On Sunday 16 November Muizenberg Heritage joined the Peck family in commemorating the 200th anniversary of the founding of Farmer Peck’s Inn, which was the first hospitality establishment in Muizenberg. The Inn was founded by brothers Simon and Henry Peck in 1825, in a cottage owned by the government next to what was then the military barracks but is now Muizenberg Park.

Chairman of Muizenberg Heritage, Brett McDougall stated that Simon Peck arrived in the Cape in 1819, and was joined by his brother Henry a year later. They were colourful characters, and court records show that they were convicted of selling liquor illegally a number of times before they received a liquor licence in 1828.

For more than 30 years, the Inn was the most renowned stop between Wynberg and Simon’s Town, and the brothers offered a relaxed and warm hospitality to guests. After the death of Henry Peck in 1857, the Inn was purchased by the Rathfelder family, who then sold it to hotelier William Cogill. Farmer Peck’s Inn was purchased by Isidore Hirsch in 1883, a year after the railway arrived in Muizenberg. He saw the potential of the establishment and set about making a number of improvements.

In 1902 the hotel was electrified, and renamed the Grand Hotel. The Grand Hotel operated under a number of owners into the 1960s, when a decline in visitors to Muizenberg and the stringent requirements of the hotel rating system resulted in its closure. The Cinnabar apartment block was later built on the site.

Few places celebrate a 200th anniversary, and fewer still have a connection to the present, so it was a privilege to have the descendants of Henry Peck join in the commemoration. Mr Shaheen Peck, a direct descendant of Henry Peck, stated that Henry Peck provided an upholstery service to visiting horse-drawn cabs, and that upholstery has remained a family craft to this day. He regaled those in attendance with stories of the Peck family.

The event ended with a placing of a bouquet of fynbos under the blue plaque marking the site of Farmer Peck’s Inn. The Inn may no longer exist, but the Peck family is still commemorated in Peck’s Valley and Peck’s Stream.