1. Home
2. Camps Bay History

History of Camps Bay

  This short concise 'History of Camps Bay' is brought to you by Villa Atlantica the owners of Camps Bay Accommodation, a luxury self catering villa and cottage apartment.

Experience a true holiday at Villa Atlantica in Camps Bay, a Camps Bay luxury accommodation which is Self Catering and B&B accommodation in Camps Bay and explore the history of one of the best holiday destinations in South Africa.

Camps Bay History
In 1652 Jan van Riebeeck arrived in what is called today Camps Bay. The Dutch East India Company sent him to establish a refreshment station for ships passing the Cape on their trade route to the East. Jan van Riebeeck explored the surrounding territory.
Behind the Kloof he discovered a bay with a beautiful beach and forest behind Table Mountain. The area behind Table Mountain was not used by the DEIC for a long time as it had few attractions for early farmers and it was dangerous for shipping.
The first residents of Camps Bay were the San and Khoi people. When the Dutch settlers arrived in Cape the Twelve Apostle Mountains were covered in forests, where lion, leopard and antelope roamed. The Khoi tribe lived on the slopes of the Twelve Apostles, but they were dying from measles and smallpox, and they were restricted to the Oudekraal area.  By 1700 the land behind the kloof was known as Roodekrantz or Red Bank because of the colour of the soil.
The land was granted to John Lodewyk Wernich, and then passed from father to son. Johan Wernich married Anna Koekemoer. When she was widowed in 1778, inheriting all the land in the area, she met a sailor called Frederik Ernst von Kamptz, who she married. The area then became known as "Die Baai van von Kamptz" after her husband.  This eventually was translated into English as Camps Bay, today famous for its wide choice of accommodation.

During the 19th century the Camps Bay area was mostly left undeveloped, serving as a hunting ground for Lord Charles Somerset, who was then the Governor of the Cape. He used the Roundhouse (another famous landmark) as his hunting lodge and holiday accommodation.  It was situated in the beautiful forested Glen area bordering Clifton.   Kloof Road between Sea Point and Camps Bay was built in 1848, and the coastal drive Victoria Road between the two suburbs was built by Thomas Bain. When it was completed in 1888, it was named ‘Victoria Drive’ in honour of Queen Victoria's jubilee.

Camps Bay beachfront became a popular as a picnic site and for its holiday accommodation, and a tram service between the city and Camps Bay was developed in 1901. Tidal pools were developed, the Rotunda (still part of the Bay Hotel) was used for dancing, roller skating, silent movie shows, boxing and other sporting events, and a concert pavilion were built. Camps Bay was incorporated into the city in 1913.
 
Modern History of Camps Bay     
Even with the new road and the hotel offering Camps Bay luxury accommodation, there were still very few residents to take advantage of the area once the carts containing groups of holiday makers and picnickers had vanished after the summer in Camps Bay. The only permanent resident was Captain William W. Glendinning who owned "a vast tract of land in Camps Bay on which were a house and outbuildings built by Somerset during his term of office and said to have been used as a hunting lodge accommodation, fully stocked with game brought from the country."
 
     
He thought his land had considerable potential for development and in 1855 decided to offer forty building lots in Camps bay for sale. He announced that he was selling because he intended to leave the colony but he was unable to sell and decided to build instead.
In 1859 Glendinning decided to advertise again. This time he announced he had found gold in Camps Bay!
There was a little excitement, but still did not appear to have stimulated prospective home owners or prospectors to buy his forty plots and it was to be another century before the "gold" in Camps Bay was to be exploited by merchants, restaurateurs and property agents.
Camps Bay was a popular picnic spot. Because the area was relatively uninhabited and the beach was large and secluded, a Victorian family could picnic and frolic there in seclusion and privacy. 
As accessibility to Cape Town was poor and very few people live there, Camps Bay remained undeveloped.
Eventually a syndicate was formed to buy up all the freehold land in Camps Bay. They wanted to construct roads into Camps Bay and put in a tramway to make Camps bay easy reach from the city. Once this was done they thought that home owners would flock to the newly opened suburb.
Camps Bay entered the Twentieth Century with a state of the art tourist attraction - a spectacular tram ride whose route gave enthralled visitors glimpses of unsurpassed views of mountain and sea.
By the late 1920s few houses had been sold and the syndicate involved in planning the suburb had gone insolvent. Isidore Cohen had the vision to see that Camps Bay could become more than just a summer place with tents and bungalows. He realized that the Cape Town, hemmed in by mountains and sea, had to develop outwards, particularly along the Atlantic Seaboard. Camps Bay was then a sandy waste, covered by bush and blasted by the South-East and North-West winds. But, it lay beneath the beautiful Twelve Apostles and was one of the loveliest spots in the Cape Peninsula.
Everything was done to make the township desirable, roads were put in place by the company and it was made very easy to acquire a house in the suburb, where everything would be done for you; including building, water and electricity. You would also not have to layout the money or pay a deposit, instead a monthly sum which would be considerably less than rent would be paid and in 10 - 15 years the house would be yours.
Conditions such as these to tempt prospective home owners, Cohens confidence in the suburb was fully justified and Camps Bay became the In Place. Roads zigzagged up the mountainsides, houses sprang up. People were living there, and not only for six weeks in summer. With the availability of motor transport and good roads, Cape Town was near and accessible, both for shopping and work. And after work there was the beautiful coastline fringed by Mr. Farquars palm trees where the family could go and relax.
When the home owners learnt that the council had granted approval for a seven storey block of flats, on the site of the Marine Hotel, the Camps Bay residents were up in arms.
With the possibility of Camps bay becoming like a Sea Point or Durban, the Ratepayers organised a meeting and the ratepayers turned out en masse. As a result of the meeting no homes or Camps Bay beachfront property may be developed over three storeys in Camps Bay.
After their victory a committee was set up and ensures that future developments will not spoil the natural beauty of the suburbs unique seafront.

You can explore the remains of the Camps Bay tram, the Roundhouse, and the beauty of the Twelve Apostle Mountains while staying at Villa Atlantica,a Camps Bay luxury accommodation offering you luxury guest house Camps Bay style b&b or self catering accommodation in Camps Bay, Cape Town. 

You are reading History of Camps Bay articles