Lydenburg Attractions
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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.
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