During 1778, Governor Van Plettenberg visited many outposts in the Dutch Colony, on November 5th he arrived in Bahia Formosa (Beautiful Bay as named by early Portuguese Seafarers) and stayed overnight at the farm of Cornelius Botha in Piesang Valley . The following day he inspected the bay and erected the possessional slate stone indicating that the bay from then on would belong to the Dutch East India Company and no other power.
The beacon bears in or on its side the Dutch East India arms and an inscription when translated to English, reads, “This stone erected by Joachim Baron van Plettenberg of the Council of the Dutch East Indies and Governor of the Cape of Good Hope and adjoining territories in 1778” and from that day on the town has born his name – Plettenberg Bay
