View from the East Heads Cafe

The name Knysna is found to be a Khoi word, but the true meaning of it is uncertain. It could mean "place of wood" or perhaps "fern leaves", but its most probable meaning may be "straight down" - a direct reference to the Knysna Heads. The very first visitors to the Eastern Head were the Khoi-San, probably arriving thousands of years ago. They lived on the Eastern Shores and cliffs of the Knysna Heads.
Knysna became an invaluable harbour and an important source of timber for building ships and wagons from the mid- 1700's onward. Since its discovery it has been a famous landmark. In 1804 George Rex sailed through the Knysna Heads and soon became a prominent business figure in the area. George Rex owned the estate known as Melkhoutkraal next to the lagoon and he also was the founder of Knysna.
Today the East Heads Café is opposite the area where the Paquita (a German merchant ship of the 1800's) sank in 1903.