WESTKAPELLE HOOG
VUURTOREN
Westkapelle, Netherlands
Shades of Edgar Allan Poe. I'll tell you what, this is the oldest light house structure I have seen yet. I was excited to see it. The anticipation built as I got nearer to the town and I could tell I was straining to see across the horizon to catch an early glimpse of it.
It was built in 1470. A Church tower. That's hard to believe. Still looks pretty solid to me. It's a war memorial now. In the back is a little cemetery very neatly laid out. One of the photos is from that side looking at the tower. You can see the memorial cross. Each grave also has a cross. The light serves as the rear range light. Westkapelle Laag is right on the 'beach'. Whether sand or rock, what ever was the shore there has been coated with a tar like substance. No erosion ever
They put the lantern on top in 1818 and lit it on the 20th of March. It flashes a white light every 3 seconds that can be seen 28 nautical miles out to sea. Electricity came to this vuurtoren in 1907. When you drive down N57 from Schouwen, turn right onto N287 towards Oostkapelle and Domburg. As you follow the coast line around to the point of this large peninsula, you can't help but see this towering monolith. I saw a church in Delft built in the 1300's and I saw things near the French and Italian border along the Mediterranean coast that were built back before Christ. The oldest structures I have seen in the US were some 900 year old Anasazi ruins.
This tower was strange though. It felt like something out of a science fiction book, heroic fantasy or the likes. Where the wicked sorcerer cast all his spells and ruled over the land in evil tyranny. The things stands some 50+ meters high. Birds sit up at the top on the lantern and kinda soar off the perch into the continuous thermals riding up the side. They never flap.
Here's how I
saw it:
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OF THE MOUNTAINS
John B Caddell
Copyright 2001