The digging open in Gedempte Vaart in Gasselternijveen is a step closer. The municipality of Aa and Hunze is allocating 100,000 euros for a feasibility study into refreshing the village center. The recovery of the Oude Waterweg is also on the table.
Refurbishing the center is a great wish of the De Brug village cooperative, the Dorpsbelangenvereniging of Gasselternijveen. Traffic must be safer, the drainage of rainwater has to be better and tourists have to come to the village more often. According to the village cooperative, a reopening of the canal fits in well with that picture.
Gasselternijveen was a flourishing trading place for centuries, driven by the peat trade. First along the Hunze, later via the canal. Those who pay attention will still see traces of it in the village. Streets such as the Havenkade and the Scheepvaartlaan, gravestones with anchors in the cemetery and the wind vane on top of the church in the form of a ship.
Now the streets are dry, although the course of the Oude Vaart towards Stadskanaal can still be clearly seen from the air. According to Piet Wolters, chairman of the village cooperative, a part of it should come back. “Ships don’t have to sail there. But 400 to 600 meters of water, from Hoofdstraat to Ceresstraat, would be beautiful.”
The Aa and Hunze city council already gave the green light last year for a feasibility study into a makeover for the center. Wolters is happy that the digging of the canal is also seriously viewed. “It would bring the charm back to the village and that is also good for the quality of life.”
Many canals and canals in the Veenkoloniën were filled in in the 60s and 70s. With the arrival of larger ships and a decrease in the peat trade, they were already superfluous for a while. Residents use the water mainly as a dumping place for garbage. There were wide, straight motorways in its place.
“They now regret that in many places in Drenthe, Groningen and Friesland,” says Hendrik Hachmer. He is director of the Veenkoloniaal Museum in Veendam and knows a lot about the Veenkolonial Shipping History. “They have become race tracks, because the car had to get all the space. And the middle class mainly wanted parking spaces.”
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