DEN HELDER VUURTOREN
Den Helder, Netherlands
Den Helder is at the northern tip of the mainland of Noord Holland in Fort Dijkuin. I remember that I had to kinda turn here, turn there, no real signs indicating the way. But I saw so many, details become fuzzy. You can drive right up to the front of it almost, if it weren't for the fence. It seems funny to me that many of the lights here in Netherlands were stand alone. And they were often built back when they had to be tended so I wonder where did the keepers stay.
The tower stands in a field across the road from the dike. And a big one at that. The dike is the highest elevation around. They build they dikes, then pump out the water. That's what the windmills are for. Netherlands isn't a land fill, because there wasn't any land elsewhere to dig up and relocate. They pumped out the water and I heard that the grew some kind of willow tree that helped recondition the soil so it would be fertile again. Spooky standing up on the dike and seeing the difference in the water level outside and the land level inside.
It is called Lange Jaap and was built in 1877. Seemed to me to be the tallest of all I saw in the traditional tower style. West Kapelle Hoog and Goedereede may have been taller but these were the older square church tower types. West Kapelle now has a lantern and lens on top.
Here's how I
saw it:
DH1
DH2
DH3
DH4
OF THE MOUNTAINS
John B Caddell
Copyright 2001