The story behind the Hermanuspietersfontein name

In the early 1800’s farmers in the Hemel-en-Aarde valley chose for their children to be schooled in Dutch,

the mother language of Afrikaans, in preference to the English demanded by the British colonialists then in charge of the Cape of Good Hope. Hermanus Pieters was the leermeester and oftentimes the farmers remunerated Mr Pieters with sheep. He grazed these at a spring under the milkwood trees by the sea. In l855, long after his passing, and in his honour, the village Hermanuspietersfontein was named after him. In 1902 the postmaster, doubtless tired of writing out this long village name, shortened the name to Hermanus.


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