True route

Echten is an old esdorp, founded around 1180 as an area owned by the monastery of Ruinen. In the 13th century, descendants of the Van Coevorden family (the noble owners of the castle in Coevorden) settled in Echten and built a manor house there. The oldest part of the current house probably dates from the 15th century. The garden around the house is of a much more recent date and was laid out in 1992.

Forestry Ruinen
This 1000-hectare forest and heath area was created in 1940. Before that time it was a peat, heath and drift sand area. The forestry consists largely of coniferous trees; deciduous trees are much less common. The natural areas have been left undisturbed during the extraction. As a result, the wet heath vegetation of the Gijsselter- and Pesserkoelen as well as the shifting sands of the Echtenerzand with its juniper shrubs and erratic flying pines have been preserved.
Nest cavities of the black woodpecker have been carved into the beeches in the beech avenue, which runs through the middle of the forestry. Tawny owls, stock pigeons and jackdaws breed in the old burrows; martens and bats also raise their young there. On the heath you can encounter the adder, the grass snake and the viviparous lizard.

Kalenberg and Fluitenberg
Fluitenberg and Kalenberg. Both villages are built on a hill of boulder sand that originated in the last Ice Age.

Hoogeveen
Hoogeveen was founded in 1625. Then Roelof van Echten (a member of one of the oldest noble families of Drenthe and living in Huis te Echten) bought a large peat area in the kerspel Zuidwolde. He obtained control over the area and the administration of justice and henceforth called himself Lord of Echten and Echtens Hoogeveen.
The Compagnie van 5000 Morgen was established for the reclamation of this area (5000 Morgen is approximately 6000 hectares) and a canal (currently Hoogeveensche Vaart) with side channels was dug for the opening up. A village was created at the intersection with the first neighborhood (now the Hoofdstraat). Hoogeveen grew into the largest peat producer in the Netherlands.
One of the most famous buildings in Hoogeveen is the Reformed Church (1652) with the statue of the Drummer. Roelof van Echten made his own chapel available to the residents for the Sunday service. Before the service he let a drum go around to drum up the people. 

Southwolde
The area around Zuidwolde is of a completely different nature. This area lies on a low boulder clay and is 16 meters higher than the surrounding area. The esdorp Zuidwolde originated in the Middle Ages along the old connecting road to Ommen in the middle of the peat area. The peat area near Ten Arlo and Steenbergen was purchased in 1625 by Roelof van Echten.