Lydenburg Attractions
Lydenburg lies on the western slopes of the Transvaal Drakensberg, at the foot of Long Tom Pass. This is an intensively cultivated agricultural area, with fields of maize, corn, soya and clover. The waters round Lydenburg are well stocked with fish (particularly trout), and there is a trout farm at Sterkspruit, 12km/7.5mi from the town.
Lydenburg, once briefly the capital of an independent Boer republic, still preserves some handsome buildings from its early days.
The town was founded in 1849 by Boers who had originally settled at Ohrigstad (45km/28mi north). After a devastating epidemic of malaria, in which many settlers died, they abandoned their first settlement and moved to this malaria-free site on the highveld, where they founded a new town named Lydenburg (''Town of Sorrow'') in memory of the dead.
Lydenburg is a quiet little town with numerous shops and other services catering for the population of the surrounding agricultural area. The Voortrekker School of 1851 in Church Street is the oldest schoolhouse in the Transvaal. The Dutch Reformed church dates from the same period.
Lydenburg, once briefly the capital of an independent Boer republic, still preserves some handsome buildings from its early days.
The town was founded in 1849 by Boers who had originally settled at Ohrigstad (45km/28mi north). After a devastating epidemic of malaria, in which many settlers died, they abandoned their first settlement and moved to this malaria-free site on the highveld, where they founded a new town named Lydenburg (''Town of Sorrow'') in memory of the dead.
Lydenburg is a quiet little town with numerous shops and other services catering for the population of the surrounding agricultural area. The Voortrekker School of 1851 in Church Street is the oldest schoolhouse in the Transvaal. The Dutch Reformed church dates from the same period.
Gustav Klinkbiel Nature Reserve
To the east of Lydenburg, near R 37, is the Gustav Klinkbiel Nature Reserve (area 2,200 ha/5435ac), with indigenous flora and various species of antelope, as well as remains of an Iron Age settlement. There is a small museum devoted to these earliest settlers in the area.
Lydenburg Museum
Outside Lydenburg on the Long Tom Pass road, is the Lydenburg Museum. Its star attractions are the Lydenburg Heads: seven terracotta heads (six human and one animal) found in nearby Sterkspruit valley. Until recently they were thought to date from the 5th C a.d.; the latest research, however, dates them to around a.d. 1500.
