Saron is situated south of Porterville just off the R44. It was established by Rhenish missionaries who bought the farm Leeuwenklip at the foot of the Saronsberg in 1846. The name Saron has biblical origins and means ‘a plain’.
The Dutch Reformed Church eventually took over the mission and it is now a village exclusively for coloured people. Many of them are descendents of the original inhabitants who were taught trades by the German missionaries. Some of these descendents still specialise in making the ‘velskoen’.
Saron has a beautiful whitewashed church built in 1852. The original parsonage which was the homestead built on the farm Leeuwenklip in the Cape Dutch style is believed to be about 70 years older. Many of the original cottages were damaged or destroyed by the earthquake experienced in the area in September 1969.
