Municipality ends Wierum construction stop

WIERUM – A small Frisian village, which has been memorialized in U.S. literature by Dutch immigrant writer Meindert de Jong, may at last be building some new housing units. The municipality of Dongeradeel, to which the Waddenzee-dike village of Wierum belongs, has agreed to release new building lots after a decade-long construction freeze. Wierum, which has now a population of 370 people, is the place of birth of the Iowa Dutch author who wrote ‘Journey from Peppermint Street’ (a translation from Muntjessteeg in the village) and among other titles, Dirk’s Dog Bello and Far Out Long Canal. All the municipalities along the Waddenzee contributed many thousands to the North America-bound immigration waves from the 1880s onwards.