Things to do in Aberdeen

• Graaff-Reinet

The town is a veritable repository of architectural styles including Victorian, Georgian, Karoo, German, Gothic Revival, Russian, Art Nouveau and Flemish Revival. Aberdeen was founded when the Dutch Reformed Church of Graaff-Reinet gave permission for the establishment of a new congregation on 10 September 1855. The farm Brakkefontein had been bought for this purpose by Jan Vorster. A village soon sprang up around the new church, and it was named Aberdeen, after the town in Scotland where a minister of the church, Andrew Murray sr., was born.

Today, Aberdeen is one of the declared architectural conservation areas of the Karoo. According to legend, the last wild quagga was seen in the Aberdeen area. Aberdeen is located in the largest Mohair producing area in the world and guest farms in the area offer visitors memorable Karoo farm life experiences.

Things to do in Aberdeen

• Meander around this little Karoo village and admire the various Architectural heritage styles of the 19th & 20th Century.

• Enjoy the twenty biblical scenes in the Dutch Reformed Church hall of Aberdeen which was created by 6 locals of the town. The beautiful panels were created by combining textiles, lambs wool and home-made glue and pasted onto a background of hessian and hung against the walls to improve the poor acoustics.

• Admire the Olive Tree from Garden of Gethsemane in the Church garden.

• Visit unique Artists’ studios with beautiful ceramic and glassworks

• Meander through the fascinating Jewish and the Anglo Boer Cemetery, where many brave British and Boer soldiers were laid to rest.

• Admire the beautiful architecture of the Dutch Reformed Church (NG Kerk), which has the highest church steeple in South Africa.

• Appreciate Karoo nature in the Fonteinbos Nature Reserve.

• Experience authentic Karoo farm life on a working guest farm in the area.

• Aberdeen is located in the largest Mohair producing area in the world and forms part of the Mohair Route.

• Experience a guided historical town tour

• Visit the Aberdeen Heritage Archive to view the historical records of yesteryear