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Monday, May 18, 2020

Tulip Time

Every year Holland Michigan holds a festival called Tulip Time.  More than 500,000 people come from all over for this time to celebrate the Dutch heritage of the area.  There is Dutch dancing in wooden shoes and authentic costumes, parades, carnival rides, lots of food and tulips!  Tulips are planted in mass quantities all over the city.
This year, as is happening with so many things, Tulip Time was cancelled.  However, the tulips are still blooming, so Heather and I drove out to see them on Tuesday.


Something we saw as we drove through Holland was this church.  It was built in 1856, when the area was first settled.  It's a big part of the history of Holland and has been featured in a few books. It was previously 9th street Christian Reformed Church, now it's called Pillar Christian Reformed Church.  Another interesting thing you can't see on the picture is the Rooster weathervane on the steeple.  It's something that a lot of churches in the Netherlands have to symbolize Peter and his denial of Christ, and a reminder that the church is made up of the broken and the blessed.


 Then we stopped here - Windmill Island.  This is the DeZwaan Windmill, built in the Netherlands in 1761.  It was very damaged when it was purchased in 1964 and moved here.  It's the oldest, authentic, working windmill in the United States and the last windmill that was allowed to leave the Netherlands.



A sign of the times!  Windmill Island is set up like an old Dutch town with houses and buildings you can go through.  Everything was closed, but we could still walk around outside and look at everything.





 Beautiful tulips everywhere!



Dutch style buildings with more tulips.



A bridge over a canal.






So many varieties of tulips.



The Windmill.




This windmill is huge!  It's the height of a 12 story building.  Can you see the blue door on the right side?  It's actually a double door that opened to allow farmers to drive their team of horses and wagon full of wheat into it.  Then they would unload the wheat and using a pulley system, hoist it to the fifth flour where it was ground.




 A stone that was used in the windmill to grind wheat into flour.  Wheat is still ground into flour here.



Surrounding the windmill are fields of tulips.



A final view.  Such a pretty spot!

13 comments:

Arlene G said...

I would love to see this in person!! Just amazingly beautiful.

Sylvia said...

Loved seeing these pictures Mari. Hope you're managing ok in this lockdown.

Ramblings of a Retired Lady said...

I missed this yesterday but the tulips are beautiful and loved seeing the windmills too. I would love to visit Holland.

Linda said...

Beautiful And you know what I think of all this social distancing/ reminder stuff...nonsense. Just saying.

Changes in the wind said...

Oh my thank you for taking us with you and sharing all the beautiful pictures and information. That church is awesome and so is the windmill and of course the tulips.

Jenny the Pirate said...

WOW I'd love to see that windmill in person, and take fifty pictures of it! Just a wondrous sight. Such great history there. Tulips are incredible. xoxo

Terri D said...

How beautiful and the weather looks perfect for your visit with Heather. I seem to remember you posting about this before - perhaps last year? The windmill is so interesting and I think it is great that they are still griding wheat into flour there. Thanks for taking us along!

Laurel Wood said...

Amazing! I would love to visit there. Your photos are just beautiful. I'm trying to start blogging again if you get a chance to stop by. Have a good afternoon.

Hootin Anni said...

Oh, I'm sure glad you two decided to take a drive there. Stunning, awesome, a truly a treasure for your state!

Sally said...

So many beautiful tulips! They are actually my favorite of all flowers. The first tulips I received as a teenager; I was home sick and a boy from our church, Roger, who like my late brother was developmentally challenged. He had walked several miles to our house, and gave them to my mom at the door for me. Isn't it wonderful
to have good memories!

Such pretty photo's, Mari. I especially love the church!

xoxo

Debi said...

Wow! What beautiful tulips! You are so lucky to live in a place with so much history. Thank you for sharing these gorgeous photos!

Kelly-Anne ♥ The Diary of a Country Girl said...

Oh, how lovely it must have been to drive and see all the beautiful tulips - they are so bright and cheery! Wish I could have come along with you! You got some beautiful pictures, Mari.
Sending hugs your way!

LL Cool Joe said...

Years ago we used to go to Holland, in the Netherlands every year. It is very beautiful, and quite unique I think. Tulips give such amazing colour to any landscape.