The route over Botha's Hill from Botha's
Halfway House and down past Potgieter's
farm was tortuous. A cutting had to
be excavated up the eastern side of
Botha's Hill and then again down the
western side. In 1855, on the western
edge of Potgieter's farm, E.B. Clough
established Clough's Half-Way House,
described by one patron as "one
of the best along the road". In
this shallow valley next to Alverstone,
it was renamed "Clough's Royal
Hotel" after Prince Alfred, Queen
Victoria's second son, visited it. The
inn-keeper was Thomas Arnold and the
place became a popular stage-coach stop-off
on the trip to and from Pietermaritzburg.
By 1884, after the railway went through,
the inn had closed down but part of
it still stands today in the cane-fields.
Many people had doubted that a railway
could ever be built through the rugged
terrain from Durban to Pietermaritzburg
but, in September 1878, it had reached
Pinetown and just 7 months later,
Botha's Hill. Rains held up construction,
embankments collapsed, and manual
labour and blasting preceded the laying
of the line, " … but otherwise
the whole project was proceeding extremely
well." (Bulpin) The Botha's Hill
station stands today as it was 120
years ago. The Botha's Hill Hotel
was built in 1884 on the hill near
the station and provided meals and
overnight accommodation for travelers
on the road or by train.
|
