300 Years: 2038

A big YES for the Valley of Grace

Your invitation to a community-led 300th anniversary celebration in 2038

01
Our Heritage

In 1738, Georg Schmidt arrived at the foot of the Riviersonderend mountains and established what became Genadendal, the oldest mission station in southern Africa, established.

In 1854, Herbert Vigne subdivided his farm, Weltevreden, into a freehold agricultural village, named after the then-Governor of the Cape, Sir George Grey.

A colourful history unfolded that enriched some and not others.

An inspiring vision has recently emerged from the lessons learned over three centuries.

Main Road, Greyton, DRC Hall on right

By our 300th anniversary, there will be a six-month waiting list of visitors excited to see our valley's transformation, and in so doing transform themselves and our local economy.

Greyton Hotel and Central Bar complex

02
Who’s this for?

Anyone who lives, works, farms, teaches, worships, or trades in Ward 2: Genadendal, Greyton, Boschmanskloof, Bereaville, Voorstekraal, and the surrounding farms.

Ancestry, language, and history over three centuries has created a Long List of No’s in our valley.

Now, a group of us want to create a Big Yes, and we’d like you to join, with potential support from the WC Tourism Growth Fund.

03
What’s being proposed?

A business-led revitalisation strategy that showcases the valley as an internationally recognised symbol of abundant living for all. The overall sense a visitor to the valley experiences is one of “Welcome Home.” The strategy consists of three streams that come together in a single story:

Heritage: The Khoi and San traditions, the mission and teachers’ training college, pre- and post-apartheid era developments, and the emerging field of potentialities. This is a retelling of the entire history of the valley, warts and all, in a way that inspires others to replicate what they experience when they go home.
Food Sovereignty: An inspiring story of small producers, food forests, indigenous crops, honey, herbs, wine, farm-to-table and physical and spiritual destinations of renewal, all developing and contributing to a brand with immense international appeal. The valley's tourism and agriculture SMMEs, many of them women-owned and youth-led, are the primary beneficiaries of this stream.
Reconnection: Through fynbos walks, trails, and citizen science games and programs, the valley reminds visitors that Nature and Humans have always been connected. The entire experience is grounded in the CapeNature Protected Area Management Plan (PAMP) 2021–2031 for the Riviersonderend Mountain Catchment Area. The program includes expanded trail infrastructure (wayfinding signage, interpretation panels, and trailhead facilities) within the entire Riviersonderend Mountain Catchment Area.

Drawing by Samuel Daniell, sourced from Expedition Subsahara.

Map showing the Riviersonderend Mountain Catchment Area from WWF SA.

The strategy is designed as a co-funded initiative. Community contributions include volunteer labour, donated expertise, existing stakeholder infrastructure, and in-kind contributions from the Moravian Church, CapeNature, Rotary, Globeleq, and participating producers. Corporate co-funding is being developed through a separate engagement strategy targeting nature-finance and ESG-aligned businesses.

04
Why the PAMP?

The Protected Area Management Plan sets boundaries we all agree on. Any community plan that can’t agree on boundaries has failed in the past and will fail in future. The PAMP has established legal standing and the international recognition of the Cape Floral Region World Heritage listing. This is our starting point.

05
A global research opportunity

There is a widely cited sociological model of how human societies evolve called TIMN: Tribes, Institutions, Markets, Networks. This valley is the only place on earth where a recorded history of the struggles during each phase in this arc of progression are made tangible:

Tribes - Pre-1737: a living Khoi and San presence, recorded in our sacred sites and rock art, upheld by living legacies
Institutions - 1738-1838: a one-hundred-year institutional record driven by the Moravian mission into southern hemisphere interiors
Market Growth - 1806-1956: a 150-year record of a thriving market town developed on principles of contributionism, followed by
Market Decline - 1958-today: an 80-year+ exploitative economy that has created all the social ills of financial poverty, and
Networks - 2028 and beyond: a place-based, wisdom-centred, prosocial way of people coming together in harmony, aligned with other nodes emerging globally.

A book that explores the nature of contemporary heritage research involving university and community partners. Available here.

The Research

We’re proposing that the Genadendal Museum and Greyton Conservation Society are backed by a research program to document

this progression in a new way.

The research opens up a sacred and heritage tourism opportunity unlike anything we’ve previously considered. This makes the valley a globally unique heritage tourism destination: the recorded arc of human social development, visible in a single place, grounded in physical sites, archives, and living communities. The Genadendal Museum and GCS, backed by a structured research program, becomes the anchor institution for a heritage tourism offering without precedent in the Western Cape.

What's next?

The past few decades have seen strife, trauma, and tensions in the valley. Every settlement in Ward 2 also has people ready to transcend the past and work on a Big Yes for the decade ahead.

Get involved. Talk to your neighbours. Bring what you know to the open meetings that will follow. Six supporting documents describe how each part fits together into a cohesive strategy. But none of it can happen without you.

See a bright future for Ward 2? Let's build it together.

Creating

abundance for all in the Valley of Grace together.

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Ward 2 Business Forum

W2BF represents for-profit and non-profit entities in Genadendal, Greyton, Bereaville, Voorstekraal, Boschmanskloof, Heuwelkroon, and Madiba Park. These settlements make up Ward 2, Theewaterskloof Municipality, Western Cape.

We proudly welcome visitors into our home, and our brand: The Valley of Grace, where garden-centered slow living meets documented community transformation, in a UNESCO-recognized biodiversity hotspot, governed by the people who live there.