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Home Upfront Now Up Books Towns Structures People Firms Lexicon | Wuppertal, Western Cape |
Click to view large map | This picturesque place has been a Moravian mission station since 1865, although its origins are actually Rhenish. The name "Wuppertal" derives from the Wupper River in Germany, from where two Rhineland missionaries, Theobald von Wurmb and Johan Gottlieb Leipoldt (grandfather of renowned writer C. Louis Leipoldt) arrived in the Cape in 1829 to spread the Word among the indigenous people. The village today consists of an old thatched Church, a store, and terraces of neat thatched-roofed little cottages and a meandering street with water flowing in furrows. A great deal of productive activity takes place which surprises any traveler descending the steep pass into the valley. Excellent velskoen (known throughout the country) are made and tobacco is dried and worked into rolls (roltabak). The other main products of the area are dried fruit, dried beans and rooibos tea. On 30 December 2018, a large part of this historic mission town was destroyed by fire. Fifty-two homes, the community hall, two school hostels, the Louis Leipoldt Museum and the old parsonage were amongst the buildings lost. Miraculously, the historical Rhenish church was untouched. The Rupert Foundation was the main funder of the restoration project. The reconstruction work was undertaken under the aegis of Heritage Western Cape, with architects from the Cape Institute for Architecture volunteering their time and expertise to prepare drawings and supervise the reconstruction. Graham JACOBS was the architectural heritage consultant. List of references:
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