Page 123 - Bulletin 22 2019

120

difficult caves. Among them were many young people who lived in the area – Phillip Hithcock,

Leslie van Blerk, Basil Harris and Arthur Pratten, among others. When Johannes Meyer died in
1952 he had recorded 1433 mountain walks in his diary.

Remarkably little has changed in this part of Kalk Bay in the more than 120 years since the
houses were built. When Meyer died in 1911 the three properties formed part of his estate.

Behind number 158 is Woodbine Cottage. (Fig. 3.13.)

Numbers 158 and 160 Main Road were inherited by Meyer’s siblings and their descendants

when the estate was finalized in 1931. The house on 158 Main Road (erf 89994, now 167860)
was sub-divided – Bellvue was occupied by the Meyer family and the other half, named

Drumahoe, was rented out for many years. Number 160, called Sunnyside, was also rented out
for many years.

These houses had been in the Meyer family for 45 years when both of them were sold in 1938 to

Marguerite Madelaine Kriel – the unmarried daughter of the Dominee Hermanus Theodorus
Kriel. He had owned the house Huguenot in Harris Road. Marguerite made an interesting life for

herself – way ahead of her time:

Marguerite spent her whole life helping the youth, especially those in the Dutch
Reformed Church. Her father was a minister of that Church. She was trained as a school

teacher at the Huguenot College at Wellington. She then joined her uncle, Abraham P.
Kriel (also a minister) at his request at the orphanage, helping with the care of the large

number of war orphans. Later she taught school at the Bloemhof School at Stellenbosch.

She was then employed as the travelling secretary of the Christian Student Society of
South Africa. Her work involved travelling from town to town, visiting schools and

inaugurating the CSV. When she could not get there by train, she went by horse and cart.
She was offered a bursary to study in the USA. On her return, she continued her work

amongst the scholars and students. She was then invited to be secretary of the Young
Woman's Christian Association in Durban. There she took every opportunity to work

amongst the young Indian people. She retired to Franschhoek with her sister Mattie and

her cousin Gerrie Kriel and lived there in a house called Kyk-Op (Look Up). She loved