Today’s adventure was a tender ride to Kinderdijk. This was a large tender and could accommodate all 180+ passengers so it was a nice scenic ride. Kinderdijk, à UNESCO World Heritage site, lies below sea level - almost 1/3 of the Netherlands is below sea level and 2/3 of the country is subject to flooding.
The patterned stick on the right is the break or prevents the blade from turning. the stick on the right is always up like a flag.
The domed top rotates on the yellow circle to allow the blades to catch the best wind. The white blocks in the picture below are there to tie off the blades in the direction that best captures the wing. À very heavy chain is used on the other side to prevent the top from turning. The miller turns the green and white “wheel” to rotate the top of the windmill.
Originally, people settled on the sand dunes but needed a way to grow crops to feed themselves. Technically, the area is a bog - a wetland that is spongy, poorly drained, and peat-rich soil. The land was only accessible in the summer if the water level remained low. The settlers needed a way to drain the land and keep the water away, as the rain would flood the area. Therefore, they built dikes to keep the sea water away. (Dikes have water on both sides of the land formation whereas à levy has water only on one side.) This allowed the low-lying land of the Alblasserwaard dry. Alblasserwaard is a polder (no translation here) which is a low-lying piece of land that has been reclaimed from a body of water and is protected by dikes, commonly found in the Netherlands. About 50 polders have been reclaimed from the many riverbanks with the many rivers that run through this region. In the 13th century, they built canals to move water out of the cultivated areas, draining the excess water to the North Sea. This worked for a while but the drained soil settled and the canal levels rose because of the sand/silt deposits left behind. In the 16th century windmills were installed to pump the water to the other side of the dikes which held the water in reservoirs. Then, the water would be released through a series of dikes when the river levels were low. The water needed to be kept at a constant level. If there was too much water in the dike, gates would open to let the water out to the sea. If the water level was too low in the canal, the gates would open to let the sea water into the canal. If the peat became too dry, it might crack and crumble. People were constantly walking on top of the dikes, inspecting them for cracks. À water management system was established and today two diesel pumping stations control the water levels.
Kinderdijk has the largest concentration of old windmills in the Netherlands and the official name is MillNetwork at Kinderdijk-Elshout. It lies in the confluence of the Lek and Noord rivers. Today the windmills are kept in working order but they are no longer used for water management. The brick windmills were built in 1738 and were staggered to allow each windmill to catch plenty of wind. The wooden mills on the Overwaard side were built in1740 of wood with thatched roofs to make them lighter for less stress on the foundation and its relationship with the soil. These are on a narrow strip of land so the windmills are not staggered but in a straight row.
Children would learn at an early age to help with the windmill operation.
Each windmill has its own story and heritage to tell. Jacob Hoek was a miller and lived there with his wife and 10 children. The living room and “master bedroom” was on the first floor and a narrow steep stairwell lead up to the children’s bedroom. The beds are short because they slept sitting up ( they felt if they laid down the blood would rush to their head). There were originally 20 windmills but only 19 remain. They are probably the most famous windmills and the ones most photographed. Many volunteers operate the tours and help with the upkeep as government funds have been cut and the tour money helps to maintain the windmills and area. You can only visit two of the windmills-the rest are private homes. Families that live in à windmill are required to keep it operational. The sails were used as communication between the millers. Positions of the sails could indicate if the windmill was working, taking a break (straight up and down like a + sign), announce a birth (to the left of the door), or a marriage or a death in the family. Sometimes, on festival occasions you might see colors on the sails.
Windmills always had two doors so you could be able to get in and out without dodging the sails as the top would be rotated to catch the wind. The sails would always turn counter clockwise and if it was turning it meant someone was at home. Someone always had to be there when the windmill was running.
Kinder means child so Kinderdijk means children dike. The legend goes on a stormy November night in 1421 disaster struck. The infamous Saint Elizabeth’s flood swept away the poorly maintained dykes protecting the polders, causing 1,000 to drown. After the flood, they saw a cradle bobbing up and down on the water, carrying the sound of a crying baby. The cat sat on the cradle and rocked it back and forth to comfort the baby. The baby was saved and the dike was names the Children’s Dike.
