Old neighbors.
From the Pump Square, it is a few steps walk toward the lighthouse to the Smidstraat, where at the corner of the Noorderstraat there is still an old fisherman’s cottage, the only one on this spot that was spared in the war. Past here is a staircase to the Lighthouse and Boulevard in case you take a smaller round trip.
We strolled further down Parallelweg and through quaint old streets like Bergstraat and Vinkenbuurt. They were lively neighborhoods where joys and sorrows were shared and residents held neighborhood parties in the streets with lots of accordion music. We descend to North Street and walk toward the Old Catholic Church. The level difference is because Egmond is a dune village and the crooked streets break the sea breeze. The cottages are still popular to live in, but house prices are grimly high for young Egmonders.
Stores in Egmond
Widows of fishermen used to start their own nerins and some of the houses can still be seen to have been stores. Names like Sientje Pek, Annie Eeltink, Anna Belleman, Annie Genet and Clean Lena have not been forgotten. Remodeling and new construction in these neighborhoods often did take into account the style of what was there. You should see it here in winter at dusk, when the lighthouse shines its light over the cottages. Or if it snows…
Fisherman’s cottages
From the forecourt of the O.K. church (see the next section), we cross Voorstraat, go east a bit and turn right into Schoolstraat. Numbers 3 – 9 still have a pair of cool fishermen’s cottages from around 1900. They are inhabited and therefore cannot be visited. The little houses are so low, you can touch the gutter. At the rear, however, dormers have been added. Egmond aan Zee is truly a rooftop chapel village. The cottages have stood the test of time because owners of some properties refused to leave their uninhabitable homes. Things can change, because now they are municipal monuments.
At the end of School Street, we turn right and soon see the museum. Opposite the museum is another one of those (inhabited) fishermen’s cottages. It does not have a front door; the back door opens onto the courtyard. That was where the fish were cleaned, where the dabs hung to dry and where the dung heap was of human remains, covered with beach grass. No hallway, but at most a “clog hossie,” like the fence, made of beach wood.
How does a large family fit into such a cottage? Well, simply, a box bed in the room for dad, mom and the youngest kids and the rest slept in the attic, in the absence of straw mattresses on the nets if necessary. Father was often away from home and the boys went to sea early anyway, which also saved space. Still long were the alleys of white sand
Pump Square (Hospitality Square)
The pump. Drawing water at the pump and exchanging among ourselves the latest village news. This is how it must have been for centuries at the pump in Pump Square. The pump that stands today dates from the late 1800s and originally stood in Workum, Friesland, and is unfortunately no longer in operation.
It is now a sanctuary to have an ice cream, or your brought bottle of drink, or to just watch the always engaging life in this sea village. Toward the sea, the road surface has an undulating pavement, not old, but distinct. Those blue stones are found almost exclusively in coastal towns because they used to be used as ballast in ships.
The village center, where around 1600 the in the North Street indicates the northern boundary and the South Street indicates the southern boundary there, the Pump Square is located in the middle of the village. On the site of Paal 38 stood the former colony house St. Anthony, and on the corner of Zuiderstraat a stately building serving as an Old Catholic church in 1851 and then for a very long time as a post office).
Pump Square 3 (story of myself)
The website manager and creator of Egmondonline(Erik Reemst) was born with some pride at Pompplein 3 which is now an Alecci family Pizzeria but was used by his parents Wil and Willem Reemst as Liquor Store “de Pomp” (1967 through 1978), Beverage Wholesaler “Roodhart” (1967 through 1978) and later Café Bar “het Vaatje” (1972 through 1978) Which is now Café bar “t Swintje”. She later moved to Front Street (Dec. 1975) in Teijsen’s framing and gallantry store. Where liquor store Meijer is now located.
Flooding in downtown and Pump Square
It was a somewhat cluttered, but cozy square with elevations that children were very sweet with and benches, surrounded by cafes, sidewalk cafes, eateries and stores. From here you could see, hear and smell the sea and the lighthouse is nearby. Against flooding today, an underground water basin has been created where for in the front street where the duck pond used to be. The square is now anno 2011 again without elevations and plane the Pump was restored and works again, in the square are now placed lovely large benches.
