Nederland - ’s-Graveland, Boekesteyn

In the year of 1625 rich Amsterdam merchants did get permission to cultivate an area west of Hilversum – nowadays called 's-Graveland. The sandy soil was excavated and transported by boat to Amsterdam, where it was used for the expansion of the city.
Initially farms were founded on the lots. Later several estates were created, covering a manor in a large park and a farmhouse with pastures and fields.

One of these estates is Boekesteyn, where the first owner Benedict Schaeck built a farm. Early 18th century the property was sold and on a map of 1725 a house is already marked. Around the year of 1750 the estate got its name “Boekesteyn”, probably named after the many beech trees on the property (boeke = beuk = beech); the lawn at the front of the manor still has some of these historic beeches.
Huis Boekesteyn was built twenty years later by Solomon Dedel. During a renovation and expansion in 1915 it got the present tower and conservatory.

In 1992 the estate is purchased by Natuurmonumenten, a Dutch nature organization. Nowadays Boekesteyn is one of the more than ten estates in 's-Graveland.