Kruiningen, Yerseke and Kapelle

No wild nature in Zuid-Beveland, but neatly landscaped polders with tight arable land that is used for agriculture and fruit growing. On the peninsula between the Oosterschelde and Westerschelde, the battle against the rising water has been won and the fertile land is gratefully cultivated. In the third and fourth centuries, this part of Zeeland did not yet exist and the area was under water, but from the Middle Ages the area was reclaimed piece by piece and the population living there can make an excellent living from agriculture and fishing. In 1530 during the St. Felix Flood and in 1570 during the All Saints Flood, the water reclaimed a large part of the land, but the most famous flood in Dutch history is undoubtedly the Flood of 1953. The eastern part of Zuid-Beveland was flooded. to stand. The peninsula has benefited greatly from the construction of the Delta Works, which made Central Zeeland more accessible to the rest of the Netherlands. In Krabbedijke you see a ground sailer that was used as a flour mill. The round stone mill, built in 1862, is named after the first miller (Jan Rosier) and is called De Rozeboom. The mill also had a hulling work, but that has been removed. The mill ground grain until 1947, but then it was decommissioned. Better maintained is the Old Mill that you encounter at the end of the tour in Kruiningen. This grist mill was built in 1801 and continued to grind grist using wind power until 1953. In the second half of the twentieth century, the mill was extensively restored twice, after the municipality bought the ground sailor in 1959. In 2001, the entire mill was moved a bit, so that it could catch the wind better. A volunteer miller regularly puts the mill, which is equipped with two pairs of grinding stones, into operation.