Friends of Sammy Marks Museum

Beautiful Place - I loved the tour of the house museum its so unique , well kept and the guides are very knowledge. The gardens are well kept.Visited onWeekendWait timeNo waitReservation recommendedNo

We participated in the bird walk on the Sammy Marks museum terrain and it was a fantastic experience. Our very knowledgeable guide identified 60 different bird species during the walk. I was delighted by the wide variety veld flowers.

The amount of history in this house is incredible, the house is beautiful and very close to how it originally was. The tea garden is unfortunately very basic with few items on offer, and the garden has fallen from it's original glory, however still worth a see.

Very interesting to visit this Victorian museum. Guided tour. Tea garden on property as well offering light meals at an affordable price. I recently had my birthday there and they provide picnic baskets. You can choose to sit at tables under the trees or blankets on the grass. Lovely setting and ideal for families with children.

It was really interesting and the guide was wonderful, she told us such wonderful stories about the family and pointed out interesting things in the house. We weren't allowed in the room behind the billiard room but you could see from outside the beautiful stained glass windows.

Very insightful and the guides are brilliant on the tour throughout the house.

It's a great place for an adventure and seeing some South African history. The tour guides were so friendly and really made our experience wonderful! I just hope that they will soon start fixing things in the house to preserve the wonderfulness of this heritage site.

Sammy Marks arrived in South Africa with a case of silver knives as his only valuable possession, and became one of the first entrepreneurs, playing a significant role in mining, industrial and agricultural development in the country. Ninety eight percent of the household contents in Sammy Marks Museum originally belonged to the Marks family. Sammy Marks Museum is a Victorian mansion and heritage site on the farm Zwartkoppies east of Pretoria and treasures the legacy of Samuel Mark 1844-1920, a symbol of entrepreneurship in South Africa. The 48-room mansion with its lush gardens and tennis courts originally belonged to 19th century agricultural, industrial and mining tycoon Sammy Marks, who lived there with his wife Bertha and their nine children. This place is rich is culture, art and history. I got to learn about how Sammy Mark became an industrialist and also wealthy over the years. The life if his kids, where they slept, what the did et al. The tour guide relayed the story in a graphic way, I could picture myself in the house filled with the family walking through their lives, struggles,conversations etc. The highlight was the interior of the house, his furniture taste, maps, letters, the bedrooms, game rooms, the kitchen area, library etc. He lived an exemplary life and I left the house with great hope of venturing into other sectors. The museum is suitable for picnics, bird watching, a walk in the gardens, photoshoots, day dreaming amongst other things. I was privileged to take some pictures in his Victorian kitchen... Life is beautiful... Take a trip!!!

This was our third time visiting this museum and as always well worth it. The tour guides make the material their own and this results in an informative presentation each time. It is wonderful walk around on the grounds exploring and experiencing the old world charm.

I really enjoyed this visit - the Sammy Marks museum is the preserved house of industrialist Sammy Marks. I had no idea who he was but enjoyed it nonetheless. The tour guide was knowledgeable and friendly and the house was well preserved with lots of rooms to check out and gave you a good sense of how he lived. It was not quite cheap and a nice day out. The tour took about 2 hours all in all which was a nice length of time. The grounds are also pretty but unfortunately it was raining so we couldn't enjoy them that much. No photos permitted of the interior.