The Khoi- San inhabited this area for many centuries before the first settlers arrived in about 1730, and local rock art at Oorlogskloof Nature Reserve and on farms around Niewoudtville bear witness to an ancient culture that flourished here. During this period vast herds of game reiodically roamed the plains of the Bokkeveld Plateau, (Antelope Plateau) after which it derived its name.

In the late 1700s wild herds had been replaced by large herds of sheep and cattle belonging to the settlers. The early settlers established themselves close to the present town of Nieuwoudtville at Groenrivier and Willemsrivier, where the first formal church buildin still stands.

Haemanthus barkerae

First visiting botanists

Carl Peter Thunberg and Frances Masson were the first botanists visiting the area. They reported staying at teh farm of Karl Losper, who owned "upwards of 12 000 sheep and 3 000 bullocks". Ironically Thunberg and Masson passed through the area in November 1774, missing the main flower season by just two months. Thei journals document large number of plant species that they collected and one wonders how much more they would have contained if the journey had been just a little earlier this year!

Groenrivier ruins - Nieuwoudtville's "birthplace"

Local sandstone

The settlers favoured the western part of the plateau for their homesteads and farmyards because the large flat sandstone areas provided well drained surfaces in the wet winters when the remaining acountry side was too soggy for waggons and livestock. An added attraction was the convenient line of reliable springs surfacing at the edge of the sandstone that provided water in the dry summer monhts.

The sandstone was good material for building and some of the farm buildings made from sandstone blocks are still proudly standing after more than 200 years. When Nieuwoudtville was founded in 1897, on land that was purchased from H C Nieuwoudt after whom the town is named the fine old buildings were fashioned from the same old rock.

Nieuwoudtville has become a 'Mecca' for botanists and flower lovers from around the world and visitor's books boast an impressive numbers of 'pilgrims' from far and wide.