General Notes

Clairvaux House in Clairvaux Road, Kalk Bay belonged to Gerhardus. There were stables at the back of the house in a cobbled yard. He owned enough cows to supply all local needs and milk was delivered each day to the residents. Each day the cows went up the mountain to graze.

Water was always a pressing need and troughs containing water for the cows were placed on the
mountain between the waterfall and the beginning of [what was afterwards] Boyes Drive. Gerhardus owned the rights to fresh water from the stream. He served on the committee of Kalk Bay Public School for thirty years and at one time even kept the key to the school and the teacher had to call at his house for it. He had another key, one to open the tank on the mountain which supplied the railway with water for the steam engines.

Clairvaux House became a maternity home under Matron Gatenby but it closed down in 1946. Since then it has again been a private residence.

Fish Hoek Valley by Malcolm Cobern page 214

On 16th March 1827 Mr J.A. Hurter became the owner of land between the Silvermine stream and Kalk Bay Mountain. By 1900 ownership had passed to Mr G.C. van Blerk of Kalk Bay. Agricultural farming was established there in the1830’s and continued into 1900. The area was known as Klientuin (little garden). The cultivated section only occupied the eastern end of the valley where the residential area is to-day. The ground was naturally damp and any extra water could have been obtained from the river only a short distance away. The water from the springs, which was about a mile away, was too far for practical use. Mrs de Villiers then entered into a business deal with Mr van Blerk for the purchase of the water rights from the Klientuin springs.
1902-08-11 Gerhardus bought erf 89622, what is today known as Dalebrook Flats - at the pedestrian crossing as you leave Kalk Bay just after the Anglican Church, from Henry William Mills.