Arts & Crafts Traditional Cache

Another feature which adds to the picturesque atmosphere of the village is the many sandstone buildings.

You may wonder how the name of “Clarens” came into being: In 1910 the farm “Leliehoek” (near the Kloof) was purchased from Mr Hermanus Steyn, and in 1911 Mr Piet de Villiers sold his farm “Naauwpoort” (situated near the Titanic) to a company wanting to establish a village here in the mountains. {An unknown resident looked toward the “nek”, saw the prominent jutting rock and said, “It looks like the Titanic”, and that’s what the rock formation has been called ever since. The Titanic stands like a sentry to welcome all who visit the village and invites them to come and experience the warm-hearted hospitality of the inhabitants.}

These two farms were divided into erven and sold for the sum of fifty pounds each. In 1912 a commission was appointed to finalise negotiations, and a decision was made to name the village “Clarens” in honour of President Paul Kruger’s influence in the area. This came about in the following ways - During the Basotho war of 1865 - 1866, five “burghers” from the Transvaal were murdered in the Eastern Free State; a direct consequence was the official declaration of war by the Transvaal against the Basotho leader Moshoeshoe. Paul Kruger together with a commando of burghers defeated the Basotho at the Battle of Naauwpoortnek. President Paul Kruger spent his last days as a voluntary exile in the attractive village of Clarens in Switzerland and Clarens was thus a very apt name for the mountainous village here in the Eastern Free State. A monument in honour of the five burghers murdered by the Basotho on the 29th September 1865, during the siege of Naauwpoort, was originally erected on the farm Ararat just outside Clarens. This monument was later moved to Clarens and re-sited on the central square.