The landscape

Eernewoude is a water village that arose after the Middle Ages as a far forward post in a quiet and swampy landscape. Since its foundation, the village has been of permanent importance with the past and present of De Alde Feanen National Park. The Alde Feanen is one of the largest peat mires in Western Europe and forms a landscape with lots of water, reed beds, swamp forests and grasslands. After peat cutters changed the swampy land in the 19th century into peat lakes and cultivated nature areas, Eernewoude became a village of fishermen, hunters, skippers and reed workers. Today it is a recreational and water sports village and the tourist center of the De Alde Feanen National Park.