's-Graveland

's-Graveland is a village in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Wijdemeren, and lies about 4 km northwest of Hilversum. The former municipality of 's-Graveland merged with Loosdrecht and Nederhorst den Berg on 1 January 2002 to form the new municipality Wijdemeren.

The village was first mentioned in 1634 as "de akkers in 's Graevenlandt" and means "the land of Count of Holland" (Albrecht van Beieren) and served as a hunting ground. This area was cultivated from 1625; nine years later the resulting polder was parceled out to six people.

Estates


In 1634, Andries Bicker became the owner of five plots with a depth of about 1,100m in 's-Graveland. The village became a popular location for wealthy families from Amsterdam, who bought, built or inherited villas and estates there.


 * Bantam: Cornelis van Davelaer
 * Boekesteyn: Catharina Bicker (1642–1678) and Jacob de Petersen
 * Gooilust: Andries Bicker, P.C. Hooft, Jacob Bicker Hendriksz.
 * Hilverbeek: Ant. Oetgens van Waveren
 * Land en Bosch:
 * Jagtlust:
 * Schaep en Burgh: Gerard Simonsz. Schaep & Abel Matthijsz. Burgh
 * Schoonoord: Anthony Oetgens van Waveren
 * Spanderswoud: Andries Bicker (-1652), Cornelia Bicker (-1678), Geertruid Bicker (-1702), Pieter Pama (1766-1780)
 * Sperwershof: Andries Bicker and Benedictus Schaeck.
 * Spiegelrust: Anthony Oetgens van Waveren, Abel Mathijsz Burgh
 * Swaenenburgh: Cornelis van Davelaer
 * Trompenburgh: the plot was owned by Andries and his sister Dieuwertje Bicker. The mansion in Dutch Baroque style was built for Cornelis Tromp, designed by Daniel Stalpaert.

Early history
Transport by ship, initially via the Zuiderzee and the Utrechtse Vecht, was often preferred over carriage. The road to Weesp was improved in 1627. The 's-Gravelandseweg was not paved. The 's-Gravelandsevaart, dug out in 1634, used to be a major connection between Vecht and Loosdrecht. The Weespertrekvaart was dug out in 1639. Ships transported the excavated sand to Amsterdam. In 1644, a regular barge to Amsterdam was introduced, and not long after a school and church, designed by Daniel Stalpaert.

In 1672, the French caused a lot of damage, destroying homes and killing inhabitants. In 1673 the French abandoned the area again, and many homes were rebuilt, new gardens were added in French fashion.

Notable people

 * Gustav Leonhardt (1928–2012), Dutch keyboard player, conductor, musicologist, teacher and editor
 * Tjalling Koopmans (1910–1985), Dutch-American mathematician and economist and winner of the 1975 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences
 * Hendrik Jan Schimmel