There are four main roads leading to Nieu-Bethesda:
- 1. To Graaff-Reinet – 52km
- 2. To Graaff-Reinet 86km and Murraysburg 115km via Riverdene
- 3. To Richmond 110km and Hanover 120km
- 4. To Middelburg - 83 km
This cache is a small roadside cache hidden near the Graaff-Reinet road.
History of Nieu-Bethesda
Sorry to disappoint you, but you are by no means the first to visit these parts of the Sneeuberge. Scientists who combine the fields of anthropology and paleontology, better known as paleoanthropologists, have studied the Karoo extensively. According to these studies the Khoi-San people have been living in the Sneeuberge since before 900 AD as hunter gatherers. After 900 AD there are evidence of settlements, stone tools and occasional herding of livestock by the San. Interesting remnants of these inhabitants can still be found on various farms in the area. Ask around for tours and outings to caves as well as rock art and engravings.
European visitors to the Eastern Cape came via the established settlement in the Cape of Good Hope. Explorers keen to describe the topography, fauna and flora of what lay beyond the colonised area around Cape Town ventured East. The first written accounts of the Eastern Cape are found in the 1752 records of Ensign Beutler of the Dutch East India Company. A Scottish gardener William Patterson in 1776 published an account of the expeditions on which he accompanied the Swedish Botanist, Dr Carl Peter Thunberg . An English version of Thunberg’s journal was published in 1793. Two other important accounts of expeditions into the Eastern Cape was the journal of the Swedish doctor Anders Sparrman published in 1785 and that of John Barrow published in 1801.
As the need for independence among the European settlers in the Cape grew more intense, the explorers into the interior were followed by permanent settlements. By 1795 farming communities have been established all the way to the Fish river in the Eastern Cape. Graaff-Reinet was established in 1786. The town was named after the Governor of that time - 'van der Graaf' and his wife -'Reinet'. It was only the fourth district in the Cape to receive a seat of local government or a 'Drostdy'.
Like many other small villages and towns in South Africa, Nieu-Bethesda has the church to thank for its existence. The farming community had to travel to Graaff-Reinet for church services and nagmaal (communion). At the best of times it was quite an arduous journey with ox wagon. In 1874 the Sneeuberg community took a decision to establish a church congregation on the banks of the Gats river on the farm Uitkyk. On 8 February 1875 a portion of the farm was purchased on behalf of the Dutch Reformed Church for the sum of 4000 pounds sterling from the owners JP and AS Pienaar. In 1896 the church also bought the farm Lekoog.
On 20 February 1875 a founding meeting took place to establish the church congregation. At this meeting the Reverend Charles Murray from Graaff-Reinet stated “Laten wij het nu Bethesda noemen.” Let us now name it Bethesda. The reference to Bethesda appears to be a link between the strong water springs in the vicinity of the farms bought by the church and the healing waters of the pool of Bethesda mentioned in John 5:2 in the Bible. The minutes of the meeting afterwards incorrectly reflected the statement as “Nieuw Bethesda” and that is how the town’s name came to be Nieu-Bethesda. The church remained the owner of the property in the town and only in 1951 was the property rights transferred to the municipality.
Thanks to this series of cahces you are at least four times welcome in our pretty little village. 
We hope that you will enjoy your stay here and that the spirit of the past and present community will leave you invigorated when you depart in one of the four directions to your next destination.
In preparing this listing I made use of amongst others the following sources:
- 1. www.wikipedia.org
- 2. A literary Guide to the Eastern Cape 2003 Jeanette Eve Juta & Co
- 3. Bethesda-kronieke en ander anekdotes 2012 Victor Dercksen Erfenis Publikasies
- 4. Nieu-Bethesda: A short guide to a little Great Karoo town 2014 Peter Frost Nieu-Bethesda.com
REMEMBER:
There is no ATM and no filling station in Nieu Bethesda.