Friday, July 8, 2011

    Van Plettenberg Beacon

    Please put your hands up if you've been to Plettenberg Bay or live in the town and have visited the Van Plettenberg Beacon... or even know it exists.  I bet there isn't too many hands up right now.  The beacon can be seen at the lookout point on the corner of Hopwood and Meeding Street.
    During 1778, Governor Joachim Baron van Plettenberg visited many of the outposts throughout the Cape Colony.  He arrived in the bay, then known as Bahia Formosa (Beautiful Bay as named by early Portuguese explorers) on 5 November 1778.  After inspecting the bay and surrounding area, he erected this slate possesional stone indicating that the bay henceforth would belong to the Dutch East India Company.  From that day on the town also bore his name, Plettenberg Bay.

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