"Beautiful Swellendam" a Swellendam Travel Page by TRimer

In researching places to stop between Hermanus and the Garden Route and discoverd the town of Swellendam. What a gem of a find. Swellendam lies in the Overberg region halfway between Cape Town and the Garden Route. The town's streets are lined with beautiful whitewashed Cape Dutch homesteads resting in the shade of the old oak trees and in the background protectively towers the Langeberg Range. Numerous buildings both in Cape Dutch and in Victorian style stand witness to the town's rich history.

Swellendam is the third-oldest town in South Africa. The town was founded by the Dutch east India Company in 1745 in order to exercise control over independent frontiersmen who migrated over the Hottentots Holland Mountains at the beginning of the 18th century. A landdrost was appointed and a Drostdy and other building were erected. The town was named after the reigning Governor of the Cape Province Hendrik Swellengrebel and his wife Helena ten Damme.