Family will fight for historic hotel

the family of the man who built port alfred’s historic ferryman’s hotel more than 100 years ago say they will fight any attempt to bulldoze the place and build a blue-chip hotel on the prime riverside site.

adrienne whisson, the great- granddaughter of municipal ferryman john heinrich samuel, who built the original hotel on the kowie river bank in 1895, yesterday said the area was so steeped in settler history that a full archaeological dig would have to be done before the buildings could be flattened.

“i would encourage all the samuel family in the area to become involved in the opposition to flattening the place. it would be very sad if it was demolished.”

according to whisson, who recently published a book called the samuel family of port alfred, the hotel was built at the st mary’s well – one of the few sources of fresh water for passing seafarers.

in 1906, while extending his hotel, jh samuel stumbled on a buried metal box containing a statue that became known as the “kowie angel”. the find made international headlines and expert opinion was divided over whether it was a relic from an ancient portuguese seafaring slave trader or later british soldiers who used the wells.

“there could be other treasures on the site that would have to be properly unearthed, especially if the place was pulled down,” said whisson.

she was responding to a recent daily dispatch article quoting current owner johan klein’s intention to destroy the buildings and build a blue-chip development on the site.

klein said the area was in dire need of a blue-chip development and punted ideas like diverting the river to the hotel so visitors could “tie their boats to their door handles”.

although klein said the original buildings had been radically altered over the years, whisson and her emeritus professor husband, michael, say all the changes took place more than 65 years ago – still making them historically important. “the changes to the buildings are all within the historical time frame … the shape has not changed for more than 100 years,” professor whisson explained.

for centuries the site for many seafarers to stop and stock up on water – and in some earlier cases allegedly load up on khoi slaves – many have said it would be cheaper for klein to incorporate the façade of the buildings into any new development than to start afresh.

“it would be very hard to get consent to pull the place down … if it did happen, it could become very expensive doing a full archaeological dig before any building could commence,” said professor whisson.

although he admitted the provincial heritage resources agency appeared to be defunct, he said it was still “best to keep the place as it is”.

according to adrienne whisson, “many descendants” of jh samuel’s 15 children were still living in the town .

klein could not be reached for comment.

by david macgregor