Named after a Scottish cleric and immigrant, Rev Colin Fraser, Fraserburg was founded in the West Nuweveld in 1851 on a high plateau north of the Nuweveld Mountains. The town is full of well-preserved Victorian buildings. It was in Fraseburg that law agent HWA Cooper began writing the culturally important "Boerebrieven" for Het Volksblad in 1870.
The earliest inhabitants of the area were the Bushmen and signs of their culture can still be found in the vicinity.
Fraserburg offers the following:
*Flowers just as beautiful as in Namaqualand,
*Hunting - Enjoy yourself together with your business friends on a unique hunting safari,
*Hours of fun on the Town Dam.
Fraserburg is situated on a plateau to the north of the Nuweveld Mountains at a height of 1 260 m above sea level. The nearest Railway station is Leeu Gamka on the N1 between Cape Town and Beaufort West. Fraserburg is connected with Leeu Gamka by a tarred road of 114 km.
Activities
Corbelled House
On the farm Driefontein. To be found nowhere else in the Southern Hemisphere.
De Postjes Trail
Majestic mountains wide open plains and overhanging cliffs dominate the scenery. Fossilised footprints are found in the area. The routes is well marked and ideal for hiking, biking and 4x4-ing. the highlight is the Mail Coach Pass wich has a decline of 300 metres over less than a kilometre.
Museum
Housed in the Old Rectory, it complements the area's prehistory with a magnificent fossil exhibition.
Peperbus
The six-sided Peperbus designed by the Reverend Bamberger and built by Adam Jacobs in 1861 as an office has housed the church, the magistrate and the municipality.
Power Magazine Depot
Used by British forces during the Anglo-Boer War.
Anglican Church (1870)
The Church of St. Augustines was completed in 1870. The architect was the well-known Sophia Gray, wife of the Bishop Robert Gray of Cape Town. This church was built in the Gothic Style and of local stone. There is no steeple and the bell hangs in a separate belltower next to the church.
Kerkplaas
Ruins of the oldest Mission Station in the North West. Built by the Reverend J.J. Kicherer, who in 1799 came to work among the Bushmen.
Monuments
The most important is the grave of Reverend P.D. Rossouw next to the Dutch Reformed Church. He was one of the first to try and further the Afrikaans language and the first minister to dare to write an Afrikaans sermon.
