History of Camps Bay Retreat – Where it all started
July 27, 2017
In 2014, the owner of Camps Bay Retreat decided to give the restaurant it’s own identity. After much deliberation, the name Von Kamptz was chosen. Here is some back ground where the name originated from:
Fredrik Ernst von Kamptz was a German sailor from Deven close to Mecklenburg, Germany. He was left behind in the Cape at the Dutch settlement that served as a refreshment station to enable sailors with illness or scurvy to regain their health.
As von Kamptz’s health returned, he wooed the widow of Johan Jan Lodewyk Wernich, owner of Ravensteyn on Roodekrantz, the first farmhouse in the area we now know as Camps Bay. Johan inherited the farm from his father who was granted the land by his father, Joachim Wernich, Burgermeester of Bismark. The wealthy, lonely widow with her six children was won over and von Kamptz was soon the proud owner of the estate. The area became known as “Die baai van von Kamptz”, which eventually evolved into “Camps Bay”.
Fredrik Ernst von Kamptz was a German sailor from Deven close to Mecklenburg, Germany. He was left behind in the Cape at the Dutch settlement that served as a refreshment station to enable sailors with illness or scurvy to regain their health.
As von Kamptz’s health returned, he wooed the widow of Johan Jan Lodewyk Wernich, owner of Ravensteyn on Roodekrantz, the first farmhouse in the area we now know as Camps Bay. Johan inherited the farm from his father who was granted the land by his father, Joachim Wernich, Burgermeester of Bismark. The wealthy, lonely widow with her six children was won over and von Kamptz was soon the proud owner of the estate. The area became known as “Die baai van von Kamptz”, which eventually evolved into “Camps Bay”.
