Bloemhof

"Porta di Heru" (Iron Gate) was the striking name for the country house Bloemhof at the beginning of the Santa Rosaweg in the Ruiterkwartier. This referred to the imposing wrought-iron gate, formerly the main entrance of this country house, a replica of which can now be seen at the new entrance. Other names for the country residence were Bloemhof(f), Parke Florida or Nooitgedacht.

May Henriquez was a versatile artist and granddaughter of the last owner of Bloemhof, Emma Lopez Penha. May told that her grandmother was driven from her house in the Penstraat to Bloemhof at weekends and on public holidays in a fully loaded car with a chauffeur, followed by a shers (horse-drawn carriage) with staff and food.

A special attraction for her grandchildren was the irrigation tank for plants, which was transformed into a swimming pool and long continued to be used as such by visitors. Once every few months it was scrubbed clean and cleared of algae, after which it was filled again with fresh water.

Bathhouse

As a water plantation, Bloemhof had water in abundance, which can still be seen in the remains of the ingenious irrigation system with six wells, rain tanks, sluices, a water reservoir and a water tower. Most striking is the outdoor bathhouse with 2 bathtubs, to which rainwater was supplied via an aqueduct from a well. The bathhouse, the Mikva, is intended for women and may only be filled with "living water", that is, well water or "running water". The water supply for the Mikva is continuous, since it lies on a rich water vein that is fed by rooien (dry stream beds) from the surroundings flowing from Santa Rosa to Joonchi, Bloemhof's neighbour.

Paso fino

Besides selling water, other economic activities were the cultivation of oranges, or laraha. The author Elodie Heloise relates in Bloemhof, van buitenverblijf tot cultuurcentrum (Bloemhof, from country residence to cultural centre) that the plantation was a supplier to the liqueur distillery. Bloemhof had a small laraha orchard, where the peels of the fruits were laid out to dry on the access path at the Porta di Heru and then transported to Chobolobo.

Bloemhof also always had a few chickens, ducks, turkeys, sheep, goats and sometimes 1 or 2 cows, whose produce, like the maize that was grown, was intended for own use. A pair of riding horses for recreation were also part of the property, and the inventory even mentioned saddles designed especially for ladies.

One of the seven enslaved people at Bloemhof was a horse trainer, the bakeer, who taught the horses to walk according to the paso fino method. In this the horse learned to keep its back straight while walking and to move only its legs, which gave less swaying when it had to pull the shers. The trained paso fino horses were sold both locally and abroad.

Bloemhof's coach house was later converted into a studio by May Henriquez.

May Henriquez

May travelled a lot to Europe, founded the theatre group Talia, painted, made sculptures, did translation work and is the author of poems such as "Laiza porko shushi" and "Ken? Ami bira dokter?". As the daughter of banking pioneer Jojo Correa, she was appointed the first commissioner of what later became MCB Bank.

May turned the country house into a historical-cultural centre that offered space for lectures, exhibitions, storytelling and listening to stories, concerts, theatre performances and courses. After her death in 1999 it was decided to permanently set up the house and the surrounding estate as a cultural centre.

Office in a rain tank

Landhuis Bloemhof has been renovated, with a former rain tank set up as an office: the original copper tap can still be seen here, as well as the overflow holes. A mangasina (storehouse) has also been fitted out as an archive, library and meeting room.

At 7 hectares, Bloemhof was one of the smallest plantations in the Ruiterkwartier and a typical example of a pleasure garden outside the city, aimed at living comfort.

The oldest sale document dates from 1735 and the latest from 1919. In between, the estate, whose house dates from the 19th century, was sold as many as 22 times. Among the successive owners was also the cornet of the riders and factor of the WIC, Jan Evertsz. A striking detail is that at Bloemhof a large part of the deeds of sale and inventory lists have remained intact, so that interesting information can still be traced. In the inventory lists of Protestant Dutch planters, enslaved people are mentioned only at the end of the list; at Bloemhof, owned by Sephardic Jews, enslaved people appear first on the inventory lists. The price of enslaved people also varied, depending on their work on the plantation and on whether it concerned a child, man or woman. At Bloemhof it turns out that in 1765 the price per enslaved person was standardised, regardless of sex, age or acquired expertise.

Cathedral of thorns

In honour of Mother Earth, construction of The Cathedral of Thorns began here in 2014, a unique work of art made from the thorns of the "Palu di Wabi", the Acacia tortuosa. It was made according to the design and under the direction of the artist Herman van Bergen, with the cooperation of unemployed young people. In the "cathedral", but also on the grounds of Bloemhof, works of art by various artists can be admired, such as the sculptures of Hortence Brown. Guided tours for groups are regularly given at Bloemhof, and there is also room for festive activities.

Klein Bloemhof

Klein Bloemhof is a small country house that lies north of Mahaai and east of Rooi Catootje. It was built in neoclassical style in the second half of the nineteenth century, with a striking façade resting on columns. The house is also called Severijn, after the family of Abraham Severijn, who owned the estate from 1816 to 1925. The Severijns were originally of Swedish descent and once belonged to the most prominent families on Curaçao.

Another well-known resident was W. Renkema, writer of the book Het Curaçaos plantagebedrijf in de 19e eeuw (The Curaçao plantation business in the 19th century), in which the Curaçao plantation system is described in detail. Renkema lived in the little country house around 1970.

With thanks to Ruthson Cecilia and Crisen Scorea