Discover Zuidschermer: Churches, Windmills and Polder Landscape
Accommodation in Zuidschermer
Zuidschermer is situated on the Zuidervaart, one of the two main waterways of the Schermer. The Schermer landscape in the Land van Leeghwater area of the municipality of Alkmaar can be explored by bicycle and on foot. The 100 of Leeghwater is a 100-kilometre hike starting and ending in Zuidschermer. The Akersloot ferry is also part of the regional landscape: it crosses the Noordhollandsch Kanaal and connects the banks of Akersloot and Zuidschermer.
File:Alkmaar-Zuidschermer, poldermolen K RM7085 IMG 8387 2025-06-22 14.46.jpg
Photo: Michielverbeek via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
Churches with history and cultural significance
The Zwarte Kerkje got its name from the former black tar coating on its exterior. During its reconstruction in 1834, the characteristic black wood was replaced with brick. A separate school building was added to the Zwarte Kerkje in 1790 and was used as a school until 1900. The building is a Rijksmonument and also has a social and cultural function as a village community centre. The Zwarte Kerkje Zuidschermer is one of the wedding venues of the municipality of Alkmaar.
A second distinctive trace of the village’s history leads to the Sint Michaëlkerk. Its preserved Expressionist detailing and furnishings are considered rare in Roman Catholic church architecture from the interwar period. The paintings in the apse and the left side chapel date from 1946 and were created by Jaap Min (1914–1987). The Sint Michaëlkerk and presbytery have been included on Alkmaar’s municipal heritage list. In Zuidschermer, a church building with a social and cultural function as a village community centre stands alongside a church with Expressionist details and post-war works of art.
Windmills and polder history
Poldermolen K was built at the beginning of 1635 in a flat part of the Schermer and is one of the 14 drainage mills. The mill drained section K of the Schermer polder, covering 335 hectares. Following its complete restoration in 2007–2008, the Archimedes’ screw can circulate the water via an overflow. At Poldermolen K, the history of construction, the shape of the landscape and the technical function can therefore be viewed in close connection with one another.
Poldermolen M was also built at the beginning of 1635. It was one of four subsidiary mills in a system of 17 mills between Driehuizen and De Vuyle Graft. In the regional context of the Schermer, surviving windmills are recognised as Rijksmonumenten; they formerly served to drain the polder.
Westdijk 10 and De Eendracht
Zuidschermer preserves further architectural evidence of its rural past. Westdijk 10 is an 18th- to 19th-century Stolp farmhouse with a projecting wing and a bell gable facing the road. The former De Eendracht cheese factory stands at Zuidervaart 26, an L-shaped building dating from around 1880. Together, both structures add to the image of a cultural landscape in which agriculture, water management and village architecture are closely interconnected.
Other places in the same destination
If you would like to view other places at the same destination level: Grootschermer, Oterleek.
For the higher-level travel overview: Schermer.
