"Taking a step back into yesteryear... " a Pilgrim's Rest Travel Page by Jenniflower

There never was a more beautiful or romantic spot to have a gold rush than Pilgrim’s Rest. This one-horse town, born during the excitement of an alluvial gold rush, is a perfect example and as such, the entire village has been declared a National Monument.

It is located in Mpumalanga, the north east part of South Africa, and boasts some of the most spectacular scenery... rolling hills and sweeping skies.

Its history allegedly began when ‘Wheelbarrow’ Alec Patterson, who pushed his belongings along in front of him, panned for gold in the stream running through the valley. Upon hearing of his success he was soon joined by hundreds of others and within a year there were 21 stores, 18 canteens, 3 bakeries and all sorts of other establishments. Some extraordinary nuggets were found including ‘Breda’ who weighed in at 214 oz and ‘Lilley’ at 119oz. One reef, found after the main rush had died down, yielded over 5,000,000oz of gold in 50 years of continuous working.

It really is well worth a visit and you can seep yourself into the genuine atmosphere of the old days, by staying overnight in the village. We stayed at The Royal Hotel, in one of their annexes.. which used to be an old bank!