Carpentry workshop The Frensen House - Meppen

Jan Frensen Jr. was born in 1889 in Meppen, at Goornstraat 4, the house where he would later begin his carpentry career. At a young age, he left to learn the trade from a carpenter “behind Coevorden,” but in 1905 he returned to his birthplace. There, he set up a carpentry workshop with a hand-dug saw pit in the yard where logs were sawn into planks by hand.

Albert Meijer and Roelof Nijmeijer helped him. They earned 50 cents a day for their work, a higher wage than the standard agricultural day rate at the time. Since there was no other carpenter in Meppen back then, Frensen had no shortage of jobs. In fact, there’s hardly a house in picturesque Meppen he didn’t work on. The village remains a rare, well-preserved example of authentic rural architecture, with clear signs of local craftsmanship.

After his father died, Frensen sold the family home and in 1916 built a new workshop at Kockstraat 3. The original workbench came with him. In 1968, his son Jan Willem also took over the sawmill from the Holman family in Zweeloo. The family business remained active well into old age.

The workshop is still almost fully intact. The machines stand as they were arranged in the 1920s. On open Saturday afternoons, they’re brought back to life, you’ll hear the rhythm of belts and saws once again.