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Colesberg is surrounded by koppies (hills) and flanked by the
towering Cole's Kop.
 When the sun slips to the
horizon, painting the sky with brilliant hues, Cole's
Kop's former name, Toverberg or Magic Mountain,
seems more appropriate. It was so-named because it
can be seen from a great distance, but for the
approaching traveller it never seems to get any closer.
 In 1814 Erasmus Smit established a mission station here in the
hope of bringing peace to the volatile frontier area
of the Cape Colony. A second mission station, Hepzibah, was built a
few kilometres away and the two soon attracted 1,700
Khoisan.
This caused unease within the white farming community and they
petitioned the Government about concerns for their
safety. The Government decided to
intervene and in 1818 the mission work was
suspended.
In the 1820s a town was established and named after Sir Lowry Cole, then Cape
Governor.
The Transvaal Republic’s President,
Paul
Kruger, born in
Cradock (Eastern
Cape) in 1825, is believed to have
spent his formative years on the Vaalbank farm,
falling in what was, by 1830, the frontier town of Colesberg.
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The town of Colesberg is
sheltered from the elements by a cluster of
small hills and its atmosphere is one of
yester-year.
Today, Colesberg is a traveller’s oasis on the
main N1 route from Cape Town to Johannesburg, offering
many attractive accommodation establishments.
 There are a number of attractive
examples of Victorian and Karoo
architecture throughout the town as well as
historical remnants of this former frontier
town.
 The
dominant building in Colesberg is the
impressive Dutch Reformed Church in the town
centre, built in 1866.
In a
sheep-farming area spread over half-a-million
hectares, greater Colesberg breeds many of the
country’s top Merinos. It is also renowned for
producing high-quality racehorses.
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