The Oldest - Part 1: Piney Shade
The cache, a small cylindrical camouflaged tablet pot, is hidden at the base of a large shady tree (one of many) in the 7.4 hectare grounds of this historic establishment situated in the heart of the Kogelberg Biosphere.
Please ensure that it is carefully replaced properly concealed as it hopefully was when found. Although the location is well away from the main buildings and thus hidden from likely observation, quickly scan around before undertaking your caching activities to ensure you are not being watched.
The inn is the oldest hotel in South Africa and is located on the site of a toll gate established in the Dutch East India era. The extensive grounds have some huge old oak trees, towering poplars and one of the largest and oldest blue gum trees in South Africa (outside the bar & apparently well 'watered') which at nearly 200 years old is one of the oldest trees in the country.
The site of the Houw Hoek Inn was originally an overnight hitching spot. Travellers from Cape Town would cross the rather tricky Houw Hoek mountains and overnight in in this little glen before continuing their journeys. The first farm buildings here went up in 1779, no doubt constructed with slave labour as slaves were not emancipated until 1833, but soon the farmer was inundated with travellers’ requests for lodgings as the inn was situated on the High Road to Grahamstown, which became of crucial importance from 1820 when the British settlers arrived on the Eastern Frontier.
He built a wayside inn, and in 1834 the Houw Hoek Inn was awarded the first liquor licence in South Africa. The upper storey was added in 1860, and in 1861 Lady Duff Gordon slept there en route to the Caledon Spa. The proprietor then, and at least since 1848, was an ex-missionary, Mr Beyers. The visit is detailed in the following extract from Letters from the Cape by Lady Duff Gordon, published in 1864 . . . (Continues with GC7HA6N The Oldest - Part 2: Oaky Shade)