Connected with the mainland but a peaceful island. Welcome to Marken! This peninsula on the Gouwzee is probably the most famous community in the municipality of Waterland. The conservative village makes it easy to imagine what life here must have been like. To limit damage from flooding, the inhabitants of Marken built their wooden houses on 'werfs' (man-made hills). In order to make good use of a werf the houses were built closely together, which creates an interesting street view!
Island feeling
When you walk or cycle over these werfs, with their drawbridges through narrow alleys, past the coloured wooden houses, you'll quickly taste the atmosphere of bygone days and the charm of the island. Nowadays, there are still fifteen werfs in Marken, twelve of which are inhabited. Once the werfs had been built on, the people of Marken started building their homes on stilts. In 1957, the island was connected to Monnickendam. Despite this, the real island feeling has always remained. A few still even speak ‘Markers’, a dialect that is primarily spoken by the older inhabitants of Marken.