Go Dutch in beautiful Holland, Michigan!

We arrived in Holland (Michigan) on 5/21 and parked the Sprinter at the beginning of downtown and walked 5-6 blocks taking in the typical Dutch stepped gable architecture, the shop window decorations, street banners, and a salute to upcoming Memorial Day in many business windows of World War I & II recruiting posters.  The Holland Tulip Time Festival was 5/3-10 this year but we were told it was still very cold and the tulips just peaked just before the week of our visit!  Six million tulips were in bloom in Holland and you will see a few of our photographs of this amazing spectacle all along the downtown streets and in the wonderful city parks.


Holland was setttled by a group of Dutchmen in 1847 seeking freedom of religion and economic opportunities they were unable to obtain in the Netherlands. Holland is located on Lake Macatawa that was not connected to nearby Lake Michigan, crucial to their commercial success to transport goods in and out of the town.  They hand dug a canal linking the two bodies of water allowing ships to dock directly in Holland.  Holland still honors its Dutch legacy but is diverse and cosmopolitan with many restaurants even a large Irish pub on a prime corner of downtown!  Holland is also a city of art with many sculptures downtown and many other locations.  The Holland Visitors Bureau puts out an art and architecture brochure that includes 20 buildings and sculptures and we tried to see them all!  They range from Dutch theme to "the Joy of Music" (a five peice band sculpture), Ben Franklin on a park bench reading the Declaration of Independence, Holland's founder, Rev. Albertus Van Raalte, and an impressive bronze of a group of children pledging allegiance to the American flag.  Most original downtown buildings did not survive a devastating fire in 1871 so many were rebuilt in 1870-80.

Holland has a huge 250 year old windmill brought over from the Netherlands set in a commercial park called Windmill Island Gardens adjacent to downtown, that is still milling flour, along with an antique Dutch carousel and an Amsterdam street organ.  When we visited Holland 4 years ago, we enjoyed visits to Windmill Gardens as well as Nelis' Dutch Village.  So this trip, we went back to the Dutch Village and were not disappointed as they have added several more authentic attractions.  It really is stepping back 100 years in the Netherlands with the architecture, bridges, Dutch dancers at the old street organ, a giant stork, the costumed interpreters at the wooden shoe carving shop, the cheese shop, candle carving and the Delft pottery making shop.

One big highlight was an authentic Dutch lunch at the Hungry Dutchman Cafe where we had delicious Dutch pea soup, Kroketten (fried pork and beef roux), SaucijzenBroodjes (pork sausage wrapped in pastry dough), and a large slice of Dutch apple pie!   There were lots of games and  fun for kids like the huge wooden shoe house, the great old 1924 Herschell-Spillman carousel, Dutch schoolhouse lessons, and a demonstration of the authentic old cheese weighhouse.  Their museum is very interesting showing their start in 1958 as a tulip growing garden along with many Dutch costume and cultural displays.  On the hour, a Dutch Tourist Office film takes you on a typical tour of the Netherlands.  A large Dutch store complex has nearly every Dutch porduct known for sale with huge displays of Delftware, Dutch foods (yep-we bought some!) and much more. A carillion sounds out the hours and half hours much like many Dutch villages.  Altogether a very well done attraction at a reasonable entry price too.

We drove to several of the parks and were very impressed with the number of moms, kids and baby strollers utilizing the parks.  All were very clean, huge expanses of grass, gardens with tulips and sculptures too. We went out to Holland State Park which is where the Holland Canal meets Lake Michigan with its iconic "Big Red" Lighthouse.  The fog kept drifting in and out so the Big Red red color was not as saturated as on a sunny day but still quite nice.  We thought we'd camp there but we found that in addition to the $27 a night electric site charge there is a $9 per night permit required--a little higher than we wanted so we went to the Holland Elks Club which is very pleasant, even got a 15A electric connection for a $10 donation to their veteran's fund.  The next morning we drove back into town and  found a beautiful city park called Window on the Waterfront with incredible tulip plantings, 80,000 strong--Wow!   Our photographs tell the Holland story very well!

The next day we drove across Michigan and down into Ohio, stopping at Mansfield and a Super Walmart for shopping and parking overnight.  The next day we arrived at the Village of Zoar!  Stay tuned!