February 2025

After a break of a few weeks in our Graaff-Reinet series, it is now time for our last post about our visit to the oldest town in the Eastern Cape Province.

If you want to read the first and second post on our visit, click here and here.

In this post we’ll take you on visits to:

  • A cemetery with war graves,
  • The Reinet House (a Cape Dutch house dating back to 1812),
  • And finally, the beautiful Dutch Reformed Church – one of Graaff-Reinet’s best known landmarks.

The Anglo Boer War (1899-1902), also known as the Second Boer War, was a conflict between the British Empire and two Boer Republics where it was the Boers’ desire to maintain their independence and control over their territories, leading to concentration camps by the British and in the end a war lost by the Boers. This is the short version, if you want to read more about this war, click here.

It was therefore no surprise that we saw quite a few monuments in Graaff-Reinet that referred to this war. On the way to the cemetery, we saw a monument on the corner of a street in memory of those who died during the Anglo Boer War.

Anglo Boer War Monument

War Graves:

While driving to the Valley of Desolation the day before, we saw a cemetery almost at the end of town. These looked like very old graves and, from experience, we knew that it was a good place to learn more about the history of the town.

Cemetery with mostly war graves

We were pleasantly surprised that the cemetery was in fairly neat condition – especially since some of the graves date back to the mid-1800s.

The very first thing that struck us, was how many children’s graves there were – most of these dated back to the period during the Anglo Boer War.

Grave of a 5-year-old child

Brother and sister – both died before their first birthday

This boy was only 10 months old

This little girl died a few days after celebrating her 1st birthday

We also saw a few graves in enclosures where families were buried together. Most of these tombstones were quite striking.

Beautifully decorated headstone of the wife of FK te Water

Graves of the Steynberg family

There were, of course, quite a few graves that referred to the period of the Anglo Boer War.

Graves of civilians shot dead during the Anglo Boer War

We also saw the grave of Rev. Andrew Murray, a well-known missionary of the Dutch Reformed Church. He was born in Scotland and came to Graaff-Reinet in 1822 in response to a call for shepherds to serve the widespread Dutch-African communities fleeing from the suffocating British rule at the Cape. He and his wife, Maria Stegmann, had 16 children. Two of their sons also had a profound impact on the ministry. Their second son, Andrew Murray (Jnr) also became a Christian pastor. There is a statue of him in Wellington, near Cape Town in the Western Cape Province, where he died. Charles Murray, the fifth child, became the pastor of the Dutch Reformed Church in Graaff-Reinet after his father died. The grave of Charles is also near his father’s grave in this cemetery.

Plaque on the grave of Rev. Andrew Murray

While walking through cemeteries can sometimes make one emotional – for us, especially when there are so many children’s graves, it is a glimpse into the history not only of a town like Graaff-Reinet, but also of South Africa.

Town Hall & War Memorial:

On our way to our next destination, the Reinet House, we drove past the Town Hall and War Memorial. The Town Hall was opened in 1911 and was originally named the Victoria Hall (named after Queen Victoria). The Town Hall looks out over the Church Square Gardens which houses Graaff-Reinet’s War Memorial commemorating those who died in the two World Wars and South Africa’s Boer Wars.

Town Hall in Graaff-Reinet

War Memorial

Quiet street in Graaff-Reinet on a Sunday morning

Reinet House:

Reinet House in Parsonage Street was built in 1812 and was home to Rev. Andrew Murray from 1822 – 1866 and then to his son Charles until 1904. The Graaff-Reinet Museum was established in 1956 in Reinet House. There is a significant collection of local memorabilia, furniture and paintings.

Reinet House looks down in Parsonage Street

Reinet House, built in Cape Dutch style

There is a lot of history about the Murray family, who occupied the Reinet House. It was built in 1812 and became the home of Rev. Andrew Murray in 1822. After his death, it became the house of his son Charles until his death in 1904.

Entrance hall of Reinet House

Bedroom and desk of Rev. Andrew Murray

By 1906, the building was being used as a boarding house for girls trained as teachers. It was then that the late Miss Helen Murray, a sister of Rev. Charles Murray, and for many years principal of Midland Seminary, named the house “Reinet House”. Later it was used as a residence for Training College students.

Dining Room

Kitchen

More memorabilia in another room

In 1944, the building became unoccupied and began to fall into despair. In 1947 it was purchased from the church by the Graaff-Reinet Publicity Society and restoration work began in 1952 which lasted four years. In 1956, it was officially opened as the Graaff-Reinet Museum.

The back of Reinet House

In the backyard is this Australian Banyan, planted in 1878

The largest and one of the oldest grape vines in South Africa can be viewed on the grounds of Reinet House.

The vine, a Black Acorn, was planted in 1870 by Rev. Charles Murray. The single stem attained a circumference of 3.10m, making it the thickest vine stem in the world at that time. A fungal rot caused considerable damage to the stem, however, in 1983 all the dead wood was removed to prolong the life of the vine, leaving a circle of separate stems.

Grape vine

In the backyard is also a Mill house with a water wheel and a scale for weighing farm produce.

Mill house and water wheel

Scale for weighing farm produce

On 1 May 1980 a fire destroyed the back portion of the building, but fortunately much of the contents were saved. With the aid of public donations and with professional guidance to ensure an authentic restoration, reconstruction of the building was undertaken so that it could once again house the fine collection of period furniture and relics of the past.

We were very happy that the history of the Reinet House is so well preserved and it was great to get a glimpse into the years gone by.

Dutch Reformed Church:

The stately church, in the middle of the town’s ‘square’ (which by the way is not a square, but a traffic circle), is one of the most impressive for a small town in the middle of the Karoo.

Dutch Reformed Church, Graaff-Reinet

This is the third church on this site. With the arrival of Rev. Andrew Murray from Scotland in 1822, building of a third church was started and the second church demolished. The third church was completed in 1823 and served the community for 60 years. In April 1886 the foundation stone was laid for the fourth and existing church and the inaugural sermon was delivered on 11 September 1887 by Rev. Charles Murray who followed in his dad’s footsteps.

Charles remained as minister of Graaff Reinet until his death in 1904. This means that for 82 years the pulpit had been manned by these two generations of Murrays.

The stone for this church was obtained locally and can seat 1,250 people

Update – April 2025: Friends of ours were recently in Graaff-Reinet for a family wedding. Fiela took a few photos of the inside of the church, and I am happy to share them here with her permission.

Stained glass windows (Photo Credit: Fiela Basson)

Inside the church (Photo Credit: Fiela Basson)

We took a photo in the evening of the brightly lit church – it is truly a beautiful sight.

The church building is illuminated during the night

Bearing in mind that Graaff-Reinet boasts around 220 listed national monuments (more than any other town in South Africa), we didn’t see anywhere near what this town has to offer. But we were happy with what we could visit in our 24-hour stay in this lovely town.

We hope you enjoyed our overview of Graaff-Reinet and its magnificent surroundings. It is a town that is definitely worth a visit!