A fascinating social history of Haga Haga has been captured in a book which documents the stories of most of the cottages in the coastal village.
Entitled Haga Haga: The Jewel of the East Coast, the 470-page book, which is at the printers, features photographs of more than 100 cottages and their histories which date back a century.
Co-author Mike Thompson, who lived there for 12 years with his wife Ann and remembers wonderful Christmases entertaining an extended family at his seaside home, said the five-year project had been a labour of love.
Thompson, 82, also wrote Traders and Trading Stations of the Central and Southern Transkei – a thick tome now in its fourth edition – after he spent his younger years as a smous of brooms and brushes and other goods in the area.
“Although we live in Lily Kirchmann home now, Haga Haga residents Peter and Betty-Lou Brown approached me to do this book because they knew I had written about the traders,” he said.
While Peter Brown snapped photos of every dwelling, Thompson asked property owners to send their contributions about the history of their cottages to him.
“About 90% of cottage owners responded and their stories were fascinating, with some going back to the early 1900s.”
Thompson said farmers living in inland settlements like Stutterheim and Cathcart would bring their livestock to graze at Haga Haga in the winter months.
“It took two or three days to get there and they would outspan their wagons overnight and when they got to Haga Haga they would sleep in their wagons or tents.”
Over the years, permanent residences began popping up and fourth and fifth generations still own the cottages – some live in them permanently, while others are holiday homes with charming names like Sea Belle, The Shack and Welcome Dover.
A scan through some of the sentimental stories offers glimpses of beachy family histories of zinc baths, dances in the village hall – now a museum – morning sea swims, jars filled with collected fireflies and grazing cows which kept the grass trimmed.
“As teenagers we always brought our wind-up gramophone and records to the cottage,” wrote Carmen Willows, whose grandfather erected a wood and iron cottage imported from England after the Anglo-Boer War.
The book includes a history of the Haga Haga Hotel penned by current owner Neil Chemaly.
“The book costs R885 due to all the colour pictures and I already have 120 orders.”
lHaga Haga: Jewel of the East Coast can be ordered by e-mailing Thompson at mathaga@tlantic.net. — barbarah@dispatch.co.za
Lavish history of Haga Haga
Entitled Haga Haga: The Jewel of the East Coast, the 470-page book, which is at the printers, features photographs of more than 100 cottages and their histories which date back a century.
Co-author Mike Thompson, who lived there for 12 years with his wife Ann and remembers wonderful Christmases entertaining an extended family at his seaside home, said the five-year project had been a labour of love.
Thompson, 82, also wrote Traders and Trading Stations of the Central and Southern Transkei – a thick tome now in its fourth edition – after he spent his younger years as a smous of brooms and brushes and other goods in the area.
“Although we live in Lily Kirchmann home now, Haga Haga residents Peter and Betty-Lou Brown approached me to do this book because they knew I had written about the traders,” he said.
While Peter Brown snapped photos of every dwelling, Thompson asked property owners to send their contributions about the history of their cottages to him.
“About 90% of cottage owners responded and their stories were fascinating, with some going back to the early 1900s.”
Thompson said farmers living in inland settlements like Stutterheim and Cathcart would bring their livestock to graze at Haga Haga in the winter months.
“It took two or three days to get there and they would outspan their wagons overnight and when they got to Haga Haga they would sleep in their wagons or tents.”
Over the years, permanent residences began popping up and fourth and fifth generations still own the cottages – some live in them permanently, while others are holiday homes with charming names like Sea Belle, The Shack and Welcome Dover.
A scan through some of the sentimental stories offers glimpses of beachy family histories of zinc baths, dances in the village hall – now a museum – morning sea swims, jars filled with collected fireflies and grazing cows which kept the grass trimmed.
“As teenagers we always brought our wind-up gramophone and records to the cottage,” wrote Carmen Willows, whose grandfather erected a wood and iron cottage imported from England after the Anglo-Boer War.
The book includes a history of the Haga Haga Hotel penned by current owner Neil Chemaly.
“The book costs R885 due to all the colour pictures and I already have 120 orders.”
lHaga Haga: Jewel of the East Coast can be ordered by e-mailing Thompson at mathaga@tlantic.net. — barbarah@dispatch.co.za
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