Holland to Holland tour connects residents with Dutch heritage 

Linda Kaiser grew up with a strong connection to the Netherlands.

Her parents moved from the Netherlands to the United States. She still has aunts, uncles and cousins who live there. Dutch traditions and history have long been part of her life.

This fall, Kaiser will help nearly 50 West Michigan residents learn more about such connections.

Kaiser, owner of Holland Tasting Tours, is helping lead the Holland to Holland: Tour Through the Netherlands. The sold-out trip runs Oct. 12-21 and will take travelers to places in the Netherlands connected to the history and traditions of Holland, Michigan.

“I was especially interested in taking on this role because it provides an opportunity to share that connection with others,” Kaiser says. “As someone who values both my Dutch heritage and the history of Holland, Michigan, I am excited to help participants experience the places that shaped the Dutch immigrants who came to America and ultimately helped establish the community we know today.”

Because organizers want travelers to learn more about Holland’s Dutch history and build stronger ties between Holland and the Netherlands, the trip won’t focus on the Netherlands’ biggest tourist attractions. Travelers instead will visit places connected to some of Holland’s most familiar landmarks and traditions.

They’ll see where the city’s De Zwaan windmill came from, meet tulip growers who provide bulbs used during Tulip Time, and visit places connected to the Rev. Albertus Van Raalte before he led Dutch immigrants to West Michigan.

“It’s not a standard, ‘We’re going to go to Amsterdam and the other big cities,'” Windmill Island Gardens Director Matt Helmus says. “We don’t want to see the stereotypical Dutch stuff. We want to see West Michigan connection Dutch stuff.”

Focus on local ties

The Windmill Island Gardens staff had discussed the idea for more than a decade: What if Holland residents could travel to the Netherlands to see where many of their community’s traditions began?

Helmus says the idea picked up after he traveled to the Netherlands in 2019 to visit places connected to Windmill Island Gardens, but the COVID-19 pandemic put the plans on hold.

The idea was revived last fall. Helmus began working with Witte Travel & Tours and the Holland Convention & Visitors Bureau, and others to plan a trip focused on Holland’s Dutch connections.

Mindy Miller of Witte Travel & Tours says Helmus, Kaiser and Milly Hudgins of the Visitors Bureau helped develop the tour. Each brought a different view of the ties between Holland and the Netherlands.

Witte Travel has organized other heritage tours during its 50-year history. Miller says this trip stands out because the itinerary focuses on connections to Holland, Michigan, while still giving travelers time to explore Dutch history and life in the Netherlands.

Stops include Vinkel, where De Zwaan was built before it was brought to Holland in the 1960s. Travelers also will visit Heinen Delfts Blauw, connected to Holland’s Delftware store, and meet tulip growers in Lisse who provide bulbs enjoyed each spring during Tulip Time.

Travelers also will learn about Van Raalte’s early life and visit places that influenced him before Holland’s founding in 1847.

Kaiser says the focus on Van Raalte and the immigrants who came with him separates the trip from a typical Netherlands vacation.

“What makes this itinerary unique is that it follows the story of Albertus Van Raalte (and the others who came with him) and the places that were significant in his life before he led Dutch immigrants to Michigan,” Kaiser says.

She hopes those stops give travelers more context about the people who left the Netherlands to start new lives in West Michigan.

“The itinerary allows travelers to see the Netherlands not simply as tourists, but through the lens of the people whose courage and determination helped create the community we cherish today,” Kaiser says.

Fully booked

Organizers initially weren’t sure how much interest there would be.

“You build a tour and you kind of launch it, and you wonder, ‘Is anybody else going to actually want to go on this thing?'” Helmus says.

They needed at least 40 people for the trip to move forward. About 60 people attended an informational meeting, and 45 signed up within weeks. The remaining spots have since filled.

The cost is about $4,800 per person based on double occupancy. 

Some travelers have Dutch ancestry. Others don’t. Helmus says the trip is less about tracing individual family histories and more about exploring Holland’s shared connections to the Netherlands.

“It’s kind of our community roots,” Helmus says. “We’re focusing on where we get the windmill from, visiting the company where we get our tulips from every year, visiting the park where we got the idea of our bridge from, eating dinner in the restaurant where our Posthouse visitor center is based.”

Helmus also plans to visit museums and historic sites to see how they share Dutch history with visitors and to bring back ideas that could work at Windmill Island Gardens.

One stop includes reconstructed rural homes similar to those where Dutch immigrants lived before coming to West Michigan.

“Could we build one of those here to show people, ‘This is what your great-grandparents lived in in the Netherlands?'” Helmus says. “This is to see what things we can add to the island, or to see how they’re showing off that Dutch experience.”

Helmus is considering another question as Holland changes and generations become further removed from the Dutch immigrants who settled the area.

“How do we show off Dutch culture when we’re not really Dutch ourselves anymore?” Helmus says.

Seeing how museums and cultural sites in the Netherlands tell their stories could give Helmus ideas to consider back in Holland. 

Tourism ties

The Holland Convention & Visitors Bureau also sees the trip as a chance to strengthen connections between Holland and the Netherlands.

Hudgins, who works in sales markets for the Visitors Bureau, says the organization already hears from Dutch visitors interested in Holland’s history.

“Each year, we welcome Dutch travelers who are curious about their historic connection to Holland, Michigan. It’s one of the most frequently asked-about topics we hear from guests,” Hudgins says. “Because of that interest, we were excited to support this Holland-to-Holland trip as a way to strengthen and celebrate that relationship.”

The Visitors Bureau has helped connect partners and share Holland’s story as the trip has come together.

Hudgins says stronger relationships could lead to more cultural exchanges, collaboration and tourism between Holland and the Netherlands.

“When visitors from the Netherlands experience Holland, they often remark on the pride our community takes in preserving Dutch traditions,” Hudgins says. “Those visitors become ambassadors when they return home, helping spread the word about Holland’s unique story.”

More Dutch visitors could also bring business to Holland hotels, restaurants, shops and attractions. 

Organizers will know more about what worked and whether another trip makes sense after the group returns. Kaiser hopes participants come home with a better understanding of the connection between the Netherlands and Holland.

At Van Raalte’s gravesite in Holland, a plaque refers to the city as “Our Inheritance.” The phrase has stayed with her.

“Holland is more than a city—it is a legacy that was passed down through generations of sacrifice, faith, and perseverance,” Kaiser says. “I want them to understand that our Dutch heritage is not just something found in history books or celebrated during Tulip Time; it is a living inheritance that continues to influence who we are today.”

Photos courtesy of the city of Holland and Holland Tasting Tours