Kinderdijk is a small town in the province of South Holland. The area around Kinderdijk is said to have been settled by farmers as early as 1000 AD. There are various legends surrounding the name (Kinderdijk). Was a cradle with a child washed up intact on a dike during the devastating St. Elisabeth flood in 1421? Was the dike built by the hands of children? Or is the name simply meant to express the low height of the dike? No one knows for sure. In any case, kinderdeijk became one of Holland's most popular - and most photographed - attractions in 1997 at the latest: UNSECO included the stately windmills in the World Heritage List. Kinderdijk has 19 well-preserved windmills, which were built in the 18th century to pump the surplus water from the polders and today partly house museums.
