The first farmhouse you saw...built 1935...that is really not so long ago for being deserted already......that family must have had a short life..shame...sad. But what a nice clean town in the middle of nowhere...and all those sporting activities! Some great guy/lady/person must be in charge here..
I could also not help but wonder about the story of the farmhouse and its people. It must've been quite a beautiful property back in the day and clearly a well-organised farm. The sports facilities in town were awesome to see, they must be a fit and healthy community in Dewetsdorp. 👌🏻🎾 It was a very good visit, we're glad you joined us.
I know you've been deeply troubled by the state of some of the towns we've visited on our travels. 😏 Dewetsdorp was indeed a breath of fresh air and we're happy that you came along for the ride! 😁🚗
What a wonderful town a credit to the towns folk so clean and tidy interesting history about the town hall another moving memorial to Anglo boer war great golf course tennis courts and bowling club its just like the one by my house approx 300 yards away I live on a gravel track and it's at the end amazing at the beginning of the video your good lady wife mentioned how flat the Free state is that's how I remember it on my few visits thanks guys for an awesome video
Wow, how lucky you are to live on a gravel road! We would just love that, we might just drive up and down all day long! 😁 They certainly love their sports in Dewetsdorp and it was good to see the facilities in town well-maintained, especially the bowling green and tennis courts. 🎾🎱 The Free State landscapes have a magic all their own, I absolutely love it! De Wetsdorp was super clean and a joy to visit! Thank you for coming with us. 🚗
Hi you two! Thank you for taking me on this trip in the Flat State. Dewetsdorp clearly shows that a town can be neat and alive after 140 years. It is impressive! I think it must be surrounded by quite a large and active farming area with sheep, cattle and grain (as the silos show). They should really carry on from strength to strength. My grandchildren might decide to retire there! Keep safe!
Thank you for coming to this fantastic town with us! I agree with you, it truly is a great example of what a small country town can actually look like. There were really only vandalised and broken down buildings on the outskirts of town, but the town itself was such a pleasure to see. In my view, the farming community is to a great extent what keeps Dewetsdorp a prosperous town. The two Merino sheep on the monument at the Town Hall gave us a clear indication of what they're farming with in the area. 🐑😍 Your grandchildren will live happily in Dewetsdorp, I'm sure! 😁🚗
Wow what a lovely little town.. I love when you come in from the back side of town, gives a whole nother prospective of the place.. You right Sonja, Freestate is very flat..the older I get the more I'm enjoying that kind of landscape, one I'm not really used to..but it does have a certain appeal, Freestate is not a Provence I'm too familiar with. Thank you for taking us into these gorgeous little towns I normally just drive by.. Have a beautiful day🚗✨💖
We love coming in from the backside of town, that's how we roll! 😁 We definitely got to the flatter part of the Free State here, there were still many hills dotting the landscape until we reached this area. Although I grew up in Bloemfontein, which isn't too far from this area. I was never very familiar with the Southern part of the province and that's one of the reasons I decided to specifically visit the towns in this region. We're very happy to have you discover it with us! 👌🏻🚗
Thank-you for this episode, its so refreshing compared to Wepener which I have to admit left me feeling a down after seeing all the decay. Dewetsdorp on the other hand is a great example of what seems to be a good case study for local govt management. 😀 My faith is restored ✨️
Indeed! We were happily surprised as we explored Dewetsdorp and found it to be a pleasant, clean town. We chatted to a few townsfolk as we were looking for places of interest which we couldn't find just from our maps and the info online and they were all very open and welcoming. We always ask how it is living in a particular town and the worst answer we got here was 'boring', from a lady who had moved from Durban a few months prior. I can live in a boring town that looks like Dewetsdorp any day of the week. 😁🚗 I'm glad we were able to cheer you up a little with this video!
Agreed! I was amazed to see how many Municipal employees were actively cleaning the streets/pavements! Provision of employment crucial for the upliftment of a community. Very encouraging to see.
My cheetah heart can't blame you for returning to this great province! 🧡🐆 I hope our video of your old hometown brought back some special memories. Thank you for watching! 🚗😊
BAIE dankie dis weereens so hartseer, seker maar omdat ek betrokke was by die spoorweë, telekommunikasie tegnikus, my trajek het gestrek vanaf Sannaspos tot in Aliwal Noord, was gestasioneer in Wepener, nogmaals baie dankie vir julle en oooja as as julle ooit in Vryheid KZN kom, kom groet (24/11/2022)
We're slowly working our way across the country and will eventually reach KZN too. 😁🚗 I can completely understand your sadness when you look at all the abandoned stations and destroyed infrastructure. We hope to somewhere on our travels show you fully-functional stations and railway lines again. 🤞🏻🚆 We will also be very happy to see that.
What an absolute Gem Dewetsdorp is after the sadness of Wepener... It is so refreshing to see people take pride in their dorpie... It gives me hope after seeing such decay in the other little dorps. Thank you and please stay safe on your travels, loving what you bring ❤️
I'm so glad Dewetsdorp could lift your spirits again! It really was a brilliant visit to a fantastic little town and we were so surprised and happy to see it so well-organised and clean. Very few vandalised buildings and the properties are very neat with well looked-after gardens and beautiful trees. You're so right, they clearly take pride in their town. We had a fun time driving through this pretty town and we're happy that we brought you along! Thank you for watching, we so appreciate it. 😁🚗
Do lekker om saam te reis. Wat n oulike plek. Ek was n leerling van Genl. Cristiaan de wet laerskool in JHB. Baie jare gelede. Is nou 75. Geniet dit om saam te rris.
It's wonderful to have you along on our travels! 😊 I always thought Dewetsdorp was named after Genl de Wet and was quite surprised to hear that it was not the case. Interesting that you went to the Genl de Wet Primary School in Johannesburg, I'm sure there are quite a few schools countrywide named after him. We hope to take you to many more small towns with us. 😁🚗
That farmhouse was really another 'if walls could talk' situation. It still is a magnificent place, albeit overgrown, but it must have been absolutely beautiful at some point. It really was a fantastic town to visit, we haven't seen such clean streets in quite a while! Thank you for joining us on this leg of our journey! 😁🚗
Dewetsdorp was quite the farming hub in it's day. It had a lovely golf club(club house has burnt down). We used to drive through from Bloem to play golf here. In the 80's-90's(?) there used to be a number of motor car off road rallies centred in town, around the area. Most things started from the showgrounds.
I wasn't aware that the previous Clubhouse at the Golf Club burnt down. 😨The Mel Haddad Clubhouse is a beautiful facility and must've been built in its place. The golf course is beautifully-maintained and so green, a real feast for the eye! ⛳ Dewetsdorp certainly has its fair share of well-maintained sports facilities which was fantastic to see. 👌🏻 We didn't quite make it to the showgrounds, but it looked like they were close to the stadium, track and rugby / soccer field on the edge of town.
It's a lovely little town and definitely an option to consider! 😁 While the temperatures may plummet in winter, it would be nowhere near Arizona, so it might be a good bet for you. You'll wake up to frost in the mornings, but I don't think snow is as regular an occurrence as in your part of the world. Another one to visit when you arrive on South African shores next year. 😉🇿🇦
@@DustBugsTravel Ek volg al julle travels en al die pragtige klein plekkies wat julle besoek . Dis moeilik om te kies want al daai plekkies is rerig mooi wat julle besoek ons plaas is 6000 voet op in die white mountains in Arizona so dit sneeu en reen meeste van die jaar . Die weer lyk altyd mooi daar by julle by al daai plekke. Ek hou ook baie van Middelburg in Oos London of naby Oos Londen . Dit was ook n pragtige video daai .
This town was an organised place! The municipal workers were out and about, the town was neat and even the sports facilities were well-maintained. It was great to see! 😁🚗
You're welcome! 👌 It made for a refreshing visit and it was so good to see clean streets and well-maintained buildings. We appreciate you coming along again! 😁🚗
The grave you mentioned is Cornelia Kruger, the generals wife, the grave of Christian is at Bloemfontein War museum. The graves of Jacobus Ignatius (Kooitjie) and his wife Aletta Strydom is (supposed) on farm Leeukop, Smithfield
We were really hoping to find Genl de Wet's wife's grave, but could for the life of me, not find where the arrow on the board was pointing to. I think it must be in the graveyard somewhere, but perhaps not clearly marked or visible from the road where we were. 😏🏛️
The station was called The Meadows and, like all railway affairs in the country, its fate was decided by Parliament, not Transnet. When you see dead stations, blame the politicians prior to 1994, whose ineptitude shines through. Mistakes made in the 1970's, bad management, terrible decisions made at top level, etc', sounded the death knell of the main arteries of our economy. There were Levanese in Dewetsdorp, the Haddads and the Chemali's. I saw miracles happen in that old NG Kerk; things that defied the laws of physics. We left there in December 1968 and only returned twice; I still want to take my adult children and grandchildren there. General Christiaan De Wet was the inventor of trench warfare and guerilla attacks; today, he would have been called a Recce, I suppose, alongside Genl de la Rey. These two gave the British warlords a run for their money indeed. To hold 450,000 well equipped soldiers at bay for 3 years with as few as 16,000 men (many boys aged ten or eleven!) was quite an achievement. De Wet had three farms, Klipfontein, Rooipoort (Jimmy Roos School for Boys is there) and Nuwejaarsfontein, some eight miles out of town direction Bloemfontein. I often picked up Boer War memorabilia when I played on the 3700 ha that was Rooipoort; leather items, spent food tins, parts of uniforms, ammunition, etc. That is where I often roamed when I was between 3 -7 years of age. We sometimes collected bags of anthracite for our stove at that station, and collected or dropped off visitors from the Cape. That sports centre was in its prime in the 1960's and that was where I first experienced an infantry mock attack presented y the local citizen's force commando and the infantry battalion of Tempe. They used the then new FN automatic rifles, launched different kind of grenades, etc. It must have been 1966 or perhaps 1967; I still had my empty smile. The co-op was where that OK store is now, opposite the church. My mother worked across the road as secretary at an insurance agent's, which is why I was enrolled in Sub A when I was 5. As a kid, I played in several of the gardens shown in your video, as many of our friends resided in town. That very bored Durbanite should take lessons from me; we had no entertainment but never got bored. Even to this day, with "nothing to do," I busy myself with so many things that I often go to bed only by dawn. One needs to learn how to just live. It is great to see how the townsfolk keep Dewetsdorp in shape. For foreigners reading here, the name is pronounced "de vets dorp." The "how to pronounce" websites on TH-cam all get names very wrong.
I'm still no expert on any matters railways, so appreciate the correction. 👌🏻 I found it quite interesting to read about the Lebanese in town and that would explain the Mel Haddad Clubhouse at the Dewetsdorp Golf Club. ⛳ It was cool reading about your explorations at Rooipoort and some of the memorabilia you picked up there, I can't help but wonder how much of that must be left there. Security is very tight there, so I'd imagine access to those areas will also be heavily-restricted. Very cool to read how well you remember the town, although you left so long ago. I think the bored Durbanite was still getting used to life in a small town, it must be quite a drastic change from a big city. I'm sure she'll feel more at home in another six months or so. Thank you for travelling to and through your old hometown with us! It was a pleasure to visit such a clean, functional town. 🚗😁
I was at school with the youngest Haddit boy of that generation,they had a general store in town called.....Haddits,they were kind of a institution in town
This was a lovely trip, thanks for showing so nicely. This is the town where my Ouma lived and in which my sweet mother had grown up in. We visited regularly from Bloem. Lovely to see how good all the trees look, it's like an oasis
Oh, we most certainly will do so once we eventually reach Limpopo! 😁 We knew the town well at one point, but it's been many years since we've visited last. My wife was born in Tzaneen and we both lived in Polokwane (then still Pietersburg) for two years before we got married. We often visited Haenertsburg on our way to Tzaneen and the Kruger National Park. That part of the country tugs very strongly at both our heartstrings! 😍🚗 We appreciate the suggestion, thank you.
Great place, sad state of some amenities. But some improvements happening. You should have asked the ladies at the station if they are waiting for the train or when the next train is arriving. Once again thank you for an entertaining episode, and thanks for showing these gems. Drive safely and keep the dust bugs going.
We thought Dewetsdorp was actually a shining beacon of light as far as the cleanliness and facilities go. 👌🏻The residents and local authority clearly take pride in their town. All I'll say, is that if those ladies were waiting for the train, I think they're still waiting. 😏🚆 Thank you for coming to Dewetsdorp with us!
It all depends on how busy I am with work commitments and how much editing I have to do. I start editing the day after we return home, so our videos are always uploaded between one and five weeks after a trip. 😁🚗
Love your channel.😊 My Oupa and Ouma loved there and I visited many times. I'm watching from New Zealand. My hart verlang so 🇿🇦. Wil you do a tour of the South Coast sometime? Amanzimtoti, Warner Beach. Al
Thank you so much, I'm glad to hear you enjoy our videos! 🚙🤩 Dewetsdorp is a fantastic town and still so neat and well-maintained, which was a pleasure to see. 👌🏻 We live in Strand close to Cape Town and will most definitely visit Kwazulu-Natal still. Travelling further away from home takes a little more planning to fit all the places in to the week we have available to travel every so often. Keep watching! 😁 I hope that our videos will make the longing for your home country a little easier to bear. 🇿🇦😍
@@DustBugsTravel Thanks for your quick response 😊 we try visit as often as can, every three years. Our next visit will be later this year 2019 we flew to Cape Town, and did the garden route to PE. Stunning, and our kiwi daughter in law fell in love with SA 🇿🇦 We've been in NZ 26 years, and will never stop missing and loving SA and it's people regardless of what is happening there. Best wishes and safe travels🙏
I don't, but I'll certainly try and find out and report back if I am able to provide any further info. My first thought is that it may be initials of some kind, perhaps of the first farm owner, but I'm really not sure. 🤔🏡
Mr H.J.de Leeuw, the town clerk was investigated by three members for stealing the Boards money. On 8 April 1927 all 4 was in the town hall. H.J. realised he was in big trouble, he excuse himself for a while. He collect petrol and dynamite and blow up the hall and the 3 investigation officials died. H.J. was hanged in Dewetsdorp on 30th September 1927......
My sister moved to Dewetsdorp as well from Durban a few years a few years ago, but I'm sure it is not the lady you mentioned, as she returned to Durbs shortly after the move....
That's quite the coincidence. It must be difficult to adjust at first when one moves from a city to a small town and, as with everything in life, it's not everyone's cup of tea. 🤷🏼♂️ I lived in Durban for about two years and I loved it being summer all year round! 🌊☀️
Were there ANY hotel or guesthouses in Dewetsdorp? I know there's group accommodation at Jimmie Roos, but that's overkill and impractical for a couple of geriatrix. Oh, I found a very optimistic website that promised to show me the "top FIFTEEN hotels in Dewetsdorp." Getaway Magazine missed the story, indeed............ hahahahaha Now seriously, where does one lay your head in Dewetsdorp, other than right next to the General's wife?
🤣 Now that I've recovered from my belly laugh, I can answer you. Since we didn't overnight in Dewetsdorp and, as you know by now, we're not travellers who do a huge amount of research about a place before we actually visit, we didn't look up accommodation establishments before our visit. We didn't specifically see any guesthouses while driving through, although if I think back now, there may have been one with a board that could've said something about accommodation, but we simply glanced over it at the time. Quick searches on Google, lekkeslaap and airbnb today, delivered no results, which was actually rather surprising. 😳 We also didn't see a hotel in town, let alone 15 hotels, but that doesn't necessarily mean there aren't any. 🤷🏼♂️ It's not the first time we've encountered this though, so when this happened to us recently, we called the lcoal supermarket and asked them for any recommendations. Perhaps this will also bear fruit for you. It sounds like you have a trip to Dewetsdorp planned, I'm excited for you! 😁🚗
Your Video's are interesting. Just one thing, the Towns look so quiet, there doesn't seem to be many People or Cars about, Puzzled. I'm from Potters Bar, England. 🤩🏡⛪️🌍💖
Hello to you in England! 😃 We prefer the backroads and smaller towns and places, so you won't see busier and bigger towns and cities on our channel, although South Africa has them too in abundance. The places and towns we prefer to visit and explore, are quieter country towns where the populations are much smaller. We live just outside Cape Town and run away every few weeks to search for exactly this peace and quiet which we find in these places. Thank you for watching our videos. 👌🏻🚗
Hello to you in the beautiful Free State! We appreciate you watching our video of Dewetsdorp. We hope you enjoyed it and that you've seen the one of Wepener too. If you haven't yet, that is Episode 209. 🚗😁
Nope, that's a complete misconception if one travels as slowly and as carefully as I do! Every single kilometre in 332 of the 337 videos on our channel were done in a Renault Kwid and it performs brilliantly every single time! 🚙😁
The town were named after Gen CR de Wet {Christiaan Rudolf de Wet.]His 1st wife died in the war in a concentration camp and so did some of his children.He was burried at the Voortrekker Monument and that is why only his wife's are burried in De Wets dorp.
The only vandalised buildings we saw, were the sports facilities and the station buildings on the fringes of town, while the buildings in town still looked very good. This was encouraging to see! 👌🏻🚗
The first farmhouse you saw...built 1935...that is really not so long ago for being deserted already......that family must have had a short life..shame...sad. But what a nice clean town in the middle of nowhere...and all those sporting activities! Some great guy/lady/person must be in charge here..
I could also not help but wonder about the story of the farmhouse and its people. It must've been quite a beautiful property back in the day and clearly a well-organised farm. The sports facilities in town were awesome to see, they must be a fit and healthy community in Dewetsdorp. 👌🏻🎾 It was a very good visit, we're glad you joined us.
Refreshing to see a small town that’s well maintained.Kudos to Dewersdorp
I know you've been deeply troubled by the state of some of the towns we've visited on our travels. 😏 Dewetsdorp was indeed a breath of fresh air and we're happy that you came along for the ride! 😁🚗
Hi julle ek hoop julle is bereid om jul roete deur die Vrystaat te publiseer. Ek wil bitter graag jul wielspore oordoen op my motorfiets.
Gets the award of "Dust Bugs dorpie of the year" award
😁 And it will be a very worthy recipient too! 🤩🏆
What a wonderful town a credit to the towns folk so clean and tidy interesting history about the town hall another moving memorial to Anglo boer war great golf course tennis courts and bowling club its just like the one by my house approx 300 yards away I live on a gravel track and it's at the end amazing at the beginning of the video your good lady wife mentioned how flat the Free state is that's how I remember it on my few visits thanks guys for an awesome video
Wow, how lucky you are to live on a gravel road! We would just love that, we might just drive up and down all day long! 😁 They certainly love their sports in Dewetsdorp and it was good to see the facilities in town well-maintained, especially the bowling green and tennis courts. 🎾🎱 The Free State landscapes have a magic all their own, I absolutely love it! De Wetsdorp was super clean and a joy to visit! Thank you for coming with us. 🚗
@@DustBugsTravel You should download offline maps for when there's no internet connection. I personally use Magic Earth. I love your videos!
Hi you two! Thank you for taking me on this trip in the Flat State.
Dewetsdorp clearly shows that a town can be neat and alive after 140 years. It is impressive!
I think it must be surrounded by quite a large and active farming area with sheep, cattle and grain (as the silos show). They should really carry on from strength to strength. My grandchildren might decide to retire there!
Keep safe!
Thank you for coming to this fantastic town with us! I agree with you, it truly is a great example of what a small country town can actually look like. There were really only vandalised and broken down buildings on the outskirts of town, but the town itself was such a pleasure to see. In my view, the farming community is to a great extent what keeps Dewetsdorp a prosperous town. The two Merino sheep on the monument at the Town Hall gave us a clear indication of what they're farming with in the area. 🐑😍 Your grandchildren will live happily in Dewetsdorp, I'm sure! 😁🚗
Wow what a lovely little town.. I love when you come in from the back side of town, gives a whole nother prospective of the place.. You right Sonja, Freestate is very flat..the older I get the more I'm enjoying that kind of landscape, one I'm not really used to..but it does have a certain appeal, Freestate is not a Provence I'm too familiar with. Thank you for taking us into these gorgeous little towns I normally just drive by.. Have a beautiful day🚗✨💖
We love coming in from the backside of town, that's how we roll! 😁 We definitely got to the flatter part of the Free State here, there were still many hills dotting the landscape until we reached this area. Although I grew up in Bloemfontein, which isn't too far from this area. I was never very familiar with the Southern part of the province and that's one of the reasons I decided to specifically visit the towns in this region. We're very happy to have you discover it with us! 👌🏻🚗
Thank-you for this episode, its so refreshing compared to Wepener which I have to admit left me feeling a down after seeing all the decay. Dewetsdorp on the other hand is a great example of what seems to be a good case study for local govt management. 😀 My faith is restored ✨️
Indeed! We were happily surprised as we explored Dewetsdorp and found it to be a pleasant, clean town. We chatted to a few townsfolk as we were looking for places of interest which we couldn't find just from our maps and the info online and they were all very open and welcoming. We always ask how it is living in a particular town and the worst answer we got here was 'boring', from a lady who had moved from Durban a few months prior. I can live in a boring town that looks like Dewetsdorp any day of the week. 😁🚗 I'm glad we were able to cheer you up a little with this video!
I think that Dewetsdorp and Vosburg deserve medals for pro-active management.
Agreed! I was amazed to see how many Municipal employees were actively cleaning the streets/pavements! Provision of employment crucial for the upliftment of a community. Very encouraging to see.
Lovely town with all the trees along the streets.
Yes! We love trees so much too, they just add so much life and colour to a place. 😍🌳
I also love the trees
I grew up in Dewetsdorp ...we moved to Gauteng in 1985 ,I have since returned to the southern Freeste....
My cheetah heart can't blame you for returning to this great province! 🧡🐆 I hope our video of your old hometown brought back some special memories. Thank you for watching! 🚗😊
@@DustBugsTravel it most certainly did,I came back home in 1994 ,haven't left since
BAIE dankie dis weereens so hartseer, seker maar omdat ek betrokke was by die spoorweë, telekommunikasie tegnikus, my trajek het gestrek vanaf Sannaspos tot in Aliwal Noord, was gestasioneer in Wepener, nogmaals baie dankie vir julle en oooja as as julle ooit in Vryheid KZN kom, kom groet (24/11/2022)
We're slowly working our way across the country and will eventually reach KZN too. 😁🚗 I can completely understand your sadness when you look at all the abandoned stations and destroyed infrastructure. We hope to somewhere on our travels show you fully-functional stations and railway lines again. 🤞🏻🚆 We will also be very happy to see that.
What an absolute Gem Dewetsdorp is after the sadness of Wepener... It is so refreshing to see people take pride in their dorpie... It gives me hope after seeing such decay in the other little dorps. Thank you and please stay safe on your travels, loving what you bring ❤️
I'm so glad Dewetsdorp could lift your spirits again! It really was a brilliant visit to a fantastic little town and we were so surprised and happy to see it so well-organised and clean. Very few vandalised buildings and the properties are very neat with well looked-after gardens and beautiful trees. You're so right, they clearly take pride in their town. We had a fun time driving through this pretty town and we're happy that we brought you along! Thank you for watching, we so appreciate it. 😁🚗
Do lekker om saam te reis. Wat n oulike plek. Ek was n leerling van Genl. Cristiaan de wet laerskool in JHB. Baie jare gelede. Is nou 75. Geniet dit om saam te rris.
It's wonderful to have you along on our travels! 😊 I always thought Dewetsdorp was named after Genl de Wet and was quite surprised to hear that it was not the case. Interesting that you went to the Genl de Wet Primary School in Johannesburg, I'm sure there are quite a few schools countrywide named after him. We hope to take you to many more small towns with us. 😁🚗
What a lovely clean town quite refreshing just loved that farmhouse that was abandoned it is still so amazing. Thank you for this lovely episode.
That farmhouse was really another 'if walls could talk' situation. It still is a magnificent place, albeit overgrown, but it must have been absolutely beautiful at some point. It really was a fantastic town to visit, we haven't seen such clean streets in quite a while! Thank you for joining us on this leg of our journey! 😁🚗
Dewetsdorp was quite the farming hub in it's day. It had a lovely golf club(club house has burnt down). We used to drive through from Bloem to play golf here. In the 80's-90's(?) there used to be a number of motor car off road rallies centred in town, around the area. Most things started from the showgrounds.
I wasn't aware that the previous Clubhouse at the Golf Club burnt down. 😨The Mel Haddad Clubhouse is a beautiful facility and must've been built in its place. The golf course is beautifully-maintained and so green, a real feast for the eye! ⛳ Dewetsdorp certainly has its fair share of well-maintained sports facilities which was fantastic to see. 👌🏻 We didn't quite make it to the showgrounds, but it looked like they were close to the stadium, track and rugby / soccer field on the edge of town.
The highlight of my day - a new episode!!!!! 😀 Thank you!!!!!!!
😁 So happy to hear that you look forward to each new episode, that means so much to us! 🚗👌🏻
The inauguration of the monument was by Genl. Christiaan de Wet. The town was named after his father, Jacobus (Kooitjie)
Thank you for the info, so interesting that the town was named after Genl de Wet's father and not him as we initially thought. 👌🏻
I can't wait to see my hometown Edenburg on your show
You don't have too long to wait now! We hope you enjoy that one! 😁🚗
@@DustBugsTravel I'm enjoying this one. Very impressive 👌
Fantasies!!!!!!👌👌👌
Thank you so much! 😁🚗
Ek dink daai Dewetsdorp is my favorite. Ek gaan Kyk na huise daar oplyn. Vannaand sneeu dit hier op die plaas in Arizona. 😂
It's a lovely little town and definitely an option to consider! 😁 While the temperatures may plummet in winter, it would be nowhere near Arizona, so it might be a good bet for you. You'll wake up to frost in the mornings, but I don't think snow is as regular an occurrence as in your part of the world. Another one to visit when you arrive on South African shores next year. 😉🇿🇦
@@DustBugsTravel Ek volg al julle travels en al die pragtige klein plekkies wat julle besoek . Dis moeilik om te kies want al daai plekkies is rerig mooi wat julle besoek ons plaas is 6000 voet op in die white mountains in Arizona so dit sneeu en reen meeste van die jaar . Die weer lyk altyd mooi daar by julle by al daai plekke. Ek hou ook baie van Middelburg in Oos London of naby Oos Londen . Dit was ook n pragtige video daai .
Die Bybel skryf dit was "woes en leeg." :)
thats the thing - you cant beat the weather in SA
Very neat properties!!!! And a lot of green trees too!!!
This town was an organised place! The municipal workers were out and about, the town was neat and even the sports facilities were well-maintained. It was great to see! 😁🚗
What a nice and clean town as you mentioned. Thank you that i could travel with you to experience what you have observed
You're welcome! 👌 It made for a refreshing visit and it was so good to see clean streets and well-maintained buildings. We appreciate you coming along again! 😁🚗
I’ve been to Dewetsdorp so many times and it’s never been this interesting to me
I'm so happy to hear that! It was great to have you along for the ride to and through this great town! 😁🚗
The grave you mentioned is Cornelia Kruger, the generals wife, the grave of Christian is at Bloemfontein War museum. The graves of Jacobus Ignatius (Kooitjie) and his wife Aletta Strydom is (supposed) on farm Leeukop, Smithfield
We were really hoping to find Genl de Wet's wife's grave, but could for the life of me, not find where the arrow on the board was pointing to. I think it must be in the graveyard somewhere, but perhaps not clearly marked or visible from the road where we were. 😏🏛️
The station was called The Meadows and, like all railway affairs in the country, its fate was decided by Parliament, not Transnet. When you see dead stations, blame the politicians prior to 1994, whose ineptitude shines through. Mistakes made in the 1970's, bad management, terrible decisions made at top level, etc', sounded the death knell of the main arteries of our economy.
There were Levanese in Dewetsdorp, the Haddads and the Chemali's.
I saw miracles happen in that old NG Kerk; things that defied the laws of physics.
We left there in December 1968 and only returned twice; I still want to take my adult children and grandchildren there.
General Christiaan De Wet was the inventor of trench warfare and guerilla attacks; today, he would have been called a Recce, I suppose, alongside Genl de la Rey. These two gave the British warlords a run for their money indeed. To hold 450,000 well equipped soldiers at bay for 3 years with as few as 16,000 men (many boys aged ten or eleven!) was quite an achievement. De Wet had three farms, Klipfontein, Rooipoort (Jimmy Roos School for Boys is there) and Nuwejaarsfontein, some eight miles out of town direction Bloemfontein. I often picked up Boer War memorabilia when I played on the 3700 ha that was Rooipoort; leather items, spent food tins, parts of uniforms, ammunition, etc. That is where I often roamed when I was between 3 -7 years of age.
We sometimes collected bags of anthracite for our stove at that station, and collected or dropped off visitors from the Cape. That sports centre was in its prime in the 1960's and that was where I first experienced an infantry mock attack presented y the local citizen's force commando and the infantry battalion of Tempe. They used the then new FN automatic rifles, launched different kind of grenades, etc. It must have been 1966 or perhaps 1967; I still had my empty smile.
The co-op was where that OK store is now, opposite the church. My mother worked across the road as secretary at an insurance agent's, which is why I was enrolled in Sub A when I was 5.
As a kid, I played in several of the gardens shown in your video, as many of our friends resided in town. That very bored Durbanite should take lessons from me; we had no entertainment but never got bored. Even to this day, with "nothing to do," I busy myself with so many things that I often go to bed only by dawn. One needs to learn how to just live.
It is great to see how the townsfolk keep Dewetsdorp in shape.
For foreigners reading here, the name is pronounced "de vets dorp." The "how to pronounce" websites on TH-cam all get names very wrong.
I'm still no expert on any matters railways, so appreciate the correction. 👌🏻 I found it quite interesting to read about the Lebanese in town and that would explain the Mel Haddad Clubhouse at the Dewetsdorp Golf Club. ⛳ It was cool reading about your explorations at Rooipoort and some of the memorabilia you picked up there, I can't help but wonder how much of that must be left there. Security is very tight there, so I'd imagine access to those areas will also be heavily-restricted. Very cool to read how well you remember the town, although you left so long ago. I think the bored Durbanite was still getting used to life in a small town, it must be quite a drastic change from a big city. I'm sure she'll feel more at home in another six months or so. Thank you for travelling to and through your old hometown with us! It was a pleasure to visit such a clean, functional town. 🚗😁
I was at school with the youngest Haddit boy of that generation,they had a general store in town called.....Haddits,they were kind of a institution in town
This was a lovely trip, thanks for showing so nicely. This is the town where my Ouma lived and in which my sweet mother had grown up in. We visited regularly from Bloem. Lovely to see how good all the trees look, it's like an oasis
You guys must also visit the little town of Haenertsburg in Limpopo. Also stunning and beautiful mountainous surroundings.
Oh, we most certainly will do so once we eventually reach Limpopo! 😁 We knew the town well at one point, but it's been many years since we've visited last. My wife was born in Tzaneen and we both lived in Polokwane (then still Pietersburg) for two years before we got married. We often visited Haenertsburg on our way to Tzaneen and the Kruger National Park. That part of the country tugs very strongly at both our heartstrings! 😍🚗 We appreciate the suggestion, thank you.
So glad that De Wets Doto is so clean!!!
So spacious!!!
Great place, sad state of some amenities. But some improvements happening.
You should have asked the ladies at the station if they are waiting for the train or when the next train is arriving.
Once again thank you for an entertaining episode, and thanks for showing these gems.
Drive safely and keep the dust bugs going.
We thought Dewetsdorp was actually a shining beacon of light as far as the cleanliness and facilities go. 👌🏻The residents and local authority clearly take pride in their town. All I'll say, is that if those ladies were waiting for the train, I think they're still waiting. 😏🚆 Thank you for coming to Dewetsdorp with us!
Bowls = :Old toppie's marbles"
😁 It certainly used to be, but I hear a lot of young ones are taking up the sport. Easier on the joints, they say! 🎱🦵
@@DustBugsTravel Yes I do believe there are a lot of youngsters playing bowls. If I may ask how far behind are your videos.
It all depends on how busy I am with work commitments and how much editing I have to do. I start editing the day after we return home, so our videos are always uploaded between one and five weeks after a trip. 😁🚗
Love your channel.😊
My Oupa and Ouma loved there and I visited many times.
I'm watching from New Zealand.
My hart verlang so 🇿🇦.
Wil you do a tour of the South Coast sometime?
Amanzimtoti, Warner Beach.
Al
Thank you so much, I'm glad to hear you enjoy our videos! 🚙🤩 Dewetsdorp is a fantastic town and still so neat and well-maintained, which was a pleasure to see. 👌🏻 We live in Strand close to Cape Town and will most definitely visit Kwazulu-Natal still. Travelling further away from home takes a little more planning to fit all the places in to the week we have available to travel every so often. Keep watching! 😁 I hope that our videos will make the longing for your home country a little easier to bear. 🇿🇦😍
@@DustBugsTravel
Thanks for your quick response 😊 we try visit as often as can, every three years. Our next visit will be later this year
2019 we flew to Cape Town, and did the garden route to PE.
Stunning, and our kiwi daughter in law fell in love with SA 🇿🇦
We've been in NZ 26 years, and will never stop missing and loving SA and it's people regardless of what is happening there.
Best wishes and safe travels🙏
The abandoned farmhouse had "1935", the date it was built, and the letters "HC" on it. Do you know what that 'HC" might signify?
I don't, but I'll certainly try and find out and report back if I am able to provide any further info. My first thought is that it may be initials of some kind, perhaps of the first farm owner, but I'm really not sure. 🤔🏡
the bird is an African Hoopoe
Indeed. I looked up the correct name while I was editing and corrected it on-screen. 😁🦜 Our knowledge of bird names will still catch up someday.
Mr H.J.de Leeuw, the town clerk was investigated by three members for stealing the Boards money. On 8 April 1927 all 4 was in the town hall. H.J. realised he was in big trouble, he excuse himself for a while. He collect petrol and dynamite and blow up the hall and the 3 investigation officials died. H.J. was hanged in Dewetsdorp on 30th September 1927......
The explanation on the incident according the town hall is in the bottom comment
I appreciate the additional info, thank you. Quite a story! 🏛️💣
Hi Curtis, I would like to know how you hold and or mount your cell phone whilst driving?
I mount my cellphone on a regular selfie-stick and hold my arm out of the window. That works perfectly for me! 😁🚗
My sister moved to Dewetsdorp as well from Durban a few years a few years ago, but I'm sure it is not the lady you mentioned, as she returned to Durbs shortly after the move....
That's quite the coincidence. It must be difficult to adjust at first when one moves from a city to a small town and, as with everything in life, it's not everyone's cup of tea. 🤷🏼♂️ I lived in Durban for about two years and I loved it being summer all year round! 🌊☀️
Were there ANY hotel or guesthouses in Dewetsdorp? I know there's group accommodation at Jimmie Roos, but that's overkill and impractical for a couple of geriatrix. Oh, I found a very optimistic website that promised to show me the "top FIFTEEN hotels in Dewetsdorp." Getaway Magazine missed the story, indeed............ hahahahaha Now seriously, where does one lay your head in Dewetsdorp, other than right next to the General's wife?
🤣 Now that I've recovered from my belly laugh, I can answer you. Since we didn't overnight in Dewetsdorp and, as you know by now, we're not travellers who do a huge amount of research about a place before we actually visit, we didn't look up accommodation establishments before our visit. We didn't specifically see any guesthouses while driving through, although if I think back now, there may have been one with a board that could've said something about accommodation, but we simply glanced over it at the time. Quick searches on Google, lekkeslaap and airbnb today, delivered no results, which was actually rather surprising. 😳 We also didn't see a hotel in town, let alone 15 hotels, but that doesn't necessarily mean there aren't any. 🤷🏼♂️ It's not the first time we've encountered this though, so when this happened to us recently, we called the lcoal supermarket and asked them for any recommendations. Perhaps this will also bear fruit for you. It sounds like you have a trip to Dewetsdorp planned, I'm excited for you! 😁🚗
Your Video's are interesting. Just one thing, the Towns look so quiet, there doesn't seem to be many People or Cars about, Puzzled. I'm from Potters Bar, England.
🤩🏡⛪️🌍💖
Hello to you in England! 😃 We prefer the backroads and smaller towns and places, so you won't see busier and bigger towns and cities on our channel, although South Africa has them too in abundance. The places and towns we prefer to visit and explore, are quieter country towns where the populations are much smaller. We live just outside Cape Town and run away every few weeks to search for exactly this peace and quiet which we find in these places. Thank you for watching our videos. 👌🏻🚗
Wepener and Dewetsdorp this where I lives
Hello to you in the beautiful Free State! We appreciate you watching our video of Dewetsdorp. We hope you enjoyed it and that you've seen the one of Wepener too. If you haven't yet, that is Episode 209. 🚗😁
With all the gravel roads you need a bakkie
Nope, that's a complete misconception if one travels as slowly and as carefully as I do! Every single kilometre in 332 of the 337 videos on our channel were done in a Renault Kwid and it performs brilliantly every single time! 🚙😁
I lived here for awhile
The town were named after Gen CR de Wet {Christiaan Rudolf de Wet.]His 1st wife died in the war in a concentration camp and so did some of his children.He was burried at the Voortrekker Monument and that is why only his wife's are burried in De Wets dorp.
Sports ground buildings have been Africanised, very sad, if people show no respect for the past, you can't be expected to be respected in the future.
The only vandalised buildings we saw, were the sports facilities and the station buildings on the fringes of town, while the buildings in town still looked very good. This was encouraging to see! 👌🏻🚗
"Africanised"! Love that expression, first time I've heard it but very fitting. Obviously some kind of major 'make-over'.