Port Alfred

Port Alfred is a popular seaside South African holidays resort on the banks of the Kowie River, with its trademark arched bridge, and is affectionately referred to by residents as The Kowie. With its expanses of sandy beach and the river – navigable by small craft for 25 km – water-sport enthusiasts are attracted by the marina and excellent opportunities for swimming, angling, water-skiing, surfing and scuba diving. The town developed on the eastern bank of the river around the harbour established in the 1820s to provide a port for the 1820 Settlers.

It was originally named Port Frances, after the daughter-in-law of Lord Charles Somerset. A treacherous sandbank at the river mouth, however, hampered the development of the port, and contributed to its closure towards the end of the 1800s. The town was renamed after Prince Alfred, the second son of Queen Victoria, when he visited the Eastern Cape in 1867. Among the town’s many historic reminders are the original sneezewood bollard where ships tied up, the old mill on the western bank of the river, the drift where the 1820 Settlers crossed the Kowie River and the Methodist Church, built in 1823.

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