Bulhoek
Description
The first owner of Bulhoek was Douw Gerbrand Steyn, born in 1777 (son of Douw Gerbrand Steyn and Catharina Maria Potgieter). He married Alida Barendina van der Walt on 19 April 1795 (daughter of Tjaart van der Walt and Anna Martha Venter). She was born in 1780 and died on 2 August 1850. Douw Gerbrand Steyn and his wife had thirteen children. The sixth child, Elsie Francina, born in 1806, married Casper Jan Hendrik Kruger on 3 September 1820. They are the parents of Paul Kruger. The youngest child, Andries Petrus Johannes Steyn, born in 1823, is the founder of the nearby town called Steynsburg, established in 1872.
Bulhoek was first granted as a loan farm to Douw Gerbrand Steyn. An engraved stone with the initials of Douw Gerbrand Steyn and the date 1809 can still be seen on the site, not far from the house and close to the ruins of an unidentified structure. In 1932, portion 11 of the farm Bulhoek no. 78, was bought and transferred to Die Komitee van die President Kruger Geboorteplekfonds.
The plaque on the house reads:
ON THIS FARM WITH ITS TYPICAL STOCK FARMER’S TREKKER
DWELLING ELSIE STEYN, MOTHER OF STATE PRESIDENT
S.J.P KRUGER, SPENT HER YOUTH. AFTER HER MARRIAGE
TO CASPER KRUGER IN SEPTEMBER 1820 THE COUPLE LIVED
HERE FROM TIME TO TIME. ACCORDING TO TRADITION
PAUL KRUGER WAS BORN HERE IN OCTOBER 1825.
