Toorn van Hoorn
Writing history
The tower of Hoorn is the oldest building on Terschelling. Built in the 13th century from clay and bricks shipped in from the Frisian mainland, it is now a national monument. The church has recently been restored, after years of neglect. Next to the church stands de Sjouw, a long pole with a wicker basket – visible from a distance – used to indicate the time. Near Hoorn historically incoming tides meet, creating a shallow, a so called Wantij which at low tide served as a land bridge to the early colonists of the island. The wad, a place to wade, is a painfully accessible landscape on the border of land and sea. It is a blessing for those migrants who know the way, and a labyrinth for pioneers who lack a map or experience. A toponymical atlas of the Wadden Sea – we ‘ll try to compose one.
Guide: Geert Wumkes (1869-1954)
Around 1900 reverend Wumkes preached in Hoorn. He was an outsider to the Island, but he wasn’t from far. A traveling writer. The first biographer of Terschelling. Wumkes’ book has a geographical title: “Between Flie and Borne” (1900). His work started a tradition. In his footsteps followed many men with a mission. All are authors, skilled in the anthropological collection of lost traditions, often thought to be lost due to (lucrative) tourism. Gerrit Knop wrote in 1948: “Having a few tourists as boarders spirals towards an industry of immigrants, and in the long term that will have detrimental effects on the mental constitution of the people”. Wumkes’ work is of an ethnographic genre that, from the interbellum onwards, starts to realize the importance of the Wadden area and its local peculiarities, among which the of the hyper-local languages.
Nowadays www.wumkes.nl is the url to the digital historical library of Frisia, with information about the Frisian language, culture, and history. The library’s goal is to make public as many written sources as possible, both to scientists and to a general audience.
