Origin
Vloothuis Origin
"The grapevine was never like this....."
Once upon a time, in a country far away, there was a little boy called Vloothuis Junior. He grew up to be a big boy, then found himself a nice girl and settled on a farm somewhere in Tubantia at the far East of Holland, in a place now known as Twente. The jury is still out on whether this farm was very small or very large, or something a bit more average. Whether our Vloothuis Junior became a "Herenboer" or a "Keuterboer" nobody really knows. But he did build a place to live long and happy ever after:
Kasteel Vloothuis in Twente
The story varies from a magnificent big castle with plenty of towers and numerous pots of gold in the cellars, to a 'Drentse Plaggenhut' which was the more common housing in those days. The precise location is still somewhat of a mystery, although it is believed to be somewhere within the Dutch-Bermuda triangle of Almelo, Enschede and Nordhorn. The word is that there may be several tribal references and other trivia available from the archives of the Prince of Weerselo (once a Vloothuis) and his following. Details are scarce, the natives don't reveal their secrets easily. Only once a year during a few days in the middle of the Northern winter they are known to be more forthcoming.
Drentse Plaggenhut
Anyway, our forefather from Twente has been a busy boy. He went forth and multiplied, and his descendants can now be found all over the world. If you are one of them, make sure you do subscribe to this mailing list to keep in touch with your fellow Vloothuis tribe members. If you have a better story on this legendary pot of gold in Twente, or have a more authoritative résumé on the Vloothuis origin, please post it into the mailing-list for us all to read.
