Everyone is related in this Dutch hamlet

Everyone knowing each other is quite common in small villages and towns worldwide, but Zeldam, an old hamlet that falls under the municipality Hof van Twente, takes it a step further. There, just about everyone is related to each other, AD reports.

Willem Overbeek (91) lives in a strictly illegal home on his farm. “Two wooden camping chalets against each other: you can’t get any better than that,” he told AD. He couldn’t get a permit 30 years ago and decided to just go for it. “If I had to wait for the municipality, I would still be in my old house.”

Almost everyone in Zeldam has Overbeek as a surname. And even if they don’t, there is still a good chance they're related. “Some family members have even married each other,” Gerrit Overbeek (82), Willem’s second cousin and brother-in-law, told the newspaper. “It took the bishop another 40 years to allow that marriage.”

Zeldam, previously called Kotwijk, is an old hamlet now closely connected with nearby Wiene. But once the two communities considered themselves quite separate. “The road from Delden to Goor was the border. One one side was Wiene, on the other Zeldam. Wiene had a school. That is now one of the binding elements, but at the time, it was mainly a reason for separation. We Catholics were not allowed to go there. I would rather walk 5 kilometers in clogs to Goor than to the school in Wiene,” Willem explained.

Now, Zeldam and Wiene have a joint neighborhood association, and the summer festivals they throw together are the highlight of the year. The biggest tourist attraction is the Mariakapel on Morsdammerweg. A cycling route from Goor passes by it.