Old harbour Kolhorn - Kolhorn

You stand here at the old harbour of Kolhorn. Once a lively fishing and trading village on the Zuiderzee, even a city! Now it is a beautiful place to enjoy on one of the lovely terraces and the view over the water and the West Frisian Omringdike.

Have you already seen the old peat barn? Or taken a look at the foundation of the former mill? In 2020 a steel mini mill was placed here as a tribute to the original mill and as a reminder of Kolhorn as harbour place on the Zuiderzee.

In the past Kolhorn lay by the sea. Skippers transported peat, fish, shells and other goods between Friesland, the Zuiderzee and the emerging Amsterdam. The Kolhorn skippers were masters in transhipment. Big ships could not pass the shallows of the Zuiderzee, so at Texel their cargo was transferred to smaller lighters from Kolhorn. This way fish, shells, peat and other goods found their way to the city. The peat came from the east of the country and was stored in black peat barns.

Besides trade Kolhorn also lived from eelgrass fishing (sea grass), which grew around Wieringen and was used to strengthen dikes and cover roofs. Later the fishermen here caught anchovies, until the Afsluitdike and the land reclamation of the Waard and Groet polder and the Wieringermeer forever changed the landscape. The sea disappeared, and with it the fishery. Yet Kolhorn stood firm. The village moves with the times, but the authentic appearance remains. In 1988 Kolhorn was declared a national protected village view.