Fontein

The former plantation Fontein lies in the Y-junction formed by the Weg naar Westpunt and Kaminda Monica Kapel-Matheeuw (formerly called the Weg naar Soto). From Fontein you therefore had a good view of both main roads leading to Bándabou, which is why enslaved people occupied Fontein as the most important strategic location during the freedom struggle of 1795.

And at Fontein the fierce and decisive battle between the freedom fighters and the colonial combat troops also took place. The battlefield was the broad hill in Fontein with two heads that merge smoothly into each other: Ser'i Neger, which lies in the north-west, and Seru di Kloof (Ser'i Klof), the south-eastern part.

Fierce fighting also took place on the large plain at the foot of this hill between 20 and 25 August 1795: the army had positioned its cannons here to fire at the 600 freedom fighters. And according to oral tradition, the fallen and executed freedom fighters — everyone who carried a weapon was shot on the spot — were also buried on this plain.

Ser'i Neger

The freedom fighters were led by Tula and also Louis Mercier, who had dragged weapons and even a cannon to Fontein from the nearby forts at the bays. In the end they had to admit defeat, and the northern ridge has since been called Ser'i Neger (Negro Hill, 108 m) in popular speech. In memory of the Battle of Ser'i Neger a monument has been placed here on the protruding plateau, popularly called Punta Tula: the fist with the broken chain is clearly visible from the Weg naar Westpunt.

Place of Memory

Fontein thus has a high cultural, historical and above all high emotional value for Curaçao, which is why the crucial former battlefield has been designated a Place of Memory in the heritage register and value map of the NAAM, the National Archaeological Anthropological Memory Management.

The name Fontein

A clear explanation of the origin of the name Fontein (also written Fonteyn or Fontijn) on Curaçao is not known. Gerrit Gijsbert van Paddenburg writes in 1819 in his book Beschrijving eiland Curaçao en onderhorige eilanden (Description of the island of Curaçao and dependent islands): "On plantation Fontein there is a small running stream with a spring that jets up."

The name Fontein may be derived from this. This spring, a historical collecting place for rainwater, is known as Ro'i Kalki. Water comes to the surface here, fed slowly through the porous surrounding limestone plateaus. It is a spring that can run dry in years with little rainfall. In years of abundant rain, and also for a long time afterwards, it forms an idyllic little lake where birds, iguanas and even wild pigs (Pork'i Mondi) like to linger. On Aruba and Bonaire, too, the barios called Fontein are named after a spring.

Spanta muri na mesa (Frightened to death at the table)

On the northern edge of the Ser'i Neger stands a fairly intact slave wall, part of the former border between the plantations Ascencion and Fontein. Fontein is further surrounded by the former plantations Bicento, Pannekoek, Cas Abou, Porto Mari and Siberi.

During the 18th century plantation Fontein was mainly in the hands of the Lubke family and in 1795 it was called Huize Bellevue. In 1802 Cornelis Raven became the owner and changed the name to Ravenslust. In 1805 Fontein became the property of Nicolaas Evertsz, who sold it in 1809 to the well-known planter family Casper Lodewijk van Uytrecht, owners of, among others, the plantation Santa Cruz.

Van Uytrecht sold Fontein in 1828 to 4 sisters and brothers: Jacob, Jannetje, Carolina and Catharina Areson. In 1846 they sold Fontein to Abigael Mota, widow of Isaac de Castro, who in 1852 transferred it to the family of Arend Henry de Rochemont, the last owner of Fontein before the emancipation of the enslaved. Brenneker writes: "He was married to Theoline, in everyday speech called Cholina. Henry Rosjemon was so frightened by the news about the freedom of the enslaved that he collapsed dead at the table: spanta muri na mesa. And the plantation house soon fell into ruin after that," according to Brenneker.

After the Rochemonts Fontein came into the hands of August Statius Muller, who was also the owner of the adjoining plantation Siberie.

The Ruin Hill

Fontein lies on a hill and a plain. The hill was the heart of the plantation: here still stands an imposing, solidly constructed mangasina (storehouse) dating from around 1700. It is built in an east-west direction, has a perimeter of 75 square metres, and on the southern wall has a striking scratch drawing of a fleet of ships. The maize barn of nearby Porto Mari also showed a similar depiction.

Just in front of the mangasina lie the foundations of the former, fairly large plantation house of Fontein, razed to the ground already before 1909, after which the stones were probably used for the construction of landhuis Pannekoek. Plantation houses were sometimes demolished because plantations were merged or because building material was needed for, for example, road construction. South of the plantation house there were still remains of a cellar grave and the foundations of 30 small dwellings of enslaved people. According to oral tradition they had their burial ground on the hill east of the ruin hill.

East of the hill there was also a large heap of stones that enslaved people had to gather together when there was not enough work.

The plain

The plain east of the hill, south of Ser'i Neger and along the former road to Soto, used to be farmland and pasture. This area was very dry and the soil not very fertile. Throughout the area faha's, small natural-stone dams, had been built in the rooien (dry stream beds) to slow the speed of the rainwater and to force it to penetrate into the ground. The faha's also served to prevent erosion. Furthermore, there was a large earthen dam here to channel the rainwater. The faha's and the dam were discovered by the Archaeology Working Group of the NAAM during a small-scale exploratory survey at the end of 2006 and beginning of 2007.

In the rooi near the ruins there is also a very deeply dug well, as well as at the old drinking troughs for livestock on the grounds. During cleaning of the site a storage place and a grave were also found here.

In the plantation period mainly small maize (sorghum) was grown here, but also peanuts, vegetables and dividivi, which was planted in a primitive way: the manure that was spread contained seeds of dividivi. Fontein also had a hofje (small garden) with palm trees.

Jugs and pitchers

Livestock keeping and milk production were also important, and Fontein was in addition very well known as a producer of drinking vessels, pitchers and earthenware pots with two ears: wea di dos orea. These were made, among other things, of white clay that was dug up at nearby Duzu. During the NAAM survey on the site, pieces of unglazed and unpainted earthenware were also found. The plantation did not yield much, so that owners could not pay the mortgage debts and Fontein was publicly auctioned several times.

On the former farmland and pasture, in 2007 the first phase of the development project Villapark Fontein arose, with a mix of permanent residences and holiday homes. Eleven years later, in 2018, discussions about the preservation of the national heritage flared up again when the developer wanted to start the 2nd phase of housing construction.

Next to the Villapark lies a smaller villa neighbourhood and a few older houses on the Kaminda pa Soto, alias Kaminda Monica Kapel-Matheeuw.

Special plant

A few years ago Uniek Curaçao discovered that Maytenus versluysii, an endemic and native shrub with red, inedible berries, occurs at Fontein. The plant grows only on Curaçao and Bonaire, and Fontein is one of the few locations on Curaçao where it can be seen. Uniek Curaçao is, among other things, charged with the management of nature parks on Curaçao.

Kloof

Seru di Kloof is a mountain ridge in the east of Fontein and west of Kloof. Kloof is the deep valley through which the Weg naar Westpunt runs. It was traditionally regarded as an unsafe stretch of road in a mysterious and dangerous area with will-o'-the-wisps and ghosts, where many accidents happened. That is why a little statue of a saint was placed in a niche here, for a quick prayer before one entered the area. But after sunset people sometimes preferred the safe option over the uncertain one by taking the long detour via the Weg naar Soto.

Kloof was also a kind of milestone: women from Bándabou walked to the city on a fixed schedule, loaded with baskets of agricultural products, eggs and straw hats. This began on Monday afternoon at 3 o'clock, and they rested just before Kloof or at Grote Berg before it got dark. In the early morning they reached the city after having spent the night under a tree.

Fòrt'i Klof (Fort Kloof)

In the kloof there is a part of a fort that was built between the plantations Fontein and Ascencion and across the road to Westpunt. With the construction of the wide asphalt road around 1960 a large part of it disappeared. In contrast to the coastal forts, no official archive documents have so far been found about the name, year of construction and use of this only remaining "land" fort on Curaçao.

According to the Archaeology Working Group, given the building style it may have been built around 1800, at the time of or after the great slave uprising or during the English occupation of Curaçao at the beginning of the 19th century. There was room for the placement of 2 cannons, which probably pointed west.

According to the orally transmitted history that Father Paul Brenneker wrote down, the little fort — formerly called Dònkèrki — was built by Spaniards and later, during the time of slavery, used by the Dutch, among other things during the freedom uprising.

A strange peculiarity, recorded by Brenneker, was that during the great uprising a group of freedom fighters was cooking porridge here when they were surprised by soldiers. For lack of weapons they managed to shake off their attackers by throwing hot porridge in their faces…

Locations in Fontein

• Ma bei, alias Mama Bei, is a location in the north-west of Fontein, on the road to Soto. It is probably the name of one of the first owners.
• Klein Fontein is a small estate (knoekje) just opposite the Villapark.
• Hanchi di Krus (Road to the Crossroads, directly next to restaurant Lantèrnu) is the crossroads between 4 barios: Fontein and Colonia on the north side, Porto Marie and Cas Abou on the south side.
• Dios a duna (God has given) is a place east of Kloof, just in the bend. Giant patia's (watermelons) were once harvested there.
• Manuel Aruba, or Maneruba, is a place in the north of plantation Fontein.

Sources

• Werkgroep Archeologie: Report 19 February 2015: De ruïneheuvel bij Fontein (The ruin hill at Fontein).
• E. Renkema: Het Curaçaos plantagebedrijf in de negentiende eeuw
• Brenneker: Sambumbu, various editions.
• do Rego: The slave revolution of 1795
• Rancuret/NAAM: een cultuurhistorisch bureauonderzoek van fase 1 en 2 Villapark Fontein op voormalig plantage Fontein, Curaçao (a cultural-historical desk study of phases 1 and 2 of Villapark Fontein on the former plantation Fontein, Curaçao).
• van Paddenburg: Beschrijving eiland Curaçao en onderhorige eilanden
• Witteveen: Van plantage en strijdveld tot ontwikkelingsproject (From plantation and battlefield to development project), article Napa 28 April 2028 and 5 May 2018

With thanks to: André Rancuret, the Obispo family of Sabana Largu, Frensel Mercelina, François van der Hoeven and Jeroen Heuvel.