Klein Visch Hoek

A 1966 newspaper article, supplied by Belinda Burchell-Batt from the Cape of Diab’s archives, gives a glimpse into the history of the old house opposite Harbour Bay Mall on Makriel Beach.

According to the article, the house is called Klein Visch Hoek, but most locals call it Van Breda's as the Van Breda family lived and fished there for more than half a century.

Kanna van Breda was a former Simon’s Town mayor.

The article says it is one of two old Cape Dutch houses at Simon’s Town mentioned in C de Bosdari's book Cape Dutch Houses and Farms: “It is a simple thatched and gabled house, in the shape of an L, an unusual shape, perhaps due to its position exposed to the south-easters.”

Mr Van Breda left Klein Visch Hoek in 1958. His father bought the house, with the foreshore fishing rights, in 1896 from the widow Jacoba Bruyns.

In the article, Mr Van Breda reminisced about the days when his father ran the fishery, and harders were salted down in huge oak pickle tubs and transported into the Boland to be bartered for a variety of necessities.