Glencoe, KwaZulu-Natal

Glencoe is situated in the Umzinyathi District, District of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

The main economic activity in the area is coal mining along with sheep and cattle ranching.

History
With coal discovered 8 km away from Dundee, an efficient way was needed to transport coal to factories other than by ox wagon. The railway from Durban to Johannesburg reached this point on 4 September 1889. A new village sprung up where a branch line was built from the Durban-Johannesburg line  to the eastern Transvaal in 1903. The village was renamed Glencoe, after a mountain valley in Lochaber, Scotland, it became a town in 1934.

Trivia

 * General French was periodically stationed here during the Second Boer War.
 * Boer President Paul Kruger twice stayed overnight during the Siege of Ladysmith, South Africa.
 * The house of Carl Landman - second in command at the Battle of Blood River can be found on a farm close to Glencoe.
 * Fort Mistake, a fort designed as a communications link between Ladysmith and Newcastle in 1881 and playing a key role in the Anglo-Boer War is nearby.