HEIDELBERG NEWS - Heidelberg is located near South Africa's south coast on the N2 highway, 274 km east of Cape Town (about half way between Cape Town and Knysna). It is just east of the Overberg region and is the start of the Garden Route.
In 1716 Louis Fourie obtained grazing rights from Governor Van der Stel and he settled alongside the Duivenhoks River. This is where he later constructed the Doornboom Homestead - registered in 1728 - and the Doornboom Farm was established. The area was initially part of the greater Riversdale district until the Riversdale Dutch Reformed church council in 1855 bought a portion of the farm Doornboom on which to lay out the town when a new Dutch Reformed congregation was created for the farmers between Swellendam and Riversdale.
The town grew around the church and it was named in honour of the German town Heidelberg, because of the Heidelberg Catechism that was practised in the church. Heidelberg is today what was once Doornboom Farm. In 1903 it became part of the railway network and became an important transport link for the wool, wheat, fruit and tobacco industries of the area. The Duivenhoks River (Dovecote) was named by an explorer, Isaq Schrijver who observed a lot of doves where it flows into the Indian Ocean, at a place called Puntjie. The river has its origins in the Langeberg range and slowly flows through the undulating foothills.
Heidelberg is part of the Hessequa Local Municipality. Fourie House in Fourie Street is the oldest house in the town.
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