Berridale lies at 860 metres above sea level between the towns of Cooma and Jindabyne and 435 kilometres south of Sydney.

The European settlement was founded in the 1860s, when Scotsman William Oliver built his house there in 1863 and opened a roadside store, naming the location as a variation on his home town in Scotland, Berriedale.

Berridale is also home to one of the largest collections of heavy machinery and associated equipment salvaged from construction of the Snowy Mountains Scheme.

The items include dozers, graders, scrapers, dumpers, loaders, tournapulls, trucks, snow equipment and numerous other pieces, from well known makers such as International, Euclid, LeTourneau Westinghouse, Allis Chalmers, Caterpillar, Thornycroft, Leyland, and others and numbers in excess of 100 pieces.

In recent decades, Berridale has developed a tourism industry based on its location en route to the NSW snow fields.

Berridale's climate is relatively dry as the town is located in a rainshadow on the Monaro, sandwiched between the Snowy Mountains and the coastal ranges.

This granite was crystallised as a large mass from magma 400 million years ago miles from the Earth's surface and was gradually eroded and uplifted to its current position.

Many photographers utilise the granite boulders for shots whilst many will also take advantage of the Poplar trees that line the highway when they change from bright green to a luminous yellow during autumn.

During the year the Lions Club hold the Easter and Spring markets which draw a large crowd to the township.

On 28 March 1942, a USAAF P-40E fighter made an emergency landing at "Wheat Hill" station, after becoming lost in fog during a flight from Canberra.