Jaap van 't Veen's photos with the keyword: It Oranjewâld

The Belvedère is a watchtower in the forest area of Oranjewoud. Andreas Willem Tjaarda - owner of Logement Heidewoud, nowadays Golden Tulip Hotel Tjaarda - had a wooden watchtower built on the Berg van Brongerga , a small hill almost ten meters high, in 1917. The area was and is known as Tjaarda’s Bosch (Tjaarda´s Forest). In 1924 this wooden construction was replaced by a reinforced concrete tower due to dilapidation. The octagonal watchtower has nine stairs of twelve steps and a height of eighteen meters. When the height of the hill is added, the eye level of a person on the tower is almost thirty meters above ground level. This tower also fell into disrepair, but instead of being demolished, it was restored after seventy years. The observation tower is a special feature: it is one of the oldest concrete structures with such large dimensions. The Belvedère is a Dutch national monument.

Huize Oranjestein (Country House Oranjestein) was built on the site where, around the 18th century, the residence of the estate manager of Landgoed Oranjewoud (Country Estate Oranjewoud) stood. The estate belonged to the Van Nassau-Dietz family. Oranjestein was bought in 1820 by the merchant Pieter Cats. The property was thoroughly rebuilt by the new owner and was completed two years later. More alterations followed; a final thorough renovation took place in 2008/2009, whereby the house retained its original 19th century atmosphere. The Oranjestein estate is still privately owned. Access to the estate/park is restricted to a number of Sundays in the summer. Since 2003, the Oranjestein estate is a national Dutch monument.

A klokkenstoel (bell tower/belfry) as a separate structure probably owes its origin to the fact that certain areas in Friesland were too poor or the communities too small, to build a church. Sometimes a church was built without a tower and the bell was placed in a separate bell tower. It also happened that when a church building or church tower had fallen into ruin, a bell tower was built. Usually, the bell tower is located in a village or hamlet. Almost all freestanding bell towers can be found in the province of Friesland and therefore the bell tower can be called a typical Frisian construction. Brongerga is such a hamlet (nearby Oranjewoud and Heerenveen). In 1315 it already had a little church and a drawing from 1722 shows that there was still a church, but it must have been demolished shortly afterwards. Nowadays, only the belfry remains in the churchyard, where an old tombstone mentions the year 1711. The bell tower contains a very old bell from the 13th century, which came from a belfry in another Frisian village. The current bell tower was renovated in 2006.