About 30 kilometres from Oudtshoorn, at the foot of the Kamanassie Mountains, lies Dysselsdorp, a hamlet predominantly owned and inhabited by descendants of erstwhile slaves and people of mixed heritage.
Founded in 1838 as a mission station by the London Missionary Society, in 1877 its approximately one and a half thousand hectares were granted in freehold to the 148 resident families by the then Commissioner of Crown Land, John X. Merriman. Residential as well as garden plots were allotted and the town was practically self-sufficient in those days. By and by, however, as in most contained small agricultural communities, poverty became a factor and today most of the young people hold jobs in Oudtshoorn or work as seasonal labour on neighbouring farms.
Dysselsdorp boasts a Kolping House, one of a worldwide chain of guest houses where men are taught a trade.
On top of a steep hill on the south side of the town stands a small Catholic chapel which can be viewed by appointment.
