Almero Hitge and the teachers over the Swartberg
A fourteen-year-old drives three schoolteachers over Bain's new Swartberg Pass in a mule cart and comes home by moonlight.
In 1892, Almero Jacobus Hitge Oosthuizen (Frans's great-grandfather), aged 14, drove three lady teachers from the Prince Albert school over the Swartberg Pass to Oudtshoorn in a mule cart. During the school term he boarded with Dominee Adriaan Hofmeyr at the parsonage. He took the "Die Top" zig-zags down at dusk to reach Droewaterval before nightfall, and came home by moonlight.
He later told his son: "Oh no, I wasn't frightened, you know the road is fairly straight from there. But I'll tell you what bothered me, son, it was the shrieking and screaming of those silly teachers. It was loud enough to wake the dead!"
Source: The Story Weaver, Karoo Tales (storyweaver.co.za).
What this story is about
- about Almero Jacobus Hitge Oosthuizen
- set on Drooge Kloof
Research notes
legacy id S001
[13 Aug 2026] VOICE PASS. en 0/1/0 -> 0/0/0, af 0/1/0 -> 0/0/0. The only fault was a BOLDED LINK: Almero Jacobus Hitge OosthuizenL carried both bold and a person link, and STORY-VOICE.md says a linked name already carries its own visual weight. Bold removed in both languages; the link, the Swartberg Pass emphasis and every word of the prose are unchanged.
The research behind this page, kept separate from it: dated working notes, open questions, and what is not yet settled.