In Tweede Exloërmond, peatland history, church architecture and the Exloërkijl nature area come together. You can explore the village through various themes: its origins as a peat colony, the historical layout of the land and canals, and the architectural history of individual churches. When planning your visit, you can decide whether landscape history or architectural details should be the focus of your stay.
Peat Colony, Field Layout and Canals
Tweede Exloërmond was founded around 1840 as a peat colony. The reclamation of the land created long, narrow strip-shaped plots. The division of the fields into long strips adds a spatial perspective to the story of the village’s founding: the history of the village includes not only its establishment but also the way the land was divided.
Tweede Exloërmond is one of the Mond villages in the Hunze Valley. These villages were laid out perpendicular to the older peat villages, which ran along the peat transport canals. This difference in orientation helps put the settlement pattern into context: here, the Mond villages laid out across the older settlements contrast with the villages aligned with the peat canals.
A double canal system was laid out in Tweede Exloërmond. The Noorderdiep was dug parallel to the Zuiderdiep; both canals have since been filled in. The canal system is therefore part of the historical settlement pattern, rather than today’s open waterways. Numerous traditionally designed farmhouses also stand along the Zuiderdiep. They add an architectural perspective on the village to the history of its canals.
Nature and Architectural Heritage
Behind Tweede Exloërmond lies the 70-hectare Exloërkijl nature area. It was planted in the 1970s and 1980s around a sand extraction lake between old peatlands. The landscape’s history thus brings together the older peatland and a later nature area established around a lake created by sand extraction.
The former Gereformeerde Kerk in Tweede Exloërmond was built in 1908 by architect Klaas Prummel. Its design combines Neo-Gothic and Neo-Renaissance elements. The building offers a concrete way to explore the village’s architectural history, while its other churches have their own architectural styles and dates.
Under the name ODEON Cultuurhuis, a church space is rented out for cultural and social activities. These include concerts, workshops, theatre performances, exhibitions and conferences. The programme ranges from performances and exhibitions to workshops and conferences.
The Baptist church acquired its own small church building with a façade tower in 1922. The Hervormde Kerk dates from 1939 and has a free-standing side tower. Comparing these two buildings draws attention to their different tower designs; together with the former Gereformeerde Kerk, they span the period from 1908 to 1939 and showcase a range of architectural features.
A weather-dependent winter option
You can go ice skating at the Tweede Exloërmond natural ice rink when bodies of water are frozen. This option depends on frost. So plan skating as a conditional winter activity, not as something guaranteed to be available on a particular travel date.
Discover more destinations: Klijndijk, Drouwenermond, Borger, Drouwen, Bronneger, Odoornerveen, Valthe, Drouwenerveen.
For the broader travel overview: Borger-Odoorn.
