Michell’s Pass Old Tollhouse
𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗹’𝘀 𝗣𝗮𝘀𝘀 𝗢𝗹𝗱 𝗧𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲
Tucked beneath ancient oak trees on Michell’s Pass near Ceres stands the Old Tollhouse, a quiet witness to nearly two centuries of history, travellers, and ghostly whispers.
By the late 1700s, colonists used a steep and hazardous wagon track known as the Old Kloof Road to cross the mountain. Increased farming output from the Ceres area in the early 1800s created a need for a safer transport route.
Construction of the new road began in 1846 under Charles Collier Michell, the Surveyor-General of the Cape Colony. It was completed in 1848 using convict labour and was named Michell’s Pass after him.
Andrew Geddes Bain did not build Michell’s Pass; he later made road improvements in the region and constructed Bains Kloof Pass nearby (completed in 1853). Michell’s Pass remained a key transport route until the Michell’s Railway Tunnel opened in 1876, forming part of the railway line between Worcester and Ceres.
The Tollhouse to fund road maintenance. was built shortly after the completion of Michell’s Pass in 1848. From 1 January 1849, tolls were collected here on every wagon, cart, and animal that passed through. The rates were precise: three pence per wheel of a four-wheeled vehicle, one penny per pack animal, and a halfpenny for each sheep, goat, or pig.
The pass significantly improved access to the interior and supported trade in wheat, fruit, and livestock from the Ceres area.
When diamonds were discovered in the north, Michell’s Pass became the main route from the Cape to the Diamond Fields. Wagons rattled through day and night, carrying fortune-seekers and goods from Ceres Station, now Wolseley, across the mountains. The pass, named after Cape surveyor-general Charles Michell, featured the Grey Bridge, a 12-metre stone span across the Breede River, later replaced by the Witbrug after floods destroyed the original.
Before Bain’s pass, Jan Mostert had built the first route to Ceres in 1765, the rough and narrow Mostertshoek Pass. Michell’s Pass changed everything, making the journey easier and connecting Ceres to Tulbagh, Worcester, and the Breede River Valley.
The Old Tollhouse remained in use for nearly a century until a modern concrete road opened on 31 March 1946. Parts of Bain’s stone retaining walls still line the pass today, reminders of his craftsmanship and vision.
But not all of the Michell’s Pass Old Tollhouse stories are about engineering. Local folklore says the Old Toll House on Michell’s Pass is haunted. Over the years, it has had many residents, and some say one who never left. Staff at the bistro that once operated there in 2009 spoke of a gentle presence they called Nellie, a young Victorian woman seen drifting through the rooms and along the veranda.
. Another story tells of a toll keeper who once lived there with his wife in the 1800s. Legend has it that the wife died under mysterious circumstances and was buried nearby. Soon after her death, travellers began reporting strange happenings around the toll house.
Many claimed to see a silent woman in old Cape colonial dress appear beside the road at night, vanishing moments later. Others spoke of unexplained knocks on the toll house door or footsteps heard inside when no one was there. The woman’s identity has never been proven, and no official record links a death to the building. Still, the tale endures in Ceres as one of its best-known ghost stories.
Now, the little cottage stands quietly, its whitewashed walls fading and timbers weathered. Though forgotten by most who rush past, it remains one of the oldest and most atmospheric landmarks on Michell’s Pass — a relic of Bain’s genius and a keeper of restless tales from South Africa’s early roadways.
Updated October 2025
