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Zorgvlied (The Netherlands)

Drenthe province

by Jarig Bakker, 6 Apr 2004
adopted 1 Jan 2000; design: Piet Bultsma

Zorgvlied village flag
Zorgvlied Coat of Arms

See also:

Zorgvlied village flag

Zorgvlied is not only the name of the largest cemetery in Amsterdam, but also a village in the municipality of Westerveld, Drenthe province. It is on the border of the provinces of Drenthe and Fryslân. The neighbouring village of Wateren grew dramatically in the 19 century from 48 to 66 inhabitants, but on the site of Zorgvlied itself were only extensive heatherfields.
In 1818 the "Maatschappij van Weldadigheid" (Society for Charity) founded there an agricultural school, abolished in 1859. The soil was sold. In 1879 the territory of Zorgvlied came into possession of Lodewijk Guillaume Verwer, who exploited the land and grew chicoree there. He invited tobacco-growers from Brabant with their families to come and live there. On the road to Elsloo (Fryslân) he founded a small tobacco factory. From Fryslân he attracted Roman Catholic people (Verwer was a Catholic himself), who started agricultural activities. In 1884 the Saint Andrew's parish was founded in Zorgvlied.

Coat of Arms: "In purple a golden tobaccoplant with three silver flowers with golden buds and two golden leaves; the plant in base with two silver St. Andrew's crosses".
Flag: "Purple with in the hoist a yellow standing tobaccoplant with three white flowers, budded yellow, and with two leaves; a rectangular yellow fly-chevron with the apex between 1/3 and 1/2 flaglength".

Explanation:
This is one of the rare coats of arms where the heather is not painted in red but in purple (violet). The choice for the "rare purple" was also made to indicate the very special character of the village.The St. Andrew's crosses symbolize the parish saint, St. Andrew. They also refer to Amsterdam, because an Amsterdam canal-house was shipped to and rebuilt in Zorgvlied. The tobacco plant is self-explanatory. The flag is derived from the arms. The rectangular yellow chevron symbolizes here the typical
form of the village-territory: a carpenter's square.

The Coat of Arms and flag were designed in 1999 by Piet Bultsma from Kollum. The Coat of Arms and flag were presented by the village-landlord to the village people during the Millennium celebration in 1999/2000.
Source: Vexilla Nostra 240, 2004, article by Hans van Heijningen.
Jarig Bakker, 6 Apr 2004

Zorgvlied Coat of Arms

by Jarig Bakker, 6 Apr 2004