Lemsterland / print 1

Around 2010, the construction crisis hit Lemsterland just as hard as other regions in the Netherlands. Frugality and cooperation are the watchwords. There seems to be no reason to be sentimental about the dissolution of this municipality on January 1, 2014. But a closer look reveals a different picture. Lemsterland is a special municipality. In the eighteenth century, Lemmer was a very prosperous trading town. For two centuries, the people of Giethoorn gave a formidable impulse to the economy in the outer villages with their peat digging. When the agricultural crisis raged in 1877, the Echtener polder was drained and Lemmer became rich from fishing. We have seen it in 'Doch it foar dyn doarp' (Do it for your village), open-air plays, housing projects, and the Olympic Games. Lemsterland counts, from Bantega to Follega, from Delfstrahuizen to Lemmer. That story cannot be told completely. But the course of development can be depicted with stories, photos, and paintings. This has been done in this book, from a very close perspective. Because the author himself was born in Echten, grew up in Bantega, lived in Follega, taught in Oosterzee, and went to school and played football in Lemmer. He was also a youth alderman for a while. It doesn't get more Lemsterland than that.