Cranberry Cottage

Area Info

It is accepted that through time the geographic position, size and number of continents on earth has changed as a result of a process known as continental drift. This process has been going on for at least 700 million years and still continues today. Evidence that prove that South Africa and South America were once joined is that fossils of the same Dinosaurs have been found in corresponding rock strata in both countries but nowhere else in the world. The Sandstone Mountains of the Eastern Free State were also formed by dust that blew in from modern-day Brazil. Two very important fossils that were found in Ladyband are the "Diarthrognatus" and the "Euskelosaurus". They are both complete skeletons that are to be seen in the National Museum in Bloemfontein.

Ladybrand lies in the fertile Caledon Valley that has been inhabited by man for ten's of thousands of years. Many Heritage sites in South Africa are dedicated to "The Cradle of Humankind" the origin of our human ancestors, belonging to the genus Homo. Though most people consider that Ladybrand's history dates back a little more than 136 years, Rose for at least 50,000 years. The middle Stone age levels of Rose Cottage Cave have produced several radiocarbon dates of greater than 50 000 years, and because of the restricted half-life of carbon, these dates obtained from charcoal samples are likely to be minimum estimates.

The Eastern Free State is part of Southern Africa's southeastern mountain complex - one of the world's premier Rock art regions. This region has many lives, the first humanized expression of which commenced with its occupation by hunter-gatherers, also known as "San" or "Bushmen". These Bushmen communities are the true "First People" of our country and left us a priceless legacy and a window into the past by producing thousands of rock paintings. Made from the earth, their paints penetrated into the walls of the sandstone rock shelters, transforming them from "spaces" into cultural "places". There are over 300 sites where San Rock Art occurs in the Ladybrand and Mantsopa municipal district, and the "Tandjiesberg" site is one of 12 national Heritage sites to Rock Art in South Africa.