CHARLESTOWN is named after Sir Charles Mitchell, the Governor of Natal in the 1890s. The town is situated at the border of what was Natal (KZN) and the Transvaal (Mpumalanga). It was an important railway station and customs post in the late 1800s, due to the railway line providing transport between the goldfields of the Witwatersrand (Gauteng) and Durban. After the Union of South Africa was formed in 1910, custom taxes were abolished and the town became less significant. More recently, it has become a ghost town with many abandoned buildings, due to the government relocating inhabitants in the 1960s. Snowy's is a well-known landmark in the area. The owner of the establishment is aware of the cache placement, and only requests that cachers not trample the lavender plants... ask her for assistance if necessary.