The museum at Hopefield town.

We had a list of things that we wanted to see in Hopefield. First on my list was the museum and first on my wife's list was the home of the honey farm called Simply Bee. So, we visited both on the same day.
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In order not to make the post too long, I will post the museum here and then do the Simply Bee farm in another post.

So many relics from the 1800-1900's on show, all neatly kept as you will see in the photos. This is not a big museum, as it is housed in a small section of a building, but it holds great memories. Of course, the last section of this post is of the fossil museum where I took a heap of photos, but due to the bad lighting I had to delete most of them.
I am sure that you will like the few remaining photos of the fossils.
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Look at this beauty. It is an old pedal operated organ, and on the farm in my young days we had a smaller one that my mom played. We called those two pedals the clutch at the left and the petrol pedal at the right :)
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Some of us might remember the old telephone switchboards, and the operators liked to listen in on some of the discussions so that they could have great news to share with their friends.
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The museum keeper told us that this was a nurse making an emergency call on the hospital switchboard :)
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This was a memory of a limousine that they travelled in across the country. It had a 6-Ox-power engine :)
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The caption reads; "The building of a nation", and those in the picture are of everyone who started things off in South Africa.
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All went well until gold was discovered on the Witwatersrand, then England decided to declare South Africa as a British union. Of course, the Boers in South Africa declared the Anglo-Boer war against England.
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For some reason this photo below of the early years kept me captivated. Particularly that guy at the bottom left with his pipe, as he has a very expression-filled face.
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And now we turn to the Fossil section in the museum.

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I sat and looked at this oil painting for a while and it is amazing how the sights inside the museum can transport one's thoughts to the world of long ago.
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I only have a WikiPedia Link to show you who the artist of this painting, Tinus de Jong, was but if you Google the name, you will see why he was such a famous artist.

Okay, so this was the museum and we were happy with the visit. Thankfully it was mid-week and we were the only two people in there.
In my next post of Hopefield, you will see Simply Bee
Of course, I also have some other posts of areas outside of the town, places such as Plaasmol and Koperfontein. So, I hope that you will wait for it, as I think that you will also like what you see.

Until then, I hope that you have enjoyed the pictures in this one.

Photos by Zac Smith-All Rights Reserved.

Camera: Canon Powershot SX70HS Bridge camera.

Thank you kindly for supporting this post.



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8 comments
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So much history behind this museum. You did well with the photos, they are beautiful. Looking forward to the simply bee post

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Oh yes, South Africa certainly has an interesting history. It seems that some other ladies are also interested in the Simply Bee post and I will do it soon. Maybe on Monday.
!WINEX

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That's a whole lot of history there! I can just imagine being a switchboard operator would have been the best job for a nosey parker, I'm sure people had to be careful what they discussed on the telephone back then;)
A real nostalgic look at yesteryear there!

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Thank you Lady Lizzie and Hopefield is known as a historical town. It's the oldest town on the West Coast and it's like yesterday when one visits the town. So many memories.
There was an Afrikaans soapie called "Nommer Asseblief" with many laughs in it.
We had a very old phone on the farm and one had to kickstart it by lifting the receiver and turning a small handle handle. Then the switchboard lady will answer and say, Nommer Asseblief. Once you gave her the number of a family member, or a friend, she will plug the number into the switchboard and put you through.

I watched the adults operating the phone as kids were not allowed to touch the it !LOL

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Thank you for sharing these fascinating glimpses into Hopefield's history through its museum!

The pedal-operated organ and old telephone switchboards are delightful relics that offer a unique window into the past.

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Thank you and always a pleasure to share my passions. History was one of my strong subjects at school a 100 years ago (it feels like it) and to this day I like to dabble in it.
In fact, I bought an old book today at a charity shop, about Germany's history in the 1800s. How's this for a nice picture?

The book is filled with beautiful paintings, and it cost me $1.56

As I said, I know both the organ and the old switchboards, as I was around in the years that they were in operation.

Glad that you liked the glimpses and thank you again.

!BEER

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