Caledon is a town in the

Overberg __NOTOC__ Overberg is a region in South Africa to the east of Cape Town beyond the Hottentots-Holland mountains. It lies along the Western Cape Province's south coast between the Cape Peninsula and the region known as the Garden Route in the e ...

region in the

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

province of South Africa, located about east of

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

next to mineral-rich hot springs. it had a population of 13,020. It is located in, and the seat of, the Theewaterskloof Local Municipality. The town continues to be inhabited by Khoikhoi communities who, before the arrival of colonizing forces, were the wealthiest on this land. Caledon is situated on the N2 national route, by road from central Cape Town. At Caledon the N2 is met by the R316 from Arniston and

Bredasdorp Bredasdorp is a town in the Southern Overberg region of the Western Cape, South Africa, and the main economic and service hub of that region. It lies on the northern edge of the Agulhas Plain, about south-east of Cape Town and north of Cape Agul ...

, and the R320 from Hermanus. It is also located on the Overberg branch railway line, by rail from

Cape Town station Cape Town railway station is the main railway station of the city of Cape Town, South Africa. It is located along Adderley and Strand Streets in the city's central business district. Lines Metrorail lines Cape Town station is the hub of the ...

. The Caledon district is primarily an

agricultural Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating Plant, plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of Sedentism, sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of Domestication, domesticated species created food ...

region. Most agricultural activities involve

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legum ...

production with a certain amount of stock farming. The town is locally well known for the Caledon Spa and Casino and for its rolling hills and yellow canola fields in

spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season), a season of the year * Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy * Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water * Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a ...

. The town has a

Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...

of warm, dry summers and cool, wet winters. Temperatures are modified by its close proximity to the South

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

, just over the

Klein River Mountains The Kleinrivier Mountains are a mountain range in the Cape Fold Belt of the Western Cape province of South Africa. Kleinrivier means "Small River" in Afrikaans and is named after the river in the area that mouths out near Hermanus where the ran ...

to the south. The place was originally known in Dutch as ''Bad agter de Berg'' (Bath Behind the Mountain). A bath house was built in 1797 and a village called Swartberg sprang up, which was later renamed Caledon in honor of the Irish peer Du Pre Alexander, 2nd Earl of Caledon (1777–1839), the first British governor of the Cape (1806-11). The writer

Peter Dreyer Peter Richard Dreyer (born November 15, 1939, at Caledon in the Western Cape) is a South African American writer. He is the author of ''A Beast in View'' (London: André Deutsch), ''The Future of Treason'' (New York: Ballantine), ''A Gardener Touc ...

was born in Caledon at the Caledon Baths Hotel in 1939. Rhodesian government minister

P. K. van der Byl Pieter Kenyon Fleming-Voltelyn van der Byl (11 November 1923 – 15 November 1999) was a Rhodesian politician who served as his country's Foreign Minister from 1974 to 1979 as a member of the Rhodesian Front (RF). A close associate of Pr ...

retired to Caledon and subsequently died there, in Fairfield.

Attractions

Caledon Museum Caledon Museum, in the town of Caledon, Western Cape, Caledon, Western Cape, South African Republic, South Africa, is a social history museum displaying and collecting around the themes ''The Victorian Period in Caledon'' and ''The History of Peop ...

, Constitution Street.

References

External links

Caledon History
{{Authority control Populated places in the Theewaterskloof Local Municipality Populated places established in 1811 Hot springs of South Africa