Pearston is a small town in the eastern Karoo, in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, situated at the intersection of the R63 Provincial Route and the R337 Regional Route.
The town lies between Somerset East and Graaff-Reinet at the foot of the Coetzeesberge, about 160 km north of Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth) on the banks of the Voël River.
Pearston falls within the Blue Crane Route Local Municipality and the Sarah Baartman District Municipality.
Pearston is the meeting point of two important roads: the R63 from Graaff-Reinet to Somerset East and Cookhouse, and the R337 from Jansenville to Cradock.
History
In 1850, John Pears, a former professor of Classics at the South African College and the minister of the Dutch Reformed Church in the town of Somerset (now Somerset East), began holding services in the open under a large pear tree on the farm Rustenburg, then the property of Mr Casparus Jacobus Lötter, on the bank of the Voël River.
In 1858, the church announced its intention to establish a village named Pearston on that location. A portion of the farm was purchased and lots sold, and the village was officially founded on 21 September 1859. It became a town with municipal government on 3 April 1894.
