In this house dating to 1850 are: several rooms of Victorian furniture and memorabilia; the refurbished Meridian Room (which shows that Grahamstown is 14 minutes behind South African standard time, because standard time is set in Durban); and the wonderful camera obscura. Sadly, the latter two attractions were closed at the time of writing, but will hopefully reopen.
Built in 1882, and the only one of its kind in the world outside of the UK, the camera obscura is a series of lenses that reflects a perfect panoramic image of Grahamstown onto a flat, white disc in a tower in the roof. It was built as a communication tool – people climbing up to the roof could see, for example, where the doctor was.
