1 minute read
Enjoy fabulous
Continued from page
In fact, the 200-year-old, De Zwaan (Swan) windmill arrived in Holland in pieces and was reconstructed on site.
The view of the surrounding tulip fields from the fourth-story deck is awesome. Be sure to check out the 10-foot-tall grove of wooden tulips.
Take a step back in time at Nellis’ Dutch Village. Wander along canals to old-world Dutch shops to watch artisans at work making wooden shoes and traditional cheese.
Costumed dancers in wooden shoes will “welkom” visitors into their “klompen” folkdance. Sample old-world culinary specialties like saudijebroodjes (homemade sausage rolls), banket (Dutch almond pastry), the village’s famous pea soup and 20 varieties of cheese. You can even find Grolsch lager at the Thirsty Dutchman Pub.
For a double-Dutch treat, visit the Deklompen Shoe and Delftware Factory; imported machines from the Netherlands carve the shoes. View craftsmen paint them. Inside the Delft facility, the only one in the United States, you’ll see liquid clay pouring into molds and fired at 2,000 degrees. When they’re cool, artists apply the authentic blue designs on white backgrounds. More than 400 varieties of Delft pieces are produced here.
Holland also has a mill where hardwood bowls are turned the way they were more than 150 years ago.
Standing at the head of the channel connecting Lake Macatawa and Lake Michigan stands the most photographed lighthouse in Michigan. The history of the tower, affectionately known as Big Red, dates back to 1870. The first lighthouse on the site was built of wood. A number of evolutions over the years included a steel structure, a fog signal building and today’s bright red electric lighthouse.
