Boshof

Boshof is named after President Jacobus Nicolaas Boshoff (1808 - 1881) of the Orange Free State.

Attractions

Also see the neighbouring towns

There is an annual Boshof Game Festival.

Photo: courtesy of Wynand Theron

San rock paintings

San rock paintings can be viewed on the farms Rondefontein and Merriesfontein.

Chris van Niekerk Museum

The museum exhibits the cultural history of the town, with emphasis on Volkspele.

Boshof Nature Reserve

The Boshof Nature Reserve is managed by the Municipality, and contains antelope.

Anglo-Boer War Memorial

There is a memorial of the Anglo-Boer War. In the Boshof cemetry are several graves of several well-known figures.

In 1895 Georges Henri Anne-Marie Victor de Villebois-Mareuil (1847-1900) resigned as Colonel from the First Foreign Legion of the French Army. When he joined the Boer forces, they made him General of International Forces.

De Villebois-Mareuil became military advisor to the Free State forces. He lead a party of about 75 foreign volunteers, which consisted of French, German, Dutch and Americans, and 11 boers, to blow up a bridge on the Modder River (which is about 30Km south of Boshof), south of Boshof. On 5 April 1900 they encountered a British force of 750 men and 4 field-guns under leadership of Lord Methuen. During this Battle of Boshof, after about 3 hours of fighting, a cannon shell killed De Villebois-Mareuil.

The spot he is said to have been killed is on the farm Middelkuil, 10Km east from Boshof on the Bosvarkpad, where there is a memorial to him. He was originally buried in the town cemetry, but was later reburied at Magersfontein.

Lord Methuen, Paul Sanford Methuen, 3rd Baron Methuen (1845 - 1932), commander of the British Army 1st Division during the Anglo-Boer War.

The grave of Assistant Chief Commandant CCJ Badenhorst, who lead the Northwest Free State army, can be seen here.

Sergeant Patrick Campbell is also buried here. He was the ex-husband of the actress Beatrice Stella Tanner (stage name Patrick Campbell, 1865 - 1940), and lover of George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950). Several other graves of British soldiers are here.

Beatrice Stella Tanner (stage name Patrick Campbell, 1865 - 1940)	George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

Charles Gerhardus Marais, brother of Arikaans author Eugene Marais, is also to be seen.

Charles Marais, attorney at Boshof, and later Speaker of the Parliament.

Architecture

The Dutch Reformed Church was built in 1874, enlarged in 1913, and rennovated in 1954.

The gaol of Boshof is a stone building erected in 1891.

There is a Gunpowder House dating from the Anglo-Boer War.

Rooidakskool (i.e. Red Roof School): the school was established in 1907. When the school changed names, a museum was established by that name. Cultural exhibits from the school's history can be viewed in the museum. [Thanks to Wynand Theron for the info]

Volkspele - Afrikaans "folk dancing"

Most cultures have traditional dancing which originated centuries ago in the mists of history. Although Afrikaans people had social dancing, there was no Afrikaans folk dance.

In 1912 some South Africans visited Sweden and attended an evening of folk dancing. They realised they had no folk dancing. One of the South Africans was Samuel Henri Pellisier (born in Bethulie on 10 November 1887), who was a teacher at Boshof's Rooidak School.

On his return to South Africa, Pellisier adapted four Swedish dances and taught them to his pupils. The dances were first performed on 28 February 1914 (according to Wynand Theron) on the farm Vuisfontein, about 3Km from Boshof on the road to Hertzogville. Today there is a monument at this spot.

The 1914 picnic where Volkspele was first performed.
Photo: Wynand Theron

Samuel Pellisier and his wife in Volkspele dress.
Photos: Wynand Theron

This is probably the only folkdance in the world to have a founding date, indicating its artifical origin, which perfectly suited the ideologists of the time.

Photo by Hugo Lombaard

Thanks to Wynand Theron for supplying additional information and photos about Volkspele.

Birthplace of Sol Plaatje

Sol Plaatje was born on the farm Doornfontein, northwest of Boshof.

Sol Plaatje (9 Oktober 1876 - 19 June 1932)

He was a founding member of the South African Native National Congress (SANNC), which was later renamed as the ANC (African National Congress) when the organisation was founded in 1912 in Bloemfontein. He also served as its first Secretary General.

History

The location on which the town is located was bought in 1839 by a pioneer farmer, DS Fourie, from a Griqua, Dawid Danster. In 1855 the farm, by now called Van Wyksvlei, was sold to the Dutch Reformed Church under direction of the reverend Dr Andrew Murray, and the town was laid out in 1856. It was named after the new Free State president, JN Boshoff.

Jacobus Nicolaas Boshoff (1808 - 1881)

JN Boshoff was the second president of the Republic of the Free State from 1856 and resigned in 1858 as he was unhappy with the meeting procedures of the Volksraad (People's Council), but withdrew his resignation when several other members resigned.

On 29 September 1858 he signed the Treaty of Aliwal North with the Basotho people, which demarcated the borders between the Boers and Basotho. He resigned in 1859. Marthinus Wessel Pretorius ( 1819 - 1901) of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (or Transvaal) briefly served as President of the Free State, until Jan Hendrik Brand was appointed as the third President of the Free State.

Boshof became a municipality in 1872.

Economy

Cattle, sheep and maize farming.

Gypsum mine, diamond mining.

TOP