It has been rumoured that Uitvlugt ('to flee' or 'fled’ in Dutch) the area where Renovatio River Estate is located, was named by a family who fled the Johannesburg area to escape the Anglo-Boer war and who settled in the area due to the fresh water flowing from the Suikerbos River. The entire Uitvlugt was once a very large farm owned by a farmer with 7 sons who one day decided to divide his proper
ty into several parts and shared them amongst his sons. The original farmhouse built by the farmer in 1883 still stands on the River Estate and has been lovingly restored and renovated into the 1883 Farmhouse & Bridal Suite, the sandstone walls are untouched and the wooden Oregon doors & windows have been restored to its former glory. The Farmhouse has been aptly named '1883' giving honour to it's age and heritage. An old concrete bridge spanning above the Suikerbos River a stone’s throw from Renovatio, is the last remains of an old road built many years ago in the early 1900’s when Vereeniging was newly formed and was not yet a formal city or town. It is rumoured before the R54 Villiers road was built, the old road that runs over the bridge was part of a route that linked Vereeniging and Villiers and initially ran through Uitvlugt and over the concrete bridge towards Vereeniging before the railway lines had been laid. Back then Vereeniging was a small simple coal mining camp when coal was first discovered in the area.
