Approximately halfway between Cape Town and Upington, south of the Hantam Mountains in the Great Karoo, lies Calvinia, established in 1845 following the Dutch Reformed Church’s establishment of a parish. Today, this quaint town, formerly known as Hantam, offers visitors warm hospitality, unique attractions and stunning natural beauty.
STEEPED IN HISTORY
For obvious reasons, one of the town’s oldest buildings is the Dutch Reformed Church, built on Dorp Street in 1899, 50 years after the area’s first community church, and declared a National Memorial in 1982. It is a striking architectural landmark, with its towering steeple and impressive stonework a testament to the town’s colonial past. The town’s ‘oldest authentic building’ is Hantam Huis (calvinia.co.za/hantam-huis-restaurant), built in 1854, declared a national monument in 1983 and today, after much restoration, is…