Havelte ( Drèents: ''Haovelte'' or ''Haovelt'') is a village in the Northeastern

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. It is located in the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Westerveld Westerveld () is a municipality in the northeastern Netherlands. The municipality Westerveld was established in 1998 out of the municipalities of Diever, Dwingeloo, Havelte, and Vledder. Westerveld is crossed by a channel, the ''Drentsche Hoofdva ...

Drenthe Drenthe () is a province of the Netherlands located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the west, Groningen to the north, and the German state of Lower Saxony to the east. As of Jan ...

, about 60 km (37.2 mi) south-southwest of

Groningen Groningen ( , ; ; or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of ...

and 120 km (74.5 mi) northeast of

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 3,825.

History

The village was first mentioned in 1342 as "to Hovelde". The etymology is unclear. Havelte is an ''

esdorp __NOTOC__ An ''Angerdorf'' (plural: ''Angerdörfer'') is a type of village that is characterised by the houses and farmsteads being laid out around a central grassed area, the ''Anger (meadow), anger'' (from the Old High German ''angar'' =pasture ...

'' on a sandy ridge. It developed in the Late Middle Ages into a little village with four triangular village squares. The ''hunebed'' (

dolmen A dolmen, () or portal tomb, is a type of single-chamber Megalith#Tombs, megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more upright megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or "table". Most date from the Late Neolithic period (4000 ...

) is located in

Havelterberg Havelterberg is a village in the Netherlands, Dutch province of Drenthe. It lies on the border of the municipalities Meppel and Westerveld, and lies about 21 km west of Hoogeveen. History The village was first mentioned in 1844 as Havelterb ...

near Havelte and is the second largest of the Netherlands. It spans nearly , and contains 9 capstones and 21 side stones. It used to have a beautiful ring of 40 stones. There were still 24 left in 1918 when

Albert Egges van Giffen Albert Egges van Giffen (14 March 1884 – 31 May 1973) was a Dutch archaeologist. Van Giffen worked at the University of Groningen and University of Amsterdam, where he was a professor of Prehistory and Germanic archaeology. He worked most of his ...

researched the dolmen. Nowadays, there are only 10 left. All the stones have been put back in there place in 1918. The Dutch Reformed is located somewhat off-centre, because the villages of

Darp Darp is a village in the Dutch province of Drenthe. In 2001, the town of Darp had 507 inhabitants. It is a suburb of the municipality of Westerveld, and lies about 19 km west of Hoogeveen. The current name was first mentioned 1851-1855 as ...

and

Uffelte Uffelte is a village in the Dutch province of Drenthe. It is a part of the municipality of Westerveld, and lies about 15 km west of Hoogeveen. Uffelte was first mentioned as Ulfo in 1040 when Emperor Henry III donated estates from a certa ...

had decided to build a joint church halfway between their villages. It was built in 1310 and enlarged in the 15th century. The tower dates from 1410. The estate Overcinge was first mentioned in 1313. The current building was built between 1630 and 1642. Between 1968 and 1969, it was altered into school building. In 1984, it became vacant and was restored to its pre-1870 design. Havelte was home to 636 people in 1840. In October 1942, an airport was built near Havelte by the

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

. 5,600 forced labourers were transported to Havelte to construct the airport. It was hardly ever used, and attacked several times. On 24 March 1945, the Americans dropped 271 tons of bombs on the airport. The location is nowadays a nature area and some of the German buildings have remained. Havelte was a separate municipality until 1998, when it became a part of Westerveld.

Gallery

File:Hunebed D53 - 5.JPG,

Dolmen A dolmen, () or portal tomb, is a type of single-chamber Megalith#Tombs, megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more upright megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or "table". Most date from the Late Neolithic period (4000 ...

D53 File:Hunebed D54 - 9.JPG,

D54 File:Kerk van Havelte.png, Church tower in Havelte File:P1020090Korenmolen van Havelte.JPG, Havelter Molen

References

{{Authority control Municipalities of the Netherlands disestablished in 1998 Populated places in Drenthe Former municipalities of Drenthe Westerveld