Beach posts do not exactly enjoy great public interest. However, with his book ‘Beach poles of the Netherlands’, Martijn de Groot shows how unjustified this is. This book is the completion of a self-imposed challenge to photograph all the beach posts along the Dutch coast while walking and then investigate their history and meaning.
In the book, these walks are linked together into a trip from Den Helder to Zeeland Flanders and from Texel to Schiermonnikoog, a trip that is followed by chapters. In it, the author describes, among other things, where and when beach posts were introduced to measure where coastal erosion occurred. In addition, many facts about beach posts and their surroundings are discussed, interspersed with anecdotes (sometimes with mild irony) about the author’s quest. He expresses his concern about the maintenance of the beach posts, which are now redundant, because coastal measurements are now carried out with GPS. Hence the important message in this book: beach posts belong to our cultural heritage and therefore deserve our protection. ‘Beach poles of the Netherlands’ is a very entertaining, beautifully illustrated book that successfully and rightly frees our beach poles from their anonymity.
Beach posts from the Netherlands. Author: Martijn de Groot. Publisher: Anoda, 2023. Number of pages: 200. Format: 200 × 240 mm, Full color, sewn and bound. ISBN: 978-94-91899-51-5. Available via: www.anoda.nl/product/strandpalen
Above text: Joost van Reisen
