Het Posthuys on Muizenberg’s main road, is one of the oldest structures on the False Bay coastline, according to the Muizenberg Heritage Society, which oversees its upkeep.
Built by the Dutch East India Company in the late 1600s, it offers views of the ocean and the distant Hottentots Holland Mountains.
The society, formerly known as the Muizenberg Historical Conservation Society, recently made several changes to the neglected building, said Tony Rozemeyer, curator of both the Rhodes Cottage Museum and Het Posthuys.
He added that it had now become “a place to visit” alongside the Rhodes Cottage Museum, the two active buildings on Muizenberg’s historical mile.
“Its thick walls, thatched roof, and open-plan veranda guarded by three cannons may not immediately seem impressive, but once you step onto the cobbled stoep, through a single front stable door, you immediately experience a shift in atmosphere,” said Mr Rozemeyer.
He said that the quaint front room, known as the voorkamer, is reminiscent of 17th-century Dutch Colonial style and “cocoons” visitors in a 350-year-old historical bubble, transporting them into the past.
Once inside, visitors can turn around for a view of the ocean and the active cannon towering over the front steps.
Two rooms lead off the voorkamer. The south room is the Posthuys’s 1795 war room, where information on the Battle of Muizenberg is displayed, complete with a diorama of the battle site and several cannonballs.
The north room contains information on the Khoi, Jan van Riebeeck, the Dutch East India Company, and the history of Het Posthuys, which means “post house” in Dutch.
Photographs of old Muizenberg are also on display at the museum.
Het Posthuys is open on Fridays and Saturdays. Entry to it and the Rhodes Cottage Museum is free, but there is a donations box at the door.
“We hope, in time, to create an amphitheatre on a grassy knoll behind the Posthuys, and any input to assist in planning or supporting this venture will be most welcome,“ Mr Rozemeyer said.
