Hermanus - history
Around 1830 a certain Hermanus Pieters travelled through the Caledon district. Pieters was an educated man who made a living by working on farms both as a shepherd and a teacher; however he seldomly stayed in one place for a long time.
During a dry summer he travelled through the Hemel-en-Aarde (Heaven and Earth) Valley, which is situated inland in front of the mountains which overlook Hermanus on the coast-side.
In this isolated valley a leprosy colony was established in 1814.
Pieters heard from the occupants that it was possible to cross over the mountains by using the Olifants trail. He set off and discovered his own piece of heaven on earth: the then uninhabited bay at which todays Hermanus lies. Here Pieters set up camp close to a spring and tended his sheep. This spot was soon known as Hermanus Pietersfontein.
The town Hermanus - the postal administration tacitly shortened the original name in 1902 to Hermanus - was then officially established in 1891. In this same year the first hotel was already built and since those days Hermanus has remained a fishing and holidaymakers paradise. Amongst the most spectacular catches which were registered here is the shark of 4 meters length and 986 kg weight caught on the 22. April 1922 by W. R. Selkirk with a fishing rod!
Today Hermanus offers, next to the spectacular coast, a scenic road of 6km length that weaves up the mountain to a view point in the Fernkloof Nature Reserve, which was established in 1960. It is a paradise for flower and bird lovers which one can explore via the hiking trails which have a combined length of 40km and vary in their degree of difficulty. Another attraction is a wine farm in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley which is renowned as one of South Africas finest and which has become world famous for its excellent dry red wines: Hamilton Russel.
