Fascinating stories! Looking at the pictures, I am curious about the hydro-geology of fresh and salt water here. So close to the sea, yet the people and the trees seem to have plenty of fresh water. Are you slightly above sea-level, or is the aquifer under pressure from a higher elevation source?
Hi Doug, Most of the islands are below sea level, a dramatic sight in February 1953 when the dikes broke. On my island, it is mostly the dunes in the west that are above sea level. I live close to the church, which is built on the highest point of this village in the west of the island, but still, the waters came to this house in 1953. My neighbor still can't paint his cellar because of the salt damage in the walls of nearly 70 years ago. The dunes are the best source of fresh water, they provide pressure, but more importantly, they clean the water by filtering it. A couple of years ago, an agricultural field and the foot of the dunes was given back to nature. It is just minutes from my home, and it is interesting to follow how nature reclaims it. The dunes press fresh water out, making the field a wet habitat for animals and plants. Rain provides fresh water on the island, but there is salty water intrusion under the dikes closer to the coastline. I mentioned it in this post: https://theplanet.substack.com/p/batling-the-water. One of the negative effects of sea-level rise is that the pressure of salty water will increase. We are already pumping water from rivers further to the east of the Netherlands into the dunes; perhaps we may need to increase that amount in the future. There is much more to write, but one important element in this story is to also look at the waters around this island. In the west, it is the salty North Sea, but on the other side of the Brouwers-Dam, in the northwest of the island, is nowadays fresh water (the dam keeps the salty seawater out, and fresh water is supplied from the east). South of the island is a different situation. Instead of a fixed dam between Schouwen-Duiveland and the next island to the south, Walcheren, we built an open dam. Seawater still moves in and out, but during storms, we can close the dam. So the water in the south is slightly less salty than the sea, but it is not fresh water; that is the water I described in the post I just mentioned.
🧡 an Orange heart. Enjoying reading this Island history, visualizing the walk on the dikes and see the Fort Ellewoutsdijk as a reminder of trouble. I'm wondering if the local people still wear their traditional dress on Sundays? And the resilience of the peoples managing the waters is truly amazing. The photos aides with the seeing . . . thank you (-:
Hi Marian, only at special events are some women still wearing traditional dresses to keep the traditions alive. I remember seeing a few women still wearing it in Scheveningen (The Hague) only some 15 or 20 years ago. In Zeeland, Rem van den Bosch is an artist that keeps these traditions alive in a modern setting. To see some of his fascinating work, you can follow him on Instagram, or take a look at this site: https://www.beeldinzeeland.nl
Are you aware of this video in Rem van den Boschs' website? Trying to find answers
for the children of the project #7, where he visits Native American tribes in the US ? Bringing the question about how to take care of the Earth, from the Zeeland children with him!
Seems it’s an ongoing fight to keep harbors from silting. Those villages that no longer have harbors are still beautiful. Thanks for the lovely photos and history. It certainly a wonderful area.
-Love the Dutch sources in the Notes. I really enjoy reading those. Checked out your Fort Ellewoutsdijk link. Made the mistake of going to the main forten.nl page and clicking on "Vestingen". I now officially need to win the lottery so I can just basically spend years exploring all these places.
-Castles and churches are my absolute favorites to learn about the history of a place as are street/place names. Loved the ones you mentioned. There's a Müliweg right outside here (Müli is Swiss German for mill and weg is path) and a bus stop called Brauerei (not sure what happened to that brewery). Oh, and in my head Beveland had something to do with beavers ;-)
-Having water on our flags just highlights its importance. The Argovian flag also has water in it (three wavy lines to represent the three main rivers).
-Silted harbors are not something I was very aware of (I'll blame it on being Swiss). Fascinating and I love what they did in Biezelinge.
-I would probably be drawn to the coast just to see the ocean, but I now have an evergrowing list of charming villages to go explore as well. Thank you!
-Nisse another place to go on my list. That's a great picture and I already picked out my reading bench.
Have I mentioned that I really liked this article? Thank you for sharing all this.
Fascinating stories! Looking at the pictures, I am curious about the hydro-geology of fresh and salt water here. So close to the sea, yet the people and the trees seem to have plenty of fresh water. Are you slightly above sea-level, or is the aquifer under pressure from a higher elevation source?
Hi Doug, Most of the islands are below sea level, a dramatic sight in February 1953 when the dikes broke. On my island, it is mostly the dunes in the west that are above sea level. I live close to the church, which is built on the highest point of this village in the west of the island, but still, the waters came to this house in 1953. My neighbor still can't paint his cellar because of the salt damage in the walls of nearly 70 years ago. The dunes are the best source of fresh water, they provide pressure, but more importantly, they clean the water by filtering it. A couple of years ago, an agricultural field and the foot of the dunes was given back to nature. It is just minutes from my home, and it is interesting to follow how nature reclaims it. The dunes press fresh water out, making the field a wet habitat for animals and plants. Rain provides fresh water on the island, but there is salty water intrusion under the dikes closer to the coastline. I mentioned it in this post: https://theplanet.substack.com/p/batling-the-water. One of the negative effects of sea-level rise is that the pressure of salty water will increase. We are already pumping water from rivers further to the east of the Netherlands into the dunes; perhaps we may need to increase that amount in the future. There is much more to write, but one important element in this story is to also look at the waters around this island. In the west, it is the salty North Sea, but on the other side of the Brouwers-Dam, in the northwest of the island, is nowadays fresh water (the dam keeps the salty seawater out, and fresh water is supplied from the east). South of the island is a different situation. Instead of a fixed dam between Schouwen-Duiveland and the next island to the south, Walcheren, we built an open dam. Seawater still moves in and out, but during storms, we can close the dam. So the water in the south is slightly less salty than the sea, but it is not fresh water; that is the water I described in the post I just mentioned.
🧡 an Orange heart. Enjoying reading this Island history, visualizing the walk on the dikes and see the Fort Ellewoutsdijk as a reminder of trouble. I'm wondering if the local people still wear their traditional dress on Sundays? And the resilience of the peoples managing the waters is truly amazing. The photos aides with the seeing . . . thank you (-:
Hi Marian, only at special events are some women still wearing traditional dresses to keep the traditions alive. I remember seeing a few women still wearing it in Scheveningen (The Hague) only some 15 or 20 years ago. In Zeeland, Rem van den Bosch is an artist that keeps these traditions alive in a modern setting. To see some of his fascinating work, you can follow him on Instagram, or take a look at this site: https://www.beeldinzeeland.nl
Thank you Alexander,
what a great effort by Rem . . .
Are you aware of this video in Rem van den Boschs' website? Trying to find answers
for the children of the project #7, where he visits Native American tribes in the US ? Bringing the question about how to take care of the Earth, from the Zeeland children with him!
Seven Generations Haudenosaunee
https://www.beeldinzeeland.nl/sevengenerations
Right click in webpage for 'translation' from Dutch into English (-:
Thank you Marian, I love his work!
Seems it’s an ongoing fight to keep harbors from silting. Those villages that no longer have harbors are still beautiful. Thanks for the lovely photos and history. It certainly a wonderful area.
Thank you Lilly, glad that you like it :-)
So much to say ... in no particular order:
-Love the Dutch sources in the Notes. I really enjoy reading those. Checked out your Fort Ellewoutsdijk link. Made the mistake of going to the main forten.nl page and clicking on "Vestingen". I now officially need to win the lottery so I can just basically spend years exploring all these places.
-Castles and churches are my absolute favorites to learn about the history of a place as are street/place names. Loved the ones you mentioned. There's a Müliweg right outside here (Müli is Swiss German for mill and weg is path) and a bus stop called Brauerei (not sure what happened to that brewery). Oh, and in my head Beveland had something to do with beavers ;-)
-Having water on our flags just highlights its importance. The Argovian flag also has water in it (three wavy lines to represent the three main rivers).
-Silted harbors are not something I was very aware of (I'll blame it on being Swiss). Fascinating and I love what they did in Biezelinge.
-I would probably be drawn to the coast just to see the ocean, but I now have an evergrowing list of charming villages to go explore as well. Thank you!
-Nisse another place to go on my list. That's a great picture and I already picked out my reading bench.
Have I mentioned that I really liked this article? Thank you for sharing all this.
Thoroughly enjoying... really it's a constant struggle for those who live near the water...I salute them... thank you Alex...