Gouda and Kinderdijk
April 23, 2001 We got an early start and decided to go to Gouda to see its Sint Janskerk because we had read about its beautiful stained glass-and we were not disappointed. This is one of the largest churches in the Netherlands and it has 70 stained glass windows. The oldest one is from 1555 and it depicts the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist in the center right section.
From Gouda we drove to Kinderdijk to see the windmills there which
had been used to drain water from the low-lying polders. There are 17
mills in this area and there are three different types represented here.
John Anton
There are 8 stone mills, built in the 1740's.
Kinderdijk also has 8 octagonal, thatched millls.
John Anton
John Anton
John Anton
Kinderdijk also has 8 octagonal, thatched millls.
John Anton
There was one which is called a post mill. All
of the others pictured so far have a cap which rotates to turn the vanes so they
face the wind. In the case of the post mill, the top rotates around
one central post. The one pictured below was not actually at Kinderdijk but
a short distance away.
John Anton
We drove from Kinderdijk to visit some of the small
towns where our ancestors had come from. This may not be interesting
to the casual reader, so I have included that information on a separate page on
Ancestral Towns.
During part of our drive that day we were driving on the top of a dike, the river Lek to our left and the land to the right. In some cases the houses were below the level of the dike. The following picture is of a smaller dike going off to the side. The houses in the background are at a lower level.
During part of our drive that day we were driving on the top of a dike, the river Lek to our left and the land to the right. In some cases the houses were below the level of the dike. The following picture is of a smaller dike going off to the side. The houses in the background are at a lower level.
While driving along, we saw some men unloading
a truckful of cheese and we stopped so John could get some pictures.
Photos by John Anton
After a busy day of sightseeing, we spent a very pleasant evening with Paul and Meike Kleijn. We first met Paul on the internet when he responded to a question we had posted regarding one of Elizabeth's great-great-great-grandmother Elizabeth Sintmaartensdijk. Paul has genealogy as a hobby and even publishes a magazine about that family with both old genealogical information and up-to-date information about those living now.
Paul and Mieke live in Schiedam, a suburb of Rotterdam, a short distance away from Zwijndrecht, where we were staying. We enjoyed a pleasant evening together at dinner with them.
On to
Ancestral Towns or to 
the
the Open Air Museum.