Stormsvlei

Stormsvlei
Stormsvlei Church
Stormsvlei Stormsvlei
Coordinates: 34.083°S 20.097°E / -34.083; 20.097
Country	South Africa
Province	Western Cape
District	Overberg
Municipality	Swellendam
Population
• Total	987
Racial Makeup (2011)
• Coloured	64.7%
• White	18.1%
• Black African	16.8%
• Other	0.4%
First Languages (2011)
• Afrikaans	85.7%
• Xhosa	10.9%
• English	2.5%
• Other	0.8%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
PO box	7252

Stormsvlei is a town on the southern bank of the Riviersonderend, some 17 km south of Bonnievale and 50 km north of Bredasdorp. Of Afrikaans origin, the name means 'storm marsh'.

As of 2011 the town's population was 987 people living in 282 households.

History

By 1732, grazing rights were already granted here, but apparently they were not used. Fifty years later, in 1782, the farm known as Avontuur was awarded to Christiaan Andreas Storm and the town was named after him, hence the name 'Stormsvlei'.

In 1841 the farm came into the ownership of cousins Laurence and William Twentyman. They were good businessmen and developed here at the intersection of the route from the Cape to the eastern districts of the Cape Colony and of the route from the interior (via Kogmanskloof, Ashton and Bonnievale) to the sea at Agulhas a popular stopover.

In its prime, Stormsvlei had a hotel with a bar. There was a wagon maker and a blacksmith, stables, a mill and even a post office, a police station and a prison. Only the church still exists. The old mansion is now a guest house.