The history of Glen Avon is that of Robert Hart who was regarded as being the “Father of the 1820 Settlers”.

Who was Robert Hart? In 1795 he was an 18-year-old private in the Argyllshire Highlanders when the regiment disembarked at Cape Town. The regiment served for a while on the Cape frontier until Britain returned the Cape to Holland where after it returned to Britain.

In 1807, however, Robert Hart, now a married man, returned to the Cape as an officer in Colonel Graham’s newly formed Cape Regiment and was stationed at Grahamstown. Later, he was put in charge of the experimental farm founded by Lord Charles Somerset, the governor of the Cape, and which provided supplies to the army.

In 1825 the farm was closed down and the little town of Somerset East laid out on its grounds. Many of the original houses still stand in this charming little place.

Hart and his family then settled on farmland adjacent to the town which he was granted in recognition of his services to the government. Here he built a homestead – Glen Avon. The first mill on Glen Avon was built by in 1823. This mill would have had a wooden wheel and all that remains of it is the grindstone, which is paved into the entrance of the current mill. Hart, who was a pioneer of Merino sheep farming, farmed sheep, grew fruit, especially citrus, and grain. So successful was grain production in the region that it justified him building a commercial mill for neighboring farmers.

The mill in its present situation was built in 1862, evidenced by the wheel being dated 1861. This mill would have been built by Robert Hart Jnr since his father would have been in his early 80s by this time. There is speculation that this is the third mill and that a second, smaller mill stood here before. There is no proof but for word of mouth and the change in the structure from stone to brick higher up.

The machinery and equipment were made at Leeds in England, shipped to Algoa Bay, transported by bullock wagon to Glen Avon via the old Zuurberg Pass and assembled on the spot.

Robert Hart died in 1867 at the ripe old age of 90. The farm is still farmed by the descendants of Robert Hart. Due to the care, the family has taken over the intervening years, the farm’s original buildings are in a fine state of preservation and are a wonderful example of the Colonial architecture of the period.

The old Glen Avon Mill can be viewed by guests and by appointment. They also do a “Mill Day” a couple of times a year when they get the waterwheel turning to grind grain.