Willowmore historic buildings and monuments

Description
Willowmore has a number of historic buildings, churches and monuments in addition to the main listings from the town on this website.
These main listings can be found on the following links:
Steytlerville to Willowmore cement road
Die Wonderboom
The Old Blackstone Power Station
Die Rooi Bruggie
Other interesting places include:
Willowmore Town Hall
Willowmore’s iconic town hall stands in Knysna Street and has a very unique-looking clock tower. The building was built around 1896 and is the centre point of the Willowmore community. It has been used for film shows, amateur theatrical productions, soirées, wedding receptions and funerals.
The Old Jail – Willowmore
The Old Jail was constructed from local stone and the walls are half a metre thick, and was completed in 1880. The outside corners, windows and doors are decorated with plaster quoins. The Old Gaol, as it was then called, consisted of a hospital cell, hard labour cells, awaiting trial cells, a female cell and a kitchen cell. It was decommissioned as a prison around 1950, was abandoned for more than a decade, and then converted into a luxury guesthouse by its current owners.
Jewish Synagogue
At one stage Willowmore had a thriving Jewish community and so a synagogue was erected. The building is no longer in use, but can still be viewed from the outside. The erf was purchased for the building of a synagogue in 1906 and the foundation stone was laid on 8 April 1907. The Jewish community applied for a loan for the building in 1908 and by 1917 the Willowmore Hebrew congregation had 30 members.
The Old Dutch Reformed Parsonage
The Dutch Reformed congregation was established in Willowmore in 1864. Before the construction of the church a spacious parsonage was designed and built by the renowned architect Carl Otto Hager from Stellenbosch. The parsonage was built for the first minister, Reverend P N Ham who arrived on the ship Brasilië from Holland. Reverend Ham stayed for two years and was replaced by Reverend George Murray, brother of the famous missionary Andrew Murray.
Originally it was a single-story dwelling. With the need for school classrooms for the growing community and other social functions, it soon became too small. As a result, a second floor was added in 1897 together with all the usual Victorian-era embellishments to the architectural designs typical of the time. The building was later used as a girls’ hostel for the local school and later as a store for agricultural products.
Today it is an elegant guesthouse with Victorian architectural adornments, a yellowwood top-story floor and the other Oregon pine woodwork well preserved.
Willowmore Historical Graveyard
The historical graveyard in Willowmore contains the graves of those who died during the 2nd Anglo Boer War (1899 – 1902) as well as 13 residents who died during the Great Flu Epidemic that swept across South Africa in 1918.
From here, one can take a short hike to a small gunpowder chamber used during battle to store gunpowder and ammunition.
The old Jewish Graveyard is well maintained and can be visited by prior arrangement with the Tourism office since the gate is kept locked.
The Jewish graveyard is still beautifully maintained and open to interested visitors.
Contact Info
- Willowmore