Pilgrim's Rest, South Africa
Pilgrims Rest
Pelgrimsrus | |
|---|---|
(1998) | |
| Coordinates: 24°54′28″S 30°45′24″E / 24.90778°S 30.75667°E | |
| Country | South Africa |
| Province | Mpumalanga |
| District | Ehlanzeni |
| Municipality | Thaba Chweu |
| Area | |
• Total | 25.40 km2 (9.81 sq mi) |
| Population (2011) | |
• Total | 1,721 |
| • Density | 68/km2 (180/sq mi) |
| Racial makeup (2011) | |
| • Black African | 93.4% |
| • Coloured | 1.5% |
| • White | 4.8% |
| • Other | 0.3% |
| First languages (2011) | |
| • Northern Sotho | 50.4% |
| • Sotho | 15.3% |
| • Swazi | 13.5% |
| • Tsonga | 5.9% |
| • Other | 14.8% |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (SAST) |
| PO box | 1290 |
| Area code | 013 |
Pilgrim's Rest (Afrikaans: Pelgrimsrus) is a small museum town in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa which is protected as a provincial heritage site. It was the second of the Transvaal gold fields, attracting a rush of prospectors in 1873, soon after the MacMac diggings started some 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) away. Alluvial panning eventually gave way to deeper ore mining. In the 1970s the town, not greatly changed, became a tourist destination.