Everyone who is seeking the ultimate 'island feeling' in the Netherlands should go to Schiermonnikoog. For it can't be by coincidence that the popular TV series 'Eilanders' (Islanders), a docu-soap in sixteen episodes that was aired in 2005 and 2006 by the EO network, was shot right here. It followed seven members of the island population that counts almost one thousand souls in their daily lives, sketching a unique picture of what living on an island is like.

Besides that, on 13 May 2006 Schiermonnikoog was chosen from twelve nominations 'the most beautiful place in the Netherlands' in a TV poll that was organized by the NCRV network. So, that makes two irresistible reasons for visiting this very special island.

Schiermonnikoog is the smallest and most easterly of the Dutch Wadden Islands. That's to say, if we do not take the three sandbanks into account that together are supposed to form the island of Rottum. Permanent  habitation of that island ended in 1965 when the last commissioner retired and since then that island is left to nature.

That certainly does not apply to Schiermonnikoog. Looking at the scenery we see all the characteristic features of the other Wadden Islands: beach, dunes, forest, a polder, salt marshes and -of course- the mud flats, but everything on a smaller scale. And where on the larger islands you find several villages, Schiermonnikoog has just one. What also makes the island so special is that there are hardly any cars riding, making it a haven of tranquility.
 

The island of the monks

About the geological history of Schiermonnikoog we can be brief here, as it doesn't really differ from that of other Wadden Islands like Ameland or Terschelling. Together they form the remains of a former coastal barrier that was shaped in the old-Holocene, a period that ended about 5,000 years B.C. Between the first and the thirteenth century of our era many storms caused the swamps behind the coastal barrier being flooded every now and then until finally the Wadden Sea was formed, a permanent water area of which parts are standing clear of the water at low tide only. The fragments of the coastal barrier now form a long range of islands, extending from Den Helder in the Netherlands till Esbjerg in Denmark and separating the Wadden Sea from the North Sea.

Probably there were already people living on the coastal barrier before the Wadden Sea had taken shape as it offered a dry and safe place to live, this in contrast with the swampy hinterland. On Schiermonnikoog, however, no traces of that early inhabitation have been found.

The oldest mention of Schiermonnikoog in writing dates from October 1440, in a document written by Philip of Burgundy. At that time the island was part of the property of the Claercamp monastery of Rinsumageest in northern Friesland, near the town of Dokkum. The monks who were living on the island belonged to the order of the Cistercians. They were nicknamed 'grey monks' or ('schiere monniken' in old Dutch) because of the grey habits that they were wearing. That's where Schiermonnikoog got its name from; the suffix 'oog' is an old name for 'island' that also occurs elsewhere in the Wadden area (Rottumeroog, Lauwersoog, Langeoog, Spiekeroog, Wangeroog).

The monks mainly used the island for grazing their cattle and they built the first dikes to protect the pastures from being flooded by the sea. Life went on calmly for centuries as, in contrast with other islands like Texel and Terschelling, which were continuously disputed territory between Holland and Friesland because of their strategic location, the major political conflicts of the time passed Schiermonnikoog by completely.
 

During the Reformation in the sixteenth century the catholic monasteries in the northern parts of the Netherlands lost all of their properties. As a result, the States of Friesland became owner of Schiermonnikoog in 1580. But they didn't know quite well what to do with the island and when they were short of money in 1640 they sold the manor of Schiermonnikoog for an amount of 18,366 Dutch Guilders to the noble family of Stachouwer, who would be owning the island for more than two centuries, till 1859.

Very little happened during those years. The turmoil in the wide world hardly touched this forgotten far-off corner and besides an occasional little revolt of the local residents against the self-willed Lady Catharina Maria Stachouwer somewhere halfway the 18th century, when the States of Friesland where forced to send a contingent of troops to protect the Lady and restore law and order, everything remained calm and quiet on Schiermonnikoog.

The only threat that really bothered the islanders came, as always, from the sea. Because of the prevailing westerly winds and the sea currents coastal erosion was continuously swallowing land at the west side while, at the same time at the east side, the island was growing as a result of deposition. As a result, Schiermonnikoog was in fact moving in easterly direction at a rate of about half a kilometer per century.

Because of this process the village of Westerburen, at the west point of the island, became situated closer and closer to the seaside and at the beginning of the 18th century it was feared that it would be swallowed by the sea, what actually did happen in the end. That's why in 1720 the construction of a new, more easterly situated settlement was started, the present village of Schiermonnikoog. The remains of the old and deserted village of Westerburen fell prey to the sea during a heavy storm in 1760.
 

In 1859 the Stachouwer family sold Schiermonnikoog for 96,055 Dutch guilders to mr. John Eric Banck from The Hague. This man made himself useful for the island in several ways. In 1860 he started the construction of a new and strong Wadden Sea dike at the southwestern side to stop the coastal erosion, creating the polder that meant a significant extension to the farmland area on the island and that still bears his name, Banck's Polder. He also started planting of the sand dunes with marram grass to make an end to the constant sand drifts. In remembrance of mr. Banck a memorial was erected on the top of the dike that he built, at his favorite spot near the marina, in the form of a bench with a vast view over the Wadden Sea: Banck's Bench.

Mr. Banck owned Schiermonnikoog only briefly; already in 1878 he sold the island at an amount of 150,000 guilders to the German count Hartwig Arthur van Bernstorff-Wehningen. Under his rule the present pine wood was afforested, intended for commercial wood production. He also made a modest start with the promotion of tourism to the island by building the first seaside hotel.

When the count died in 1940 his son Bechtold Eugen Graf von Bernstorff inherited Schiermonnikoog. He didn't get much pleasure from his property, as in the meantime the Second World War had broken out and most of the the island became a military area. After the war had ended it was confiscated as war booty by the Kingdom of the Netherlands and temporarily managed by the Civil Domains Service. Schiermonnikoog became an independent municipality in 1949, as part of the Province of Friesland.
 

Schiermonnikoog in
Google Earth (click on the image to enlarge)

The Second World War on Schiermonnikoog

As said earlier, most of the major events in the world did not touch Schiermonnikoog at all. The Eighty Years' War, the French Revolt, the Napoleonic episode, all passed by almost without being noticed by the islanders. But with the Second World War things were different.

Shortly after the Dutch surrender in May 1940 a German occupation force arrived on the island that would eventually amount over 800, doubling the original island population. In the German plans Schiermonnikoog was to become a part of the so-called Atlantikwall, a coastal defense line that extended from the French/Spanish border to well into northern Norway.

An important part of the German air defense was a chain of radar stations bearing the code name Wassermann, intended to detect approaching enemy bombers in an early stage to have them intercepted by fighter aircraft. One of those radar stations was projected on Schiermonnikoog and for that purpose a huge bunker was built on the top of the highest dune on the island, which today is still known as 'De Wassermann'. But when the bunker was completed and the 40 meters-high radar antenna was to be placed it turned out that it didn't fit onto its base. It is assumed that the Dutch subcontractors sabotaged the construction by tampering with the measures. Anyway, the Germans were forced to make do with a much smaller and less sophisticated radar station that was stationed on a nearby dune top.
 

The German occupation has had a significant impact on the island. For the troops operating and defending the radar equipment a complete bunker village with the code name Schlei (German for tench) was constructed. For the islanders this was a strictly prohibited area. The Germans even built a 5½ kilometer long narrow-gauge railway from the old ferry terminal -nowadays the marina- to the Schlei village, in particular for the transportation of construction materials and supplies. This makes Schiermonnikoog the only of the Dutch Wadden Islands that ever had a railway on its territory.

The fact that the radar station never worked well may have contributed to the fact that Schiermonnikoog never suffered heavy Allied bombings. Elsewhere along the Atlantic and North Sea coasts the German radar stations were favorite targets for the Allied bombers, in order to try to  blind the German air defense. No other hostilities occurred on the island, apart from a stray bomb that fell on the island on 28 July 1943 and killed seven people, among whom the mayor.

The isolated location of Schiermonnikoog caused the war to last longer than elsewhere in the Netherlands. When in April 1945 the province of Groningen was liberated by Canadian forces a group of 120 SS troops fled to the island, that was still under control of the German garrison. Only on the 7th of May, two days after the general capitulation of all German forces in the Netherlands, the troops on Schiermonnikoog surrendered and it took until June of that year before the last German military actually left and completed the island's liberation.
 

The German railway on Schiermonnikoog in 1943
source: schiermonnikoog.nl

Modern times - nature and tourism

After the war, between 1946 and 1965, there was a revival of the Dutch whaling industry and several Schiermonnikoog residents tried their luck in this activity, fully in line with the tradition of the Wadden Islands. One of them, Klaas Visser, even became the captain of the 'Willem Barendsz', the flagship of the Dutch whaling fleet. In 1950 he gave the jaw bones of a blue whale that had been caught in the Arctic Sea as a present to his island of birth. The jaw bones were erected as an entrance gate to the Willemshof (William's Court) in the center of the village, where once the nautical college of Schiermonnikoog stood, as a kind of memorial for the seagoing in general and whaling in particular.

After the Netherlands had quitted commercial whaling in the sixties of the past century, fishing played only a marginal role as a livelihood on Schiermonnikoog. Much more important became tourism that was developing rapidly in the years after the Second World War. Nowadays about 300,000 tourists visit the island each year; a huge number in relation to the local population of under 1,000 souls. But compared with the one million yearly visitors of the island of Texel, for example, it is rather modest.

People visiting 'Schier' -as the island is often nicknamed- don't do so primarily to enjoy the sun and the sea, as these are also abundantly available on the other Wadden Islands. Neither they come for the entertainment, as the 'nightlife' scene in the sole village is rather limited. No, most of the visitors consciously decide for a stay on Schiermonnikoog because of its tranquility and nature, aspects that usually go together very well.

The abundance of birds on the island and the adjoining mud flats makes Schiermonnikoog a real bird watcher's paradise. Also the vegetation is extremely varied; half of all plants and flowers that are mentioned in the Dutch flora can be found here, at this relatively small piece of territory. It's not really surprising that most of Schiermonnikoog was granted the status of National Park, in order to conserve this striking variety for future generations.

Besides the magnificent nature, the peace and quiet on Schiermonnikoog are a real blessing for those who want to escape from the rush and noise of present-day life. Motorized traffic is almost absent on the island, as visitors must leave their cars behind on the parking at the ferry terminal of Lauwersoog, on the mainland. If you have an urgent need to take your car to the island you'll have to apply for a special permit, which is granted only by exception. The islanders themselves are released from this regulation, but most of the car owners among them don't use it on the island. Motorized traffic is limited to the necessary professional service transport for provisioning and agriculture, taxis and of course the scheduled service buses that bring the travellers from the ferry to the village and vice versa. The absence of traffic noise is a very special experience in our busy and densely populated country!
 

A first impression of Schiermonnikoog

Traveling to Schiermonnikoog starts at Lauwersoog, from where the ferry to the island departs. The place doesn't really deserve the name village;  a fishing port, a marina, the ferry landing and a large parking garage where the island travelers can put their vehicles away and that's all there is. Lauwersoog did not exist until 1969 when the dam to close off the Lauwerszee, a former inlet of the Wadden Sea, was built. Just like with the Delta works in Zeeland an artificial island was constructed for building the caissons to close the dam, which became Lauwersoog. That explains the suffix 'oog' in its name, an ancient word for island in Dutch.

You get there after a long trip, during which you seem to leave civilization more and more behind you, certainly when you have passed the hamlet of Buitenpost (Outpost in Dutch). The polder landscape becoming more and more quiet and empty seems to be a forerunner of the tranquility of Schiermonnikoog. When finally the Wadden Sea dike comes into view, as a dead straight, man-made horizon, you get the feeling that you are nearing the end of the world. Behind that there is nothing or, at least, there is a world that is completely different.
 

< click on an image to enlarge

After its departure the ferry sails along the impressive outlet sluices of the Lauwersmeer lake, which was formed in 1969 as a result of the closure of the Lauwerszee. The sluices were built to allow draining away surplus water from the hinterland after the closure. In the Lauwersmeer area, with a size of about 90 km² of which 20 km² still consists of open water, we nowadays find agricultural domains, nature reserves and recreation areas, together with a huge military drill site. The combination of nature reserves and manoeuvres with tanks and heavy artillery seems to be peculiar, but nevertheless the whole area has been granted the status of National Park in 2003, just like Schiermonnikoog.
 

After a ride of less than ten minutes you have arrived at the village of Schiermonnikoog and the best way to get a first impression of it is by making a short walk around. Apart from the rural quiet here it is the neatness and the order of the village layout that attract the attention. As if it has been planned methodically, and in fact that's true indeed, as the village was built in 1720 according to a preconceived plan at the location of the settlement of Oosterburen, to house the inhabitants of Westerburen who saw their village threatened by the sea.

Everything was carefully designed, the built-over strips or 'streken', a term that still appears in street names like Middenstreek (Middle Strip), Langestreek (Long Strip), Voorstreek (Front Strip) and Nieuwestreek (New Strip), the layout of the lots, the tight building lines and the ample space that has been allocated to public green. A nice example of the latter can be seen in the Langestreek, where the houses are not only separated from the roadway by their front gardens and a public footpath, but also by a large stretch of grass with hedgerows and a double line of trees. All together it gives a very peaceful, even almost heavenly impression, intensified by the almost complete absence of motorized traffic noise.
 

The center of the village is where the Langestreek, the Middenstreek and the Nieuwestreek join with the Reeweg, leading to the former roadstead and the present-day marina. Here we find the Willemshof (William's Court) with the town hall, the welfare center, the church, the school and the two oldest hotels of the village, Hotel van der Werff and Hotel Graaf Bernstorff, named after the last private owner of the island. The terrace of the latter hotel, where you can catch the last sunrays almost until the sun has gone down, is a agreeable place to be.
 

Although Schiermonnikoog is of modest size, with its length of almost 18 km it is too big to explore completely on foot. The bicycle is more fit for that job, all the more since the island has over 30 km of excellent cycle tracks, mostly on the west part. The east part, taking up almost two-third of the island's total length, consists almost completely of barely accessible salt marshes that are opened up by one single (foot) path.

My bike tour around the island goes from the village to the south, through the Banck's Polder to the Wadden Sea dike, where I turn right and run into a stiff headwind blowing from the west. After having passed 'Banck's Bench' I get onto the Minne Onnes path, leading around the Westerplas pool. This swampy area one was a salt marsh, but after the new sea dike had been built it transformed into the island's main freshwater basin. The water here is so pure that the islanders obtain their drinking water from this reservoir. Almost all duck varieties that occur in the Netherlands can be found here.

After the Westerplas I ride through the Westerduinen (Western Dunes) in northerly direction, rounding the west point of the island. This area is dominated by the two lighthouses of Schiermonnikoog, the red-painted outer tower and the white-painted inner tower or South tower, situated closer to the village. Both towers were built in 1853-1854 with the idea that sailors would be able to use the two lights for defining their exact position at sea. If both lights were overlapping they would show a safe course of navigation from the North Sea to the Wadden Sea, between the sandbanks. However, that trick didn't work anymore after some years as a result of the constantly changing positions of sandbanks and channels.
 

The inner tower became redundant when the outer tower got a revolving light in 1910 and its light was extinguished. However, it was not pulled down but began a new life as a water tower and served this purpose until 1992. Since then several antennas were placed on the former lighthouse and presently its only function is that of a communication tower. Along the entire Dutch coastline Schiermonnikoog is the only place where you can see two full-size lighthouse towers at such a short distance of each other.

In the meantime I have arrived at the north coast on my bike tour around the island and when I cross the Badweg (Bath Road), which leads from the village to the seaside, I decide to turn left and take a look at the beach. According to the local Tourist Office (VVV) the beaches of Schiermonnikoog are wider than anywhere else along the Dutch coast and that claim could well be justified. And in the past decades some large sandbanks have formed just off the coast, which are now moving towards the island and growing together with the beach, making it even wider.

But there is something peculiar with the beaches of Schiermonnikoog. The sandbanks break the surf waves, the beach itself is only rarely washed over by the sea and in that relative lee all kinds of vegetation has started to develop like marram grass, sea buckthorn, sea milk-thistle, sea rocket and loosestrife. Even the orchid has been spotted on the beach. Large parts of beach are rapidly 'greening', a process that is not appreciated by everyone. On the other hand there's more than enough of pearly white beach left; you only have to walk for it a bit further.
 

When I have passed the final row of dunes and have the sea in sight, my eyes are struck by a curious scene: on the beach, about halfway between the dunes and the sea, I see a group of people busy placing a row of colorful flags on poles in the sand. The flags, flying in the stiff west wind, form a multi-colored sight that, of course, arouses my curiosity; what's going on here? A piece of contemporary art? Or a scientific experiment? As I'm anxious to know the answer I decide to get closer to enquire.
 

After having left the pinewood behind me I continue my ride towards the Kobbeduinen, an area where the salt marshes are penetrating deeply into the dunes, resulting in a varied and interesting scenery that is abundant with plants and animals. The path crosses a couple of creeks that are locally mentioned 'slinken'. At high tide the sea water pours into the land via these creeks and at extreme high water levels the salt marshes are completely flooded, maintaining the saltwater environment

Via the Kwelderpad (Salt Marshes Path) and the Dijkpad (Dike Path) I return at the Wadden Sea dike where I started my island tour, although I am now at the easternmost end of it. Here unfolds before my eyes the idyllic scene of grazing sheep and lambs on the green dike that borders the mud flats, a sight that is so typical of the Wadden Islands and that always gives the opportunity for shooting some endearing pictures.
 

With the stiff wind in my face I ride along the Wadden Sea dike back westward. Just when I pass the ferry causeway large flocks of geese -they seem to be ordinary greylags- are flying over my head, eventually settling on the mud flats between the ferry landing and the dike. It reminds me once more of the importance of the Wadden Sea as a place for resting and foraging of all kinds of migratory birds.
 

After having enjoyed the beautiful view of the island from the top of the bunker for some time I make a short walk to the nearby sailors' cemetery Vredehof (Garden of Piece), beautifully situated and full of  atmosphere. Here drowned victims of the two world wars, of both warring parties, are buried. Then I ride back to the village, to conclude my tour around Schiermonnikoog in style on the terrace of Hotel Graaf Bernstorff.

My first introduction to Schiermonnikoog was not disappointing at all. The island certainly fulfils its promise. Here you find all landscapes that are so characteristic of the Wadden Islands: sea, beach, dunes, forest, polder, salt marshes and of course the mud flats, with their abundance of marine animals and birds. Here you find peace and quiet, only rarely disturbed by the noise of motorized traffic.

But you also can experience the real 'island feeling' on Schiermonnikoog.  Here you feel detached from the mainland, more than on the larger islands. The pace of life is determined by the coming and going of the ferry. When the boat has delivered a new load of visitors there is quite some activity, until everyone has found his place. As soon as the ferry has departed the peace and quiet return and you know that you can't get off anymore, that there is no need and no possibility to return to the hectic life on the mainland. At least, not until the next boat. A great, comforting feeling, that the real island lover will certainly recognize and appreciate. He, or she, will surely feel at home on Schiermonnikoog!
 

More about Schiermonnikoog and related information

www.schiermonnikoog.nl
Website of the Municipality of Schiermonnikoog. Dutch language, with some content in German.

www.vvvschiermonnikoog.nl
Website of the Schiermonnikoog Tourist Office. Dutch language only.

www.wadden.nl
Website about the Dutch Wadden area by the joint Tourist Offices (VVVs) of the five Dutch Wadden islands. Dutch, English and German language.

www.schiermonnikoog.net
Private website with information about Schiermonnikoog. Dutch only.

www.schierweb.nl
Another private website with much information about history, nature and culture of Schiermonnikoog. Dutch language only.

schiermonnikoog.pagina.nl
Schiermonnikoog island web portal site.

www.nationaalpark.nl/schiermonnikoog
Website with information about the National Park Schiermonnikoog. Dutch, English and German language.

www.kustgids.nl/schiermonnikoog
Information about Schiermonnikoog of the Coastal Union EUCC, a European organization for sound coastal management. Dutch language only.

www.waddenzee.nl
Website of the Project Office InterWad with information about the Wadden Sea. Dutch and English language.

cwss.www.de
Website of the Common Wadden Sea Secretariat, een trilateral cooperative body for the protection of the Wadden area in the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. English language only. 

May 2006