Nederland - Spaarndam

Spaarndam is a small quaint village, which was was created around a dam where the river Spaarne flows into the IJ. This dam was built by count Floris V van Holland in 1285 (he was also responsible for the construction of castle Muiderslot.

The oldest part of the village lies around the Westkolk. There you will also find the Kolksluis, the oldest working lock in Europe dating back to the year 1280. The village collected toll at the dam and people made their living from fishing. From 1812 to 1927, the western (oldest) part of Spaarndam was an independent municipality. Nowadays it belongs to the municipality of Haarlem.

Spaarndam has always been strongly connected to water. It is also famous because of a story within the 1865 American novel, Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates. The story within the book is about a Dutch boy, "The Hero of Haarlem," who stuck his finger in a dike to prevent the town from flooding. The story became a popular legend in America. In 1950 the local tourist bureau put a statue of this character on the dam in Spaarndam (PiP5).