PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS - Locals and visitors have the opportunity to delve into the past of one of the area's most iconic properties, Forest Hall, as the Plettenberg Historical Society is set to host a talk and other activities about this property in the Crags.
Organisers will not only present a talk on the area's past on 19 August but will also be hosting a wine, craft beer and wine tasting as well as a spitbraai.
Forest Hall has a rich history dating back to 1864 as it was the first manor house in the Plettenberg Bay section of the Garden Route.
It was the South African seat of the Newdigate family of aristocratic British origin.
While a prominent historic feature in Bitou, Forest Hall started off with a "catastrophic construction error" that caused it to decline into decrepitude. It was abandoned as a hopeless case and left to rot, but was acquired by a visionary outsider who had the will and resources to rescue it.
Thanks to him and subsequent owners, it is today a beautifully restored and maintained historical monument.
Plett resident and amateur local historian Murray Crawford has been entangled with Forest Hall, in one form or another, for a lifetime. He knows or knew many of the legendary characters involved.
At the event he will share his knowledge about Forest Hall and its surroundings, and then take those in attendance on a tour of the house.
This will be followed by a spitbraai with all the trimmings, as well as tastings of locally produced wines, gin and craft beer.
The event is scheduled to take place on 19 August at Forest Hall in the Crags. For more information and bookings, send an email to info@pletthistory.org or phone Len Swimmer after 30 July on 082 452 1799. Bookings can also be made at Barney's kiosk near Pick n Pay Market Square.
Over and above the talk on Forest Hall, information will be shared about the area where it is located, the Crags.
According to the Redford Conservancy the name is believed to have been given to the area by early British Settlers and refers to the craggy nature of the surrounding mountains and the crevasses carved into their slopes by seasonal streams.
The Crags of today bears little resemblance to the pre-colonial forested paradise that was home to herds of elephant and other animals; so dense that foresters could at first only access it by following the elephant trails, and part of the massive tract of old growth forest that covered the area from the Outeniqua and Tsitsikamma Mountains to the sea – from Addo to what is now George.
That "natural" history came to an abrupt end in the 18th century when the Dutch East India Company earmarked the area as far as Soetkraal over the mountains to the north-east of the Crags for logging to supply the shipping trade. The nearby port of Plettenberg Bay was deemed perfect for transporting the wood, and the forest and its wildlife would be decimated over the next 200 years.
This came to an end in the late 19th century with the eventual scarcity of old growth hardwoods, but not before the forest was devastated. In the 1940s, a new era in the history of the Crags began when an enterprising Russian noble, chased from his lands on the Baltic by the Bolsheviks, bought up several of the farms in the Crags to create Kurland Estate. Baron Peter Behr's first enterprise was fruit trees and youngberries.
He also planted pine trees in Kurland and established a brickworks, which is still operational today.
Since then many things have changed and today tourism is the main attraction in the area with the polo industry and vineyards taking centre stage.
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