HOLLAND, Mich. — Many parts of West Michigan are heavily influenced by Dutch culture, but no place brings that to light more than the Windmill Island Gardens in Holland.
It's a seasonal, 36-acre park surrounded by the Macatawa River. Everything on the island is inspired by Dutch heritage, from the architecture and attractions, all the way down to the attire.
Matt Helmus, the Development Manager at the gardens, said the Dutch history can be traced back to the late 1840s. A man named Albertus Van Raalte and his group of Dutch Calvinists came to America for religious freedom and found a home in Holland.
That was 175 years ago, and they just kept coming.
“So we have almost a quarter of a million Dutch Americans such as myself," Helmus said. "A lot of us are multi-generation Americans, obviously, by now. A lot of us look back to that heritage. There's some more recent immigrants, but it's just keeping a piece of that heritage alive.”
There are more than 1,000 windmills in the Netherlands. So, it's only fitting the Windmill Island Gardens are centered around a giant windmill.
It's 251 years old and stands eight stories tall. The wood structure on top was brought over from the Netherlands, while the brick base was built in America.
"The island itself was actually built for that windmill, and then we've just developed around it," said Helmus. "It's so neat. There are parts and pieces of that mill that are actually older than that. Our miller was here recently, and he found a part he thinks might date back from the 13th century."
The windmill also has a name — De Zwaan. In Dutch, that simply translates to "The Swan."
Helmus said, “There were multiple windmills in the Netherlands named 'The Swan.' So some of them will say, 'The Swan,' and then the town they're from to kind of make sure that people know it's not this one from another town.”
He added, "Ours was 'De Zwaan Vinkel,' which was the small town in the province of Noord-Brabant. We have a working relationship with that town now. They had actually called over a decade ago asking for this mill back. And we said 'No,' of course, since it's the heart of our community. They've since built their own mill. So we have a sister mill in the Netherlands.”
The best part about this mill — it still works today. In fact, it's the only Dutch windmill that operates in the entire United States.
The gardens also feature a carousel that was brought over from the Netherlands in the 1970s and an organ that pre-dates the island itself.