Stellenbosch Museum - Stellenbosch, South Africa
Posted by: 
Metro2
S 33° 56.195 E 018° 51.996
34H E 302821 N 6242825
This cultural history museum opened in 1962.
Waymark Code: WMPTHF
Location: Western Cape, South Africa
Date Posted: 10/18/2015
Views: 2
Wikipedia (
visit link) informs us:
"Stellenbosch Museum is a cultural history museum in the centre of Stellenbosch, South Africa. It was proclaimed a museum on 23 March 1962 and is a province-aided museum which receives support from the Government of the Western Cape. The museum includes four period houses which depict the way people lived and the difference in architectural styles over the periods illustrated (the Village Museum). It also includes a historical powder magazine and a toy museum.
Schreuder House
Schreuder House interior
This house is the first period house in the museum complex and is furnished according to the period c. 1709. The house was built in August 1707 by Sebastian Schreuder, who was a German messenger of the court of the Dutch East India Company. This modest pioneer cottage has a thatched roof and clay floor. The house has some unusual windows as glass was a rare commodity and had to be imported from Holland. The colonists therefore developed a system of stretching linen or gauze tightly over a frame and using beeswax or similar substances to seal the cloth against the elements. During a hard downpour, the housewife simply closed the outside shutters; in fine weather the catches were released, the whole frame was lifted out, and fresh air was let in. The house was declared monument in 1974 and is currently listed as a Grade II Western Cape provincial heritage site.
Bletterman House
Bletterman House
The second house in the museum complex depicts the period of c. 1789. The house was originally built by Hendrik Lodewyk Bletterman, Landdrost (Magistrate) of Stellenbosch from 1785 to 1795. This dwelling is a Cape Dutch H-shaped house and one of the examples of a gabled house from the 18th century. The site on which the present Bletterman House is situated was bought by Hendrik Lodewyk Bletterman in 1787. The Hertzog plan of 1817 shows a building on this site, but it is assumed that Bletterman built the house sometime before that date since he would have required accommodation after he vacated the Drostdy in 1775. After his death in 1824 the house was sold to the Landdrost and Heemraden and was converted into offices and a courtroom, becoming the "Stellenbosch Public Offices". The outbuilding was renovated and equipped with 50 school benches and served as a school for slaves. The school was officially opened in September 1825 with Erasmus Smit as teacher. It would appear that after Bletterman's death the main house was never used as a residence again. The Stellenbosch Police used the buildings as their headquarters from about 1879 until 1969 when it was acquired by the Stellenbosch Museum. The house is listed as a provincial heritage site."