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Oudtshoorn was named after Baron Pieter van Rheede van Oudtshoorn, who tragically died in 1773 while travelling to the Cape Province. He was to be the governor of the Cape.
Oudtshoorn was founded in 1847 and forty years later became a municipality. Baron van Rheede Street, one of Oudtshoorn's main streets, was also named after the hapless Baron van Oudtshoorn.
Oudtshoorn achieved fame because of the booming ostrich feather industry in 1870. The Little Karoo is cool and wet in winter, and hot and dry in summer - perfect weather for the largest bird in the world. Oudtshoorn is also known for one of the great wonders of this world, the Cango Caves: a breathtaking cave system with an awe-inspiring collection of dripstone formations.
Oudtshoorn lies in a valley, with the Swartberg mountain range to the North and the Outeniqua mountain range to the south, and is known for its almost unbearable heat, especially during December and January.
The town boasts many historical buildings known as ostrich palaces - these were homes built by the wealthy in the early days - most of them are made from sandstone and sport impressive gables.
The CP Nel Museum is an impressive building that had been started by a local who had started to collect items of historical value. He left the museum to the town in his will, when he died in 1953. A walk through the museum is like a walk into yesteryear as you find evidence of the glory days of the feather boom in the late nineteenth century.
Today, Oudtshoorn does not only rely on the feather industry, but is seen as a tourist destination - there are several ostrich farms which tourists may visit to learn more about ostriches, and of course the Cango Caves attract large numbers of visitors each year as well.
In recent years, Oudtshoorn has also achieved fame as being the "Afrikaans culture capital of South Africa" - each year the town plays host to the "Klein Karoo Nasionale Kuns Fees", a national art festival that celebrates Afrikanderdom and the Afrikaans language.
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