Wemeldinge, Hansweert and Yerseke

No wild nature in Zuid-Beveland, but neatly laid out polders with neat arable lands that are used for agriculture and fruit growing. On the peninsula between the Eastern and Western Scheldt, 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, but from the Middle Ages onwards the area was gradually reclaimed. 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. The peninsula has benefited greatly from the construction of the Delta Works, which opened up Central Zeeland to the rest of the Netherlands. After just one and a half kilometres, a beautiful windmill presents itself. Close by in the village of Wemeldinge is the mill Aeolus, a corn and hulling mill that was built in 1869. This tower mill was the answer to the construction of corn mill De Hoop (elsewhere in the village) and is, to surpass this mill, higher and larger than that mill. The mill has three pairs of millstones and a hulling stone. The rods are the oldest rods that are still in use in the Netherlands and date from 1871. The mill is named after a Greek wind god and it is therefore not difficult to guess that the mill derived its power to turn and grind from this element. Nowadays the Aeolus is occasionally put into operation by a volunteer miller.