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Klaarstroom
a hamlet in the Prince Albert municipal district
things to see and do
history

Photo: Derek Thomas, Prince Albert
Klaarstroom
at the entrance to scenic Meiringspoort,
has remained virtually unchanged since the days of Queen Victoria. The hamlet was
the home of South Africa's last operator of a transport wagon
and on Vrolikheid, a
farm in the district, you can see a licenced
witblitz still, which
has been declared a
National Monument.
What to see and do in Klaarstroom
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The Anglo-Boer War graves of Corporal Boyd
and Trooper Hirschford in the Anglican graveyard at The Church of the Good
Shepherd.
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The delightful Victorian architecture, have a
good look at the police station (1880)
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 | Stop for tea at the the Klaarstroom Tea
Room and Koffie Kombuis - if the sign is up outside the guest house in
the morning or afternoon, feel free to drop in for ... tea and cake, coffee
and rusks, a milkshake, breakfast or any combination of the above that
tickles your fancy!
Tel: 082 4888 370
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A short drive along the road to Willowmore
will bring you to
Vrolikheid,
a farm where witblitz is distilled.
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Take a drive through Meiringspoort
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the first road to link the Central Karoo and
the coast. Built between 1856 and 1858 it was regularly closed due to flash
floods and after the spectacular floods of 1998 the road was reconstructed
at a cost of R70 million. Stop at the info centre at the waterfall and
discover the stories associated with each of the drifts across the river,
all of which bear fascinating names, such as ontploffingsdrif - the
explosion drift, spookdrif - ghost drift, pereboomdrif - pear tree drift, and
many more. Take a walk along the path into the kranz which was constructed
in the 1920's so that the Prince of Wales, later the Duke of Windsor, could
walk up to see the bottomless pool where the mermaid dwells. At each of the
rest sites through the poort information boards give you insight into the
animals, plants and birds to be found in Meiringspoort. Photo:
Reinwald Dedekind, Prince Albert
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Klaarstroom's history
Helena Marincowitz, an amateur historian in
Prince Albert, wrote a fascinating booklet in Afrikaans about the history
of Klaarstroom. Klaarstroom en Omgewing is available from the Fransie
Pienaar Museum in Prince Albert,
Tel: 023 5411 172.
The first wool washery in South Africa was opened
here in 1874 by a Canadian, PJ Allport. It was designed and constructed by
George Wallis, the architect who designed the Moederkerk in Oudtshoorn and built
the Anglican churches in Willowmore, Oudtshoorn, Klaarstroom and Prince Albert.
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