Walking in Swellendam

One of our favourite parts of visiting new towns is to walk around in the streets to see what we find.  In Swellendam we had help from a document we received from the Swellendam Tourism Office called “Swellendam Treasures”.  You can get a copy from their offices in Swellengrebel Street or by sending them an email. Swellendam Treasures list 80 historical buildings listed in Swellendam and surrounding area with a bit of information and a map.

The buildings are spread out through the town. To save time we drove to a few central spots.  We then walked to see the buildings and then back in the car to another area.  We also found that the town was busy Saturday morning, especially the area around the shopping mall.  To take photos Saturday afternoons or Sundays are better.

Here are a few of the buildings we saw.

Swellendam
BUKKENBURG - 8 HERMANUS STEYN STREET

Bukkenburg was built in 1880’s as a “dorpshuis” or townhouse for the Streicher family.  They lived far from town and used the house when they came to town. It was named Bukkenburg after the tpown in Germany the Streichers came from.  It is a National Monument. This house is now the Pottery studio of David Schlapobersky and Felicity Potter.

Swellendam
18 SWELLENGREBEL STREET

A double storey house built in 1865 and now houses the offices of the Drosdy Museum.


Swellendam
GOALER’S COTTAGE - 22 SWELLENGREBEL STREET

The Goaler’s Cottage was built before 1790 and was used as home for the goaler.  It is now the Tourism Information center for the town.
 

Swellendam
KOMNADER:  7 VAN OUDTSHOORN ROAD
 Komnader was the thatched home of M.E.R., a well-known Afrikaaans writer.  It was built in 1928. 
Swellendam
THE RESIDENCY: 12 VAN OUDTSHOORN ROAD
 The Residency was built in 1839 as a private house.  It later became the residence of the magistrate and became known as “The Residency”

Swellendam has a lot of historical buildings.  In the next post we walk along the main street to see mroe of these buildings. 
Location: Swellendam, South Africa

Comments

  1. Firefly the Travel Guy05 August, 2013 10:28

    Swellendam is so much like Graaff Reinet. Its one historic building after another. Pity more people don't stop over in town to experience it.

    ReplyDelete

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