The quaint town Cradock was established in eighteen twelve as a fort at the mouth the Fish River to protect the British settlers from the Xhosa people. The government of the Cape Colony based in Cape Town who had proclaimed the Great Fish River to be the designated border.

The stone fort was however never attacked, and the town Cradock soon grew into a prospering settlement with an impressive Cape-Dutch and Victorian style architecture. In the middle of the nineteenth century approximately over nine thousand inhabitants lived in the quaint Karoo town of Cradock.

The town in modern times is the center of the local farming comminuting, which mainly farms in sheep, cattle and ostrich livestock. The town centre is Market Street with its bright "Tuishuise", diligently restored from the original Settlers' homes built between eighteen forty and eighteen seventy. These original historical cottages are also furnished in the style of the original settlers and are available as budget accommodation for Karoo travelers going on holiday.

The unique town Cradock is a place of literary legends, boer war heroes and anti-Apartheid struggle icons such as the Cradock Four. But it is always been best known for down to earth, day-to-day, warmth and kindness - so typical of much of the Eastern Cape and small towns in the Karoo.