Looking
for a great weekend trip this spring? I have just the place:
Holland Michigan. And if you time it just right you could be there
for The Holland Tulip Festival held in May.
Holland
is a beautiful little town loaded with wooden shoes, statues,
quaint shops, lots of Dutch heritage, and countless tulips and other
spring flowers.
Holland
was settled in 1847 by Dutch Calvinist separatists, under the leadership of Dr. Albertus van Raalte. Their desire for religious
freedom, along with dire
economic conditions in the Netherlands compelled them to emigrate to the U.S.
Holland
is known as the place where a Holland church youth group leader started the trend "What Would Jesus Do?" bracelets in the 1990s.
Most
of the local families in Holland are of Dutch ancestry and their
culture is very much a part of the town. We heard that Dutch dancing
is a class offered at the high school and old Dutch costumes are
handed down to their children and grandchildren.
You
can even watch a demonstration of wooden shoes being made and
purchase a pair to take home.
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During the week of the festival, there are thousands of tourists, all there to see the tulips in full bloom and what a sight it is. Everywhere there's available space in the downtown area, there are tulips planted. There's estimated to be 4.5 million tulips planted and that's impressive. |
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| Statues and tulips downtown Holland, Michigan |
How
beautiful it must be to live and work in the area and have all those
tulips as your view going to and from work or school.
During
the festival the streets fill with locals of all ages in full Dutch
costume dancing in wooden shoes to traditional Dutch music.
The history of Dutch Dance began in 1935 with local high school girls
performing at the Tulip Time Festival. They were dressed in costumes
and were called “Klompen Dancers.”
Today’s
dancers wear costumes patterned after the traditional dress of the
Dutch Provinces. Each costume is handmade locally and inspected
before it can be worn in Dutch Dance performances.
One
of our favorite places to visit is Windmill Island Gardens.
Located
just outside of town, the gardens feature a 250-year-old working
Dutch windmill called De Zwaan, meaning graceful bird. The windmill
towers over the surrounding 36 acres of flower gardens and wheat
fields. The tour and the history of bringing the windmill to America
are well worth the visit.
The windmill even has WWII German bullet
holes! De Zwaan was first erected in Krommenie, Netherlands in 1761.
The Dutch government in the Netherlands sold the windmill for $2800
and it was the last windmill to ever leave the Netherlands. It was
only sold because it was so heavily damaged in WWII. It was
dismantled and arrived in America in 1964 and took 6 months to
rebuild.
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| Post House |
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| Little Netherlands Village Shops |
While
there you can also visit the Post House, (an exact replica of a 14th
century wayside inn), or listen to an antique Amsterdam street organ,
ride on the antique Dutch Carousel, (featuring hand-carved and
painted wooden horses), or shop at the Little Netherlands Village for
souvenirs.
I'd have to say that our
second favorite stop was the Holland History Museum.
We were
very much impressed with the wonderful history displays and beautiful
authentic Dutch art!
The
Holland Museum is in an old neoclassical former post office building
and also includes two newly restored house museums: The Cappon House
and the Settlers House.
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| Holland Museum, 1st floor |
The 1st floor of the museum
houses displays of the history of Holland from the settlement in
1847 to the present day. And the 2 floor of the Holland Museum houses
the extensive collection of 17th to 20th
century Dutch paintings, cultural objects, fine furniture, Delftware
and original Dutch costumes.
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| Low Tide on the Estuary by Charles Henri Joseph Leichert |
Holland
is also known for Delftware pottery. Mostly recognized as
painted blue and white it also come in other colors. I purchased a
small blue and white Delftware windmill Christmas ornament as a
souvenir.
If
you are a gardener then a must-see is Veldheer's Tulip Farm and
Bulb Store.
The
founder, Vern Veldheer was born on Sept 25, 1925. He started Veldheer's
Inc. with 100 red tulips and 300 white tulips in 1947 post-WWII.
They now plant over 5.5 million tulips. Mr. Veldheer is said to
still work 60+ hours a week at his tulip farm.
There
are dozens of varieties of tulips in dozens of color combinations and
it is breathtaking! Make sure to get the guidebook that explains each
type or color of the tulip. Tulip bulbs are not sold in the Spring, only
in the fall after being dug up, but you can purchase many other types
of flowering bulbs. That just gives us another excuse to travel back
to Michigan!
While
in Holland stop by the Holland Harbor Lighthouse, first erected in
1882. The lighthouse is referred to in the area as Big Red, an
obvious play on words because the lighthouse is on the small side.
For a great view of Big Red, visit Holland State Park, and walk along
the boardwalk to the north pier. While visiting the lighthouse we
were there in time to see local high school students take a dip in
the “icy cold” waters of Lake Michigan. I guess it's a local
tradition, yikes!
There
are many restaurants, diners, and pubs in the Holland area along with
local wineries. We stopped at Fern Valley Wine Cellar,
located near Holland in Fernville, Michigan.
Wineries
in this area are located along the shores of Lake Michigan because of
the unique great lakes climate and sandy soil which is supposedly an ideal setting for growing grapes. We usually can't leave Michigan
without a bottle or two of their great-tasting wine.
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| My brother and his wife and Bill and I visiting Big Red |
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| My brother and sister-in-law at Fern Valley Winery |
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| Bill and I front center, my sister and her husband on the right and my brother and his wife in the back at the De Zwaan Windmill |
The six of us are planning another trip sometime in February and I'm sure it's going to be fun.
I hope you have great traveling adventures!
Elizabeth
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