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HAARLEM
HISTORICAL
RESIDENTIAL / AGRICULTURAL COUNTRY STYLE TOWN
BRIEF SUMMARY - HISTORY OF HAARLEM
(Compiled from various sources by Gary Olivier)
Haarlem is situated in the Langkloof with the Groot River to the
north and the Tsitsikamma mountains to the south. Located in the
Klein Karoo on the well known Route 62 one hundred and twenty
kilometres from George and eighty km from Knysna and Plettenberg Bay
it is a popular area. The town "Haarlem"
is believed to have been laid out as it is today by Heyns and Traut
in about 1850 for Colonial settlers. In
1860 the farm "Welgelegen" which included "Haarlem" was purchased by
the Berlin Missionary Society and named "Anhalt-Schmidt" after its
donor in Germany and established as a mission station for the local
"coloured" population and any settlers who came after (these
included settlers of German, Irish, and Scottish and Jewish
descent). The Lutheran church, designed
by missionary H Howe and construction supervised by Anhalt's farm
manager H C Markotter, was built and fully financed by Haarlem's
community with no outstanding debt and completed in 1880. (H C
Markotter was the father of "Mark Markotter" of South African rugby
fame ).
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