Graaff-Reinet is home to the well-known Reinet House with its famous water wheel and old vine.

The Reinet House Museum is a Dutch Reformed Parsonage built in 1811. It is famous for its spacious rooms with high ceilings and yellow wood floors. Reinet House is a good example of Cape Dutch architecture and it is said to be one of the best example of H-shaped six-gabled buildings in Cape Dutch style. The famous Cape architect Louis Thibault has received claim for building the it.

Reinet House was one of the earliest restoration projects in Graaff-Reinet. It fell into disrepair in the early 20th century, even losing it's gables. The building had fell into disuse after the death of Reverend Andrew Murray in 1904. In 1947 The Publicity Association brought the property for R4,000. Norman Eaton was the architect that restored it into a cultural history museum.

When a fire destroyed part of the museum in 1980, the contents were saved and the building restored once more. On display is dolls which were made during the First WOrld War when luxuries such as toys could not be imported.

The Reinet House Museum forms part of a museum complex of four historic buildings. The other three buildings are the Urquart House, with its peach stone kitchen floor and farm implements, the Old Library, with the Lex Bremmer Fossil Collection and the William Roe photograhic collection and the Old Residency with the Anglo-Boer War memorabilia.

The Reinet House includes the Mill House, Wagon House & the famous Black Acorn grape vine. Rev. Charles Murray planted the vine in 1870 and it still bears fruit today. It was said to have been one of the largest vines in the world. The circumference measures 2,38m.

Reinet House also served for many years as a students' residence.

Reinet House is also home to the locally brewed Withond ~ Witblitz ~ that is distilled once a year at the annual Withond day.

A walk down Parsonage Street will lead one from Reinet House to the Drostdy Hotel. One will wander past the Old Residency which houses the Jan Felix Lategan memorial gun collection. One also passes the John Rupert Little Theatre, the Monument of the "First Republic" and the Public Library that is situated in the premise that housed William Robertson's first government school in 1824.

Dr David Livingstone and his father-in-law Robert Muffat stayed at the Reinet House while the Murray Family was still living there.

NEXT













Free Web Counter