Interesting Jeppe History - A Historical Meeting in an Unlikely Place

The Treaty to end the Second Anglo Boer War was officially signed at Melrose House, Pretoria on 31 May 1902.  It was called the Treaty of Vereeniging (commonly referred to as the "Peace of Vereeniging".

It is believed that the initial talks that led to the Treaty of Vereeniging were held at the Friedenheim  homestead, not at the home of Sir Julius Jeppe (Friedenheim) but in the 'summerhouse'.

You won't believe this, the building still exists.  You have most probably walked past it a million times.

Below is a pic of the  'summerhouse', Friedenheim homestead, Jeppe High School for Boys

summerhouse

Lord Kitchener and the Boer leaders at the meeting that led to the end of the Second Anglo Boer War

I found the info for this post in the Publication:

Jeppe Schools & Quondam History 1890 - 2015

(The information about the Treaty of Vereeniging was from the National Archives, UK)

Remember this photo of the Friedenheim homestead?

Could the little house on the hill (right side of photo) be the  "summerhouse"?

The summerhouse is actually at the bottom left of the page, behind a little tree (thanks Mr Brodrick)

I wonder what the little house on the hill was?

Photo's taken inside the summerhouse

I strolled pas the summerhouse 2 days ago, it was open and I snapped the following photo's

of the ceiling and the antique light fitting

I found this old photograph of the summerhouse in the archive.  I don't know when the photo was taken but the yellow registration plate of the car (circa 1975 - 1994)

Other Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_South_Africa