Sacrificing a city

The quaint little village of Spaarndam, only a few kilometers northeast of Haarlem, is built atop one of the primary dyke systems in North Holland. The village is world famous for the story of Hans Brinker, the little Dutch boy who supposedly saved a city beyond the dyke by plugging a hole with his finger. We’ve come to learn over the years that the city Hans saved with his chubby little finger was in fact our hometown of Haarlem.

We stop in Spaarndam frequently when we are out riding our bikes because there is a great restaurant that serves some of the best apple tarts in Holland. And on those frequent bike rides we always pass these curious structures out in the fields downstream from the dyke. I knew that there was an old fort built into the wall of the dyke and these concrete pylons looked to be about the same age, but I couldn’t for the life of me ever figure out what their purpose was.

I finally decided to research these things and was pretty surprised at what I learned. The fort and embattlements were created as part of the defenses of Amsterdam. When the country was attacked, the dyke at Spaardam would be broken, flooding the surrounding countryside and creating an impenetrable water-based fortification. In this section the water would be deep enough for boats so these concrete pylons were set to be just below the fortified water surface, making navigating the water with enemy boats extremely hazardous. It's kind of a cool idea and even has made the UNESCO list of world heritage sites, the only down-side being that Haarlem would be left on the wrong side of the defensive fortifications.

So after immortalizing the deeds of good ol’ Hans and his courageous rescue of Haarlem, the government decided that the city really wasn’t all that important and could sacrificed to the enemy in an attempt to slow them down before reaching Amsterdam. Bummer.