Spring Grove, just south of Brightwater, was the birthplace of New Zealand’s best-known scientist, Ernest Rutherford. A memorial to Rutherford stands where Lord Rutherford Road meets State Highway 6. Spring Grove is also where brothers Tom and Harry Newman began their coach service.
Meaning of place name
Named by a Mr Wagstaff some time before the Spring Grove school was founded in 1845. A series of springs in the middle of the settlement gave rise to the name.
