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 In the early 19th century, there was a large underclass of people living in poverty in Dutch cities. A group called the Society of Benevolence had the idea of setting up colonies for those people out in the countryside. The people would be given accommodation and food but would have to work on the farms to repay the debt and would have to dress well, attend religious services and so on. There were also some "unfree" colonies, effectively prisons, for people who didn't want to move from the cities voluntarily. Veenhuizen was a free colony but contained two or maybe three unfree colonies. In the late 19th century, the society went bankrupt, partly because none of the labourers or the people in charge knew much about farming. The Department of Justice then took over so Veenhuizen became an open prison containing two or three higher-security prisons. Some new houses were built to house the prison staff. Since 1984, the village has been a normal village except that the architecture is slightly unusual and every house now has a sign outside explaining something about its history. One or two of the prisons here are still operational but the one in this picture is now the National Prison Museum. UTC Time: 13:35, Thursday 05 September 2019 Local Time: 15:35, Thursday 05 September 2019 Estimate of longitude: 6° 23' 22.38" E = 6.389550° Estimate of latitude: 53° 2' 25.22" N = 53.040340° Possible error on position estimate: 5 metres | |