Nostalgia
A look at Cape Town long ago
KALK BAY BEACH c.1870s
When the Dutch East India Company (VOC) established Simon’s Town as a winter anchorage for its fleet in 1742, there was no adequate road to the town, so getting supplies to these ships proved difficult. Kalk Bay became a mini-port, from where supplies and construction materials for the building of Simon’s Town were ferried over. It was no longer useful as a port once the road was completed towards the end of the century, but the boom in the whaling industry in 1820 brought about a revival. After agriculture and winemaking, whaling was the next biggest earner for the Cape Colony, and Kalk Bay was home to one of three whaling stations in the Cape. Only the Church of the Province of South Africa and a few thatched houses could be seen here. In 1883, a railway line was built between Cape Town and Simon’s Town, allowing this quaint fishing town to mushroom into the popular residential area we know it as today.
If you have a story about Cape Towns bygone days - an anecdote, memory or family legend - please email emma@hsm.co.za.