In 1848, Jan Hendrik Veneklasen founded the Veneklasen Brick Company with his son Berend. From 1848 until 1925, the Veneklasen Brick Company produced millions of bricks that would be used to build homes and businesses in West Michigan.
Brick production in 1848 was a somewhat simple process, but hard work. The brick makers would first have to dig the clay out of the quarry. This required pick axes and was done manually. The clay was placed in a grinder which would filter out stones and pebbles. Sand was also added to the clay to add strength. Then they would form the clay into bricks by hand using wooden molds. The brick makers would place the formed bricks in the sun or drying sheds for up to three weeks. Then the bricks would be baked in the kiln at 950-1150 degrees Celsius to harden them.
Imagine doing that all by hand. Thankfully, over the years machines were added to make the work a bit easier.
Stage 1 - New Groningen School
What makes Veneklasen brick stand out is the color. The color of a Veneklasen brick was determined by the clay. White bricks were created from clay mined in Zeeland. Red bricks were created from clay mined in Hamilton. Orange bricks were created from clay mined in New Groningen. No color was added. These are the natural colors.
The clay defined the color of the brick, which is why the Veneklasen Brick Company had several quarries. They needed different colors of clay for their bricks. When the raw brick was baked, the shade of the bricks might vary from batch to batch based on the length of time the bricks were baked in the oven and the temperature they were backed at.
The posted coordinates place you in front of the New Groningen Schoolhouse, which was built in 1881 with Veneklasen brick. The local masons would take these unique bricks and weave them into patterns that stood out. If you drive along the roads of southern Ottawa County, you can spot a Veneklasen brick house based on the colors and designs.
In order to log this Earthcache...
Please read the following questions and send me your answers.
- What colors of brick are present in this building?
- Are the bricks uniform in color? For example, if there is red brick, are the reds all the same or there variations in the shades of red?
- How are the bricks holding up? Do they look like they are in good shape?
Stage 2 - Zeeland Clay Quarry
This is the site of Zeeland Quarry. This site was mined from 1872 until the 1920's. If you look north across the road you can see the large home owned by the Veneklasen family, which was made with their brick. There are also two other buildings made with Veneklasen brick.
In order to log this Earthcache...
Please read the following questions and send me your answers.
- What color brick was made from the clay mined at this site?
- Are there any indications that this was a quarry? Does it look like they mined clay here?
- Post a picture of you or a signature item at this location (please don't post a picture of stage 1).