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During our visit to the Herman Charles Bosman Living Museum last year, we spent some time viewing the original school house in Groot Marico where this famous South African poet and writer taught for 9 months. This is an exact replica of the original building which was literally carried, brick by brick, from its original position to the site of the museum.




This is a YouTube video of one of Herman Charles Bosman’s short stories called White Ant as told by David Muller in character as the narrator, Oom Schalk Lourens. Please note that David Muller’s narrations are of the stories as they were originally written and may contain colonial language that is no longer deemed appropriate.
Thanks for sharing this history with us Robbie!
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My pleasure, John. I enjoyed the museum and the river setting: Marico River.
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Very interesting post, Robbie! That basic schoolhouse and its doors/doorways have a certain charm. 🙂
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Hi Dave, they do and they remind me of Laura Ingalls Wilders Little House series of books. A great favourite of mine.
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Aren’t dutch doors cool? You don’t see too many places these days with them. This old school house is such an indication of the progress of educational systems around the world.
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HI Annette, this school house reminds me of the descriptions of rural school houses in the USA included in Laura Ingalls Wilders books. The teacher taught all age groups and schools closed over harvest and planting periods.
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Thank you Roberta for this interesting story about the writer Herman Charles Bosman, whom I didn’t know, and the schoolhouse where he taught for some months!😀
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HI Martina, Herman Charles Bosman had a sad life. You can read a bit more about him here if you are interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_Charles_Bosman
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Very kind of you and thanks a lot!🌺
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LOVE your photos and history, Robbie. Thank you for sharing!
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HI Gwen, thank you, I’m pleased to know that.
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Fun history. Cool old brick Schoolhouse.
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Thanks, Timothy.
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I enjoyed this, Robbie. I didn’t really know anything about Herman Charles Bosman, but this was interesting. I love the way they recreated the building.
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HI Dan, it is lovely that a literary museum and community has been built around this author and this building. It brings tourists to the town and the community benefits.
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Communities should celebrate the people that came from them. They are/were a part of that journey.
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I’ve never heard of this writer – colonial language indeed! I will have to learn more.
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HI Jan, I added that warning because these stories were set in the early 1900s and, as with Sir Rider Haggard’s books, the references are outdated. I don’t want people to listen to the stories and feel upset or offended. I just edit out anything untoward as I read. I enjoy learning more about life at the time in these rural settings. Charles Herman Bosman had a sad life and was incarcerated for murdering his half brother (It is now believed to have been an accident and thus man slaughter). He wrote a lot of his poems and stories while in jail.
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I greatly enjoyed the story, particularly the humor.
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Hi Liz, I am pleased to know that. I have always loved these stories and have a collector’s item volume (It is a door stopper) as well as his now out of print poetry collection.
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I just found his books on Internet Archive and bookmarked the page for future reference.
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Thank goodness for preservation.
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HI Jennie, yes, a lot of the preservation like this in South Africa is privately funded and I like to contribute by visiting and making a donation.
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That’s a wonderful thing to do.
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Always fun history, Robbie. thanks.
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My pleasure, Jacqui. I enjoyed seeing the school building I’d heard so much about.
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I really like the simplicity of the building. (K)
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Hi Kerfe, this is typical of the old brick buildings built in the early 1900s.
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It captures the essence of what is necessary without being boring–that is good design.
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Thank you for the introduction to Herman Charles Bosman. A very interesting video which provided insight into his time and writing. I learn something new every time I visit your place.
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HI REbecca, I am very happy to know that. Have a lovely weekend.
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The building looks so lonely now.
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I suppose it does. They do have school tours to this site, but we went during the school holidays.
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I had a couple of books from Bosman from the second-hand bookshop. I liked the story again.
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HI Chris, I am glad you also like Bosman. They are available from Amazon as ebooks too.
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Thanks for sharing these doors, Robbie. I’m not familiar with Bosman’s books, so a nice introduction to him, too! Also, I’ve always liked the type of doors that open from the top separately from the bottom. We had one of those in the house where I great up – it led to our porch and we had great fun using it as a puppet theater.
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Hi Barbara, those doors are called stable doors and are very common here in South Africa. We have one in our kitchen. It is very hot here so it is nice to have a door that opens at the top to get airflow.
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Definitely a good feature 🙂
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I enjoyed this history, Robbie, and love your doors and photos. Have a good weekend!
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Hi Lauren, I’m glad you enjoyed this post. It was a nice place to visit. I hope your weekend is also good.
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Schools have come a long way, Robbie, but even a bare-bones one-room school is a treasure. It’s amazing that it was moved brick by brick in order to preserve it. And I love those Dutch doors, which I rarely see anymore. The reading was skillfully done, though I see what you mean about the appropriateness of some of the colonial language. Thanks for the fascinating post.
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HI Diana, those stable doors are very common here in South Africa, even today. It is so hot here that being able to open the top of the door and let in air is a great thing. This school house is lovely and I’m glad they preserved it. These stories are a part of our history, the good and the bad.
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My mom was Dutch and we had a door like that in our house, but I rarely saw them. That breeze would be most welcome.
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Yes, the origin of these doors would be Dutch. The original South African buildings were all what they call Cape Dutch architecture.
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What an interesting voice and delightful telling. I can appreciate why they moved the schoolhouse brick by brick.
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Hi JoAnna, I am really glad they preserved the school house. I read all of Herman Charles Bosman’s stories when I was a young teen and it was great to see the school where he worked and set some of his stories.
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I can imagine how great that would be. The stories we read as young teens can have a strong impact.
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Yes, and I have always enjoyed history.
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It must have taken a lot of effort to move all those bricks to rebuild the school on a new site. I love Dutch doors!
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Thanks, Jacquie. I am sure it was a big effort, but I’m glad it was done.
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Very Interesting person. Lovely photos
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Thank you, Bella, I’m glad you enjoyed this post.
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Incredible amount of work to transport and rebuild this historic building. Thanks for sharing!
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