Simon van der Stel became Governor of the Cape in 1662 after Jan van Riebeeck.  In 1683 he received, as a reward for his services a 2454 hectare piece of land at the back of Table Mountain, which became known as Constantia.   On this piece of land, Simon van der Stel tested the quality of the land through the cultivation of Olive tree's, vegetables and Vines.  In the vicinity of Table View, the first vegetalbe farm was established, but unfortunately it's produce was not enough to supply the nation and the seamen.   The seamen started to develop nutritional deficiency's (scurvy), therefore van der Stel wanted to provide them with enough food and wine for their seafaring trips.  Wine did not spoil as quickly as water so he saw this as a good option.   Simon van der Stel's curiosity led him to the East, into wild territory.  He discovered the Eerste River in Summer 1679 and named the area 'van der Stel se Bosch'.  Soon people were attracted to this fertile area and in 1680 the first family settled in the area, with the agreement that no tobacco would be cultivated on the land.   Cultivation in the area was ideal because of the warm Summers and sufficient rain in Winter.   Large scale settlement took place and a group was formed to manage the community.  In 1685 Stellenbosch was grounded, and the first school and church was built in 1686.    Simon van der Stel began a project planting Oak tree's, and the mighty trees can still be seen today along the streets.   In 1695 he build a Cape Dutch House and in 1699 retired there. He died in 1712, passing his wealth over to his son.   His son needed to care for the Constantia Wine Farm and at first it made a profit, but after a few years it went down so badly that he had to sell the farm in 1716.  The Constantia Farm was huge, and was therefore broken up into smaller farms:     Groot Constantia Klein Constantia Constantia Uitsig Steenberg Buiteverwachtung   The new farm owners were not successful.  In 1778 Hendrik Cloete from the farm Nooitgedacht in Stellenbosch, took over Groot Constantia.  In 1792 wine from Groot Constantia became world renowned once again.   Hendrik Cloete died in 1799 and his oldest son (also Hendrik) became the new owner of the farm.  Eventually his wife Anna Catharina Scheller took over the farm with their son Jacob Pieter Cloete.    In 1823 he inherited the farm from his mother.  When he died in 1875, the South African Government took over the world renowned Wine Farm.   Constantia is easily reached from the highway, direction Kirstenbosch.