[2] Ngahere is located on the south bank of the Grey River, and State Highway 7 and the Stillwater–Westport Line (SWL) railway pass through the village.

The railway reached Ngahere when an extension was built from Brunner on 1 August 1889, and it was the line's terminus until a further section to Ahaura was opened on 14 February 1890.

Originally erected as St Patrick's in the gold-mining settlement of Notown in 1866, the kitset kauri church was relocated to Ngahere in 1922 after Notown had become a ghost town, and was relocated again to Shantytown Heritage Park after the present Sacred Heart Church was built.

[6][7][8] St Luke's is a small former Anglican church, opposite the Ngahere sawmill on State Highway 7, built in timber to plans from Ralph Tyler of Greymouth.

[9] The foundation stone was laid on 21 September 1952 by the Bishop of Nelson, Percival Stephenson,[9] and the church was dedicated in 1954.