History of the Zuidlaardermeer

From post-glacial meltwater and peat cutting to the protected reserve of today.

Born from the Ice Age

The Zuidlaardermeer formed around 10,000 years ago when meltwater from the last Ice Age left a large depression between the Hondsrug ridge and the Groningen clay lands. The depression slowly filled with rain and groundwater and grew over with reeds, peat and deciduous forest.

Peat, fish and transport

In the Middle Ages, farmers from Zuidlaren, Noordlaren and Foxhol used the lake for fishing and peat cutting. Around the lake, large-scale peat extraction shaped the landscape — you can still see traces of it in the parcel patterns of the meadows. The connecting canals carried shipping traffic between Groningen and Drenthe for centuries.

From productive land to nature reserve

Well into the twentieth century the Zuidlaardermeer was actively used: fishing, ice skating, sailing and haymaking all happened here. Only in the 1980s did the focus shift to conservation, and in 2009 the area was officially designated Natura 2000. Since then, Het Groninger Landschap and Staatsbosbeheer have worked to restore the reed marshes and wet meadows.

Historic places nearby

• Klooster Yesse (Essen) — a vanished Cistercian abbey from 1215 with visible foundations.
• Reformed church of Noordlaren — a Romanesque church from the twelfth century.
• De Groeve — an old peat-colony village on the northern shore.
• Gasterse Duinen — drifting sand and heath, a short cycle from the west bank.