Port Elizabeth of Yore: New Brighton – “A Model Native Settlement”

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 1 Comment

Located between the Papenkuils and the Swartkops Rivers, New Brighton was established inside the Municipal Boundary of Port Elizabeth in 1901 in order to house the black residents of the inner-city locations such as Stranger’s and Gubb Locations’. The White property owners and ratepayers in these areas close to town had begun a process of were pressurising the Council to relocate the Black inhabitants of the locations from the inner-city areas to the outskirts of the town.

This blog will cover the history of New Brighton from this inflection point in the separation of residential areas.  

Main picture: Semi-detached houses erected in New Brighton in 1912

Continue reading

Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Case of the Missing Game Birds

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 1 Comment

In the 1800s, before New Brighton was transformed into a “Model Native Settlement” by relocating blacks from the inner city locations to this area, this stretch of land between the mouth of the Papenkuils River and the Fishwater Flats abutting the Swartkops River, was known for the New Brighton Hotel and the Outspan, both owned by Matthew Berry.

The awarding of shooting rights to this flat vacant expanse of land and the mystery of the missing game birds would have to be settled in court.

Main picture: A duck hunter in 1890

Continue reading

Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Berry’s – Father and Sons

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

Father, John James or JJ, and sons, Matthew (baptised as Matthys Jacobus) and Richard John, were both peas from the same pod, entrepreneurs to the bone ever willing to take a gamble on a new business venture. In most instances, they were vindicated but when Matthew crossed swords with the Divisional Council over the Seaview Farm, it was an ill-judged move. 

Main picture: The Zwartkops Convict station showing the overseer’s cottage and the convicts’ quarters at the rear

Continue reading

Port Elizabeth of Yore: Outspans and Road Inns on the Inter-Town Roads of later 1800s

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

Like modern day motorists, the waggoners of yore also required a place to rest, eat and refresh themselves except that their “facilities” were vastly more primitive than today’s Ultra City. 

What facilities, if any,  were provided and where were the outspans and road inns situated?

Main picture:  Outspan House built by JJ Berry in 1862 as an Inn for travellers. It was situated about a mile from the Rawson Bridge, halfway between Zwartkops and Deal Party Estate

Continue reading

Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Inter-Town Roads of the Mid 1800s – Part 1

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

As a result of the poor state of the country roads, a trip by ox wagon to Graham’s Town – a distance of only 160 kms – would take eight days. The term road was a euphemism for a track through the bush, which through perpetual usage, had created a passage conforming to the contours, angle and levelness of the ground. No attempt had been made to remove boulders on the route or fill in depressions. Instead the road would skirt around such obstacles. 

What roads were there and what was being done to address this issue? 

Main picture:  Typical condition of the rural main roads in the 1860s

Continue reading