Herolds Bay is a beach resort on the Southern Cape coast. It is 6.4 km from George Airport and can be reached by the R404. The beach resort was initially part of the farm Brakfontein, then property of Dirk Lamprecht and later of Frans Gericke. The latter's descendants still have interests in the area. Although it was first known as Sandstrand, in 1823 it was named after the first vicar on George, Tobias Johannes Herold, a keen angler. At first it was mainly George and people from the immediate vicinity who camped here. Later they were followed by a small group from Oudtshoorn. Oompie Meyer and John Urban, both well-known residents of George, took on the task in 1904 of demarcating small plots of land for the vacationers' tents, wagons and canopies. Building materials were delivered on sleds pulled by mules. The first holiday home was built in 1895 for Matilda Howitson from Blanco. This was the first step in the development of a formal holiday resort. Before 1928, there was only one house on the west side, Sandstrand Street. This is the house west of the church and built for the sisters and girls of the Convent School on George. The list of early visitors and home owners is a list of the names of all the notables of the time in the immediate vicinity. The first permanent resident was one Thompson. He was a survivor of a shipwreck in 1920 and made his home in a beachside cave for eight years.
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