Pilgrim's Rest, South Africa

Pilgrim's Rest(Afrikaans:Pelgrimsrus) is a small museum town in theMpumalangaprovince ofSouth Africawhich is protected as aprovincial heritage site. It was the second of theTransvaal gold fields, attracting a rush of prospectors in 1873, soon after theMacMacdiggings started some 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) away.Alluvialpanning eventually gave way to deeper ore mining. In the 1970s the town, not greatly changed, became a tourist destination.
Thealluvialgold was discovered by prospector Alec Patterson. He panned Pilgrim's Creek, as it became known, when the nearby MacMac diggings became too crowded.He kept his find a secret, but a gold rush resulted when fellow prospector William Trafford registered his claim with the Gold Commissioner at MacMac.After it was officially declared agoldfield in September 1873, the town suddenly grew to 1,500 inhabitants searching for alluvial gold.
In the 1880s the alluvial gold dwindled and prospectors were attracted toBarberton's newly discovered gold deposits. Towards the end of the 19th century claims were bought up and underground mining started by the company known as TGME. The better-funded mining companies started mining the deeper gold-bearing ore. By 1895 several small mining companies amalgamated to form the Transvaal Gold Mining Estates (T.G.M.E.).This company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and became the first listed gold mining company in South Africa.
As the volumes of gold ore increased, the engineers constructed small, local hydro-electric plants to generate electricity for the electric tramway and the ore crushers at the reduction works, built in 1897.In 1911 the 2,000 kW Belvedere power station (at24°39′18″S30°50′12″E﻿ / ﻿24.65500°S 30.83667°E﻿ /-24.65500; 30.83667﻿ (Belvedere power station)) was completed on theBlyde River, some 30 km to the east. It supplied hydro-electric power to Pilgrim's Rest and adjacent communities up to 1992.Pilgrim's Rest was southern Africa's second town with street electricity, the first beingKimberley, also a mining town.
Pilgrim's Rest was the location of an emergencymintduring theSecond Boer War. This mint struck the famous and extremely rareVeld Pond.
At the graveyard, every grave was laid facing in the same direction, except for the traditionalRobber’s Gravewhich is laid at right angles to the rest, not facing the rising sun, and emblazoned simply with a cross and the large type words of "Robbers Grave". One legend attributes it to a robber who was shot when he was caught stealing a tent from another miner, while other legends would have it that he instead stole awheelbarrow, or that the thief died after being lynched.
The most detailed account attributes the grave to a fortune hunter, one Walter Scott, who committedsuicide.Scott would have shot his friend Roy Spencer, son of a well-to-do English banker, after they returned drunk from a party. Scott suspected Spencer of stealing his purse of gold. Scott pursued Spencer and shot him near the church, the site of the present graveyard, whereafter Spencer was secretly buried. The sobered-up Scott found his purse in his tent, and committed suicide when he realised what he had done. Scott was then buried in an unmarked grave next to that of his friend, Spencer.
Mining was closed down in 1971 and the village was sold to the government as a national museum. Transvaal Gold Mining Estates Limited started mining again in 1998. It is currently owned by Theta Gold Mines Limited, an Australian listed company. On May 15, 2004, the old TGME reduction works was added to theUNESCOWorld Heritagetentative List in the Cultural category but was removed in 2016.
The town's originalarchitectureremains largely unchanged since the heyday of the mining era, because the town was declared a National Monument. It became aprovincial heritage sitein 1986. The village is a cultural heritage site and living museum with a variety of village museums, tours, accommodation, restaurants and shops.
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