Nylstroom, 130km/81mi north of Pretoria and a few km/mi west of N 1, is the center of an intensively cultivated agricultural area, producing mainly table grapes, tobacco and groundnuts. The town is said to have been given its name by the Boers, who in 1866 came upon a spring here which they believed to be the source of the Nile - a theory which
seemed to be confirmed by the discovery of what they took to be a pyramid. In fact the ''pyramid'' was merely a hill which the Bushmen had used as a place of burial.
Among the town's historic buildings are the Hervormde Kerk (Reformed Church) of 1889 and Strijdom House, home of Prime Minister J. G. Strijdom, which is now a museum.