A quick hike at Van Stadens – Featured Blog

This afternoon we headed out to the Van Stadens Wildflower Reserve for a quick walk to go and find the oldest Geocache in Port Elizabeth.  While the Damselfly waited in the car, Drama Princess and I headed down one of the trails in search of this very significant cache.  The Pincushion Proteas are stunning at the moment so I kept on falling behind. 

The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality is made up of Port Elizabeth, Uitenhage, Despatch and the surrounding area.  But how much do you really know of Despatch?

The Despatch area was originally occupied by a flourishing brick industry based here due to the rich clay soil you find in the district.  It got its name from the fact that bricks got dispatched form the original railway siding that connected to the main line running to Port Elizabeth from Uitenhage.  Many of the old buildings in PE and Uitenhage was built with bricks from Despatch.  These days the only reminder of the town’s original brick industry past can be found in the form of the old Brick Works chimney built in 1882 and standing in the field nexy to the railway tracks just below the town.

The town of Despatch developed in 1942 and offered a cheaper housing alternative for the fast growing Uitenhage and Port Elizabeth nearby.  In 1945 the town became a municipality and in 2001 it became part of the metro.