Stellenbosch - An Overview
Arguably the most beautiful of all of South Africa’s towns and cities, certainly one of the most famous, Stellenbosch is the oldest town in South Africa (Cape Town being a city). With the backdrop of the magnificent Simonsberg, Stellenbosch, Jonkershoek and Heldeberg mountains, Stellenbosch is nestled towards the end of the Jonkershoek Valley alongside the banks of the Eersterivier (First River – this being the first river encountered by explorers from the Cape Settlement, after leaving the Liesbeeck River behind them), about 50 kilometres east of Cape Town.
Of all the towns founded in the Cape during the rule of the Dutch East India Company, Stellenbosch is the best preserved. Its history is reflected in much of its neo Dutch, Georgian and modern Victorian architecture, the same of which encompass simple lines, fine detail and elegant proportions. The heart of Stellenbosch still resonates with its fascinating history and cultural allure – the same can be experienced in its many museums and national monuments (almost 100 in all), many of which can be found in Dorp Street, the old “wagon-road” of days gone by. Founded in 1679 as a farming outpost when the Governor of the Cape, Simon van der Stel, first arrived in the area, Stellenbosch was commissioned to grow grain, trade in livestock with indigenous tribes to supply food to the settlement in Cape Town and to sustain passing ships en route to other Dutch colonies in the East. The first farmer to start growing crops in the region was Stevenz Botma, and in 1679, on his farm Welgevallen, the ground was turned and seeds were sown.
Today, Stellenbosch boasts in: having one of the oldest and leading universities in Africa, the University of Stellenbosch; hosting the headquarters of a number of large companies; being one of the foremost tourist destinations in South Africa; and perhaps most importantly, being the operational centre of the Western Cape’s flourishing wine industry. Indeed, its growing export volume and its award-winning wines continue to make Stellenbosch famous. Strawberry farming is the second-largest export product of Stellenbosch and has an interesting history – during the 1800’s, silkworms were imported from China to start a silk industry. To feed the worms, a large number of mulberry trees were planted without success. In Jamestown, a missionary named Luchoff thus decided to import strawberries from Europe and established strawberries in the area. The Stellenbosch Strawberry Festival is hosted in October annually.
Stellenbosch is fondly known as Eikestad (Afrikaans/Dutch for “City of Oaks”) due to the large number of oak trees that were planted by Simon van der Stel to grace the streets and provide shade for the homesteads. Today, local students believe that an acorn falling on your head is a token of good luck, especially in the context of writing examinations. Some of the early wine makers of the day thought that the wood of the oaks could be used to manufacture barrels for wine maturation, as done in Europe. The Stellenbosch climate, however, causes the trees to grow and mature too quickly, resulting in the wood being too porous for use in barrel-making.
Centrally situated in the Cape Winelands District, and within an hour’s drive of most other Cape tourist attractions (the Cape Peninsula, Cape Town, Paarl, Franschhoek, Worcester, or even the more distant venues of Ceres, Tulbach and Hermanus), Stellenbosch can act as a home base for the tourist to explore all that the Western Cape has to offer. Stellenbosch is the heart of the Cape’s heritage and hospitality.