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Eastern Cape Cities and Towns 
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Stutterheim Information Guide
Stutterheim is situated at the foot of the eastern slopes of
the Kologha mountains, a spur of the Amatola range, in the area
of the East Cape Province which the British named "British
Kaffraria". Blessed by the abundant natural beauty of its surrounding
dams, hills, indigenous forests, farmland and forestry area's, Stutterheim
is quiet perfection for hikers, mountain bikers, fishermen, birders,
caravaners and campers. Being situated directly on the N6 to East
London makes for easy access to the town and its surroundings. Established
as a missionary station in 1837, the town has since grown to a community
of 30 000. In the last decade our town has received widespread recognition
for its achievements in community building, community development
and sound local government. The town's primary industries are the
surrounding farming and forestry area's and associated industries
such as sawmilling (Rance Timber). The last two decades have also
seen the development of a successful light manufacturing industry
(Newden Products) and recently the establishment of a growing tourist
industry for those interested in the outdoors. |
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In 1837 soldiers disbanded from the British German Legion which
had fought during the Sixth Frontier War (1835) settled on the forest-covered
slopes of the Kologha Mountains. They founded a town named after
their commander, General Richard von Stutterheim. Six kilometres
south of Stutterheim is a turn-of to the grave of Sandile, warrior
chief of the Gaikas, who was killed in June 1878 in the Ninth Frontier
War. North of Stutterheim is the Bethel Mission, built in 1865 on
the site of the first Berlin mission station in the eastern Cape.
It was founded in 1837 by the Reverend Jacob Ludwig Dohne of the
Berlin Missionary Society. The mission station was sacked in the
Seventh Frontier War, rebuilt by the Reverend Albert Kropf and again
burnt down in 1850. Kropf, who compiled the first Xhosa-English
dictionary and was chief translator for the Xhosa Bible, was a doughty
man, though, and started all over yet again. Some of the Germans
veterans of the Crimean War who settled in the eastern Cape in 1857
made their homes around Fort Dohne, which had been established near
the mission station. |

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