Port Elizabeth of Yore: Hotel in Cape Road, Newton Park

A hotel, now long forgotten, operated in Newton Park on Cape Road from 1861 until July 1902 when it was burnt down. No extant photographs of the hotel survived, nor can the exact location be determined. According to Margaret Harradine, it was probably situated on the spit of land on which Pelo’s Café and Wimpy’s restaurants currently operate. Notwithstanding that, Margery Lochhead claims that it was located near St. Hugh’s Church.  

Main picture: PE Hunt Club on Willowby Farm, now Glen Hurd,  owned by George Parkin

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: The First Sources of Water

As David Raymer points out in his excellent book on the water supply to Port Elizabeth entitled ‘Streams of Life’, “until 1880 the greatest problem [that] the settlement of Port Elizabeth faced was the question of a dependable and adequate supply of fresh water for the residents”.

This blog covers the first attempt to address this challenge.

Main picture: One of the original wells in Port Elizabeth

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