This building in 95 St. George Street, known today as the First Raadsaal Museum, is the oldest surviving building in Bloemfontein and has a very interesting history.

With its sturdy white walls, dung floor, small windows and thatched roof, it is the only example of the pioneer building style remaining in the Free State capital. It was erected in 1849 by the soldiers of the British Resident, Major H.D. Warden, only three years after the founding of Bloemfontein in 1846. This small, simple pioneer building was the cradle of the administration, education, and church in the area north of the Orange River in the early 19th century.

On display at Freshford House Museum is a small wooden cabinet
containing three crystal decanters, known as a Tantalus. Its defining
feature is that it has a lock and key to open and close the wooden
frame.

Since cigarettes and tobacco is a fiercely debated subject during the lockdown it is only fitting to highlight an item in our collection that relates to the tobacco industry.

Snuff, a preparation of powdered and processed tobacco, has been widely used in Africa since Europeans introduced tobacco in the 16th century. Whether smoked in a pipe or taken as snuff from a spoon, the consumption of tobacco became a social and spiritual act among African cultures.

A species of burrowing wolf spiders has been described from Iran. Lycosa aragogi was named after Aragog, the famous gigantic spider from the ‘Harry Potter’ book series by JK Rowling (see especially ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’).