History

During the 1920s the Marine with its ballroom became extremely popular and many wealthy and famous people stayed there for  holidays.

Swallow arrived in Hermanus as a young teacher in the early1890s.  Until 1912 she spent her days in the old Dutch Reformed school and lived at the Sanatorium.

Hugo Naudé was South Africa's pioneer impressionist painter.

“Every town or village name has an origin. For many years a variety or stories were told about the name of Hermanus and the man Hermanus Pieters.

The Old Harbour Open-Air Museum is a provincial heritage site. It is unique in that apparently it is one of only two fishing harbours in the world that has been conserved in tact.

The Windsor Hotel in Hermanus was built as the Sanatorium in 1896 has a long and proud history of 118 years. 

As long ago as 1855 the old Harbour provided a rocky but safe shelter for the small fishing boats whose owners were drawn to Hermanus by the abundance and variety of fish.