
township
A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries.
Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...
associated with George but administrated independently. The N2 highway provided the natural boundary between the two, enforced by a curfew.
The
mission station
A Christian mission is an organized effort for the propagation of the Christian faith. Missions involve sending individuals and groups across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries, to carry on evangelism or other activities, such as ...
Hoogekraal was named Pacaltsdorp after the death of the German-speaking
missionary
A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...
of
Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus'
Places
* Czech, ...
origin, the Reverend
Charles Pacalt in 1818. He was invited by Kaptein
Dikkop, leader of a
Khoikhoi
Khoekhoen (singular Khoekhoe) (or Khoikhoi in the former orthography; formerly also ''Hottentot (racial term), Hottentots''"Hottentot, n. and adj." ''OED Online'', Oxford University Press, March 2018, www.oed.com/view/Entry/88829. Accessed 13 ...
tribe living in the area. He built up a congregation of about 300
Khoekhoen
Khoekhoen (singular Khoekhoe) (or Khoikhoi in the former orthography; formerly also '' Hottentots''"Hottentot, n. and adj." ''OED Online'', Oxford University Press, March 2018, www.oed.com/view/Entry/88829. Accessed 13 May 2018. Citing G. S. ...
,
slave
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
s and free labourers.
Buildings
A number of historic buildings are preserved - The Stone Church - a Norman-style church, originally built from stone,
yellowwood, glass and clay. Rev Pacalt's second mission cottage was constructed in approximately 1813. Consisting of
sod
Sod, also known as turf, is the upper layer of soil with the grass growing on it that is often harvested into rolls.
In Australian and British English, sod is more commonly known as ''turf'', and the word "sod" is limited mainly to agricult ...
walls, a
thatch
Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge (''Cladium mariscus''), rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of ...
roof and
cow-dung
Cow dung, also known as cow pats, cow pies or cow manure, is the waste product (faeces) of bovine animal species. These species include domestic cattle ("cows"), bison ("buffalo"), yak, and water buffalo. Cow dung is the undigested residue ...
floor, it was declared a national monument in 1976.
William Anderson William Anderson may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* William Anderson (artist) (1757–1837), painter of marine and historical paintings
* William Anderson (theatre) (1868–1940), Australian stage entrepreneur
* William Anderson (1911–1986), ...
built the first
manse
A manse () is a clergy house inhabited by, or formerly inhabited by, a minister, usually used in the context of Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist and other Christian traditions.
Ultimately derived from the Latin ''mansus'', "dwelling", from '' ...
, a two-storied building with thick stone walls and abundant yellowwood, it was also declared a national monument in 1976.
"The Tree Of Meeting" is a 300-year-old tree, to be found opposite the Pacaltsdorp Post Office, in Missionstreet. The stone building nearby was originally home to some of the very first missionaries. There was no church building yet and church services were conducted under this big
Essenwood tree.
Development
Prior to 1994 much of Pacaltsdorp was
Common land
Common land is land owned by a person or collectively by a number of persons, over which other persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect Wood fuel, wood, or to cut turf for fuel.
A person ...
that bordered the Gwaing River and stretched down to the sea, was used for farming. However, in 2005 two large developments, the Oubaai Golf Estate and Le Grande Golf Estate have taken the best of this Common land and all the sea frontage for upmarket development.
Poor protest against exclusive golf developments
''Cape Times''
Culture
Pacaltsdorp community mostly follow the Christian faith; which coincide with its missionary history. Sports activities such as rugby (Pacaltsdorp Evergreens – est. 1932), cricket (Pacaltsdorp Cricket Club), netball (Pacaltsdorp Netball Club) and others are popular within the community.
References
{{Garden Route District Municipality
Populated places in the George Local Municipality
Former Coloured townships in South Africa
Townships in the Western Cape