History of the Helderberg
Somerset House: A School Built on Three Centuries of Ground
STORY 80 In 1946, with Europe still picking itself up after the Second World War, …read more
Month: September 2026
History of the Helderberg
Cloetenburg: The Farm That Became a Town
STORY 79 Before Somerset West existed, before there was a church, a village or a …read more
History of the Helderberg
Somerset West’s Historic Buildings
STORY 78 A town that grows fast loses its old buildings faster. Somerset West grew …read more
History of the Helderberg
The Iron Road Comes to the Helderberg
STORY 77 Before the railway arrived, travel through the Helderberg was slow, difficult and entirely …read more
History of the Helderberg
The Old Lourens River Bridge
STORY 76 Most people who drive across it are thinking about something else entirely. There …read more
History of the Helderberg
The Infrastructure That Shaped the Helderberg
STORY 75 The Helderberg did not develop in isolated chapters of farming, industry or coastal …read more
History of the Helderberg
The Winelands Reinvented: New Names on Old Soil
STORY 74 The vines were always here. The Huguenots planted them in the 1680s. The …read more
History of the Helderberg
One of the World’s Great Gardens: The Kogelberg Biosphere
STORY 73 Drive out of Gordon’s Bay on the R44, around the dramatic coastal road …read more
History of the Helderberg
The River That Remembers: The Lourens and Its Floods
STORY 72 The Lourens River begins high in the Helderberg mountains, collects the rain from …read more
History of the Helderberg
Full Circle: Vergelegen, Three Centuries Later
STORY 71 We began this book at Vergelegen. A corrupt governor. A land grab. Half …read more