30/09/2026
🕰️🌊 LOCAL HISTORY | JEFFREYS BAY THROUGH THE YEARS
From fishing village to the J-Bay known today
📅 30 September 2026
Source: Jeffreys Bay Genealogy Interest Group, History of Jeffreys Bay by Bert Behrens
📸 Historic photos: Bert Behrens
Long before Jeffreys Bay became internationally known for surfing, holidays and its famous coastline, the area had already been shaped by generations of fishermen, farmers, traders and families whose names remain part of the town today.
The history of the wider coastline stretches back centuries. Portuguese navigator Bartolomeu Dias sailed along this coast in the late 1400s, while the St Francis Bay name can be traced to early Portuguese charting of the region. Over time, farms were established around the Kabeljous, Gamtoos and surrounding areas, laying some of the foundations for later settlement.
🏡 THE BEGINNING OF JEFFREYS BAY
One of the most important dates in the town’s story came on 21 January 1852, when 40 coastal erven on the farm Klein Zeekoe Rivier were offered for sale.
Joseph Avent Jeffery, after whom Jeffreys Bay was named, bought the first four erven, numbers 1, 2, 9 and 10, for just £79.
He built a double-storey home on erf 10, which later became known as The White House, one of the best-known buildings associated with early Jeffreys Bay.
But there was already a fishing community living along the coast. The settlement known as The Fishery was closely tied to the sea, with generations depending on fishing for food and income. That relationship with the ocean would remain central to the identity of Jeffreys Bay for decades.
⚓ FAMILIAR NAMES WITH OLD ROOTS
Another early resident was trader, innkeeper and artisan George Pell, who arrived in the area during the 1860s.
The name Pellsrus is linked to Pell and his family, who were buried in the area. The historic Fisherman’s Graveyard in Pellsrus remains closely connected to the story of Jeffreys Bay’s early fishing community.
In 1896, 100 plots were surveyed in Ferreirastown, a settlement that was later incorporated into Jeffreys Bay in 1942.
Then, in 1902, Charles Papenfus built the Beach Hotel in Ferreirastown. Over the years the property changed significantly, with much of the original hotel eventually disappearing as the area developed.
The Jeffreys Bay Hotel, later known as the Savoy Hotel, was built in 1906 and became another familiar landmark in the growing village.
☎️ A TOWN SLOWLY CONNECTING
The early 1900s brought gradual signs of modernisation.
The first telephone service between Jeffreys Bay and Humansdorp came into operation in 1912.
Jeffreys Bay Primary School opened in 1919, initially with a very small number of pupils, while the town itself continued to expand slowly through the following decades.
Electricity only arrived in Jeffreys Bay on 7 May 1960.
By then, however, another enormous change was beginning.
🏄 SURFERS DISCOVER J-BAY
During the 1960s, surfers began arriving and word spread about the quality of the waves along the Jeffreys Bay coastline.
Names such as Point, Supertubes and Kitchen Windows became increasingly familiar, and Jeffreys Bay’s reputation began spreading far beyond the Eastern Cape.
What had long been primarily a fishing and holiday village was steadily developing another identity, one that would eventually make J-Bay one of the best-known surfing destinations in the world.
🏘️ WAVECREST CHANGES THE LANDSCAPE
Another major development came in 1973, when Trust Bank began developing the new suburb of Wavecrest.
What residents now know as a large residential area had once formed part of Noorsekloof farm, associated with the Ferreira family.
Roads and infrastructure were laid out, plots were sold and building began. By the 1980s, rapid residential development had dramatically changed the appearance and size of Jeffreys Bay.
🦑 THE ERA OF “WHITE GOLD”
The sea continued to drive the local economy.
During the 1980s, the squid, or chokka, industry expanded dramatically. Export markets opened, particularly in Europe, creating employment and bringing valuable foreign income into the region.
The industry became so significant that squid was often referred to locally as “white gold.”
Jeffreys Bay had travelled a remarkable road from a small coastal settlement and fishing community to a growing town with tourism, surfing, fishing and development all shaping its character.
Today, names such as Kabeljous, Pellsrus, Noorsekloof, Wavecrest and Ferreirastown are part of everyday life.
Behind each of them, however, is a piece of the story of the people and places that helped build Jeffreys Bay.
📖 For those interested in exploring much more of the history, including the original historic photographs and further stories, the full Jeffreys Bay Genealogy Interest Group article can be viewed here:
https://ggjbay.blogspot.com/2018/02/history-of-jeffreys-bay_18.html?m=1
📸 Historic photographs featured in the original article: Bert Behrens
