Rais.cw Fundashon Famia, Núkleo di Bario

Tra’i Seru

Trai Seru with the hill Moshe Rog with water tank
Original house in the southeast of Traai Seroe
View from Trai Seru to the west
Modern house in the northern part of Trai Seru
At the intersection of Kaya Potomac and Kaya Kiowa in the former Vader Cijntje
New construction in Trai Seru
New-build houses in Kaya Potomac, formerly Vader Cijntje
Little house in the northern part of Trai Seru
New construction near Matancia, west of and seen from Trai Seru
The hills of Trai Seru seen from Damacor
Corrieweg, seen from Trai Seru
Trai Seru is now fully built up
The southeast of Trai Seru, seen from Corrieweg
Trai Seru on the Werbata map

Tra’i Seru

Traai Seroe, or Tra'i Seru, is the hilly region west of Jongbloed and the residential district Cas Cora and north of the former plantation Corrie, nowadays called Damacor. Tra'i seru means: behind the hills. According to Brenneker, Tra'i Seru was once known above all for pots baked here by the well-known Son family. The whole family had become skilled in this, and they used red clay from Tra'i Seru itself, but also from Sabana Huncu (near Muizenberg) and Ronde Klip. In addition they also used white clay from Sapaté. This was the same clay that was formerly also used to whitewash houses. Bila Albertina, very skilled in working goatskins, also lived at Tra'i Seru. Tra'i Seru is nowadays a striking mix of simple original (wooden) little houses, middle-class homes and majestic villas in a rolling landscape.

Djanawa

A part of eastern Tra'i Seru on the Corrieweg, close to the roundabout in front of Botica Brievengat, is called Djanawa, a corruption of the first owner, Jan Abel. Also in the east of Tra'i Seru, and west of Jongbloed, lies Rust en Vrede, one of the seven plantations or plantaadjes on Curaçao that bear this name. The Pos di Tra'i Seru is a well on the eastern border of Tra'i Seru, west of the Corrieweg.

Ser'i Bazjúl

Ser'i Ingles (50 m) is a hill in the south of Tra'i Seru where, during the English occupation around 1800, an (unfinished) lookout post was built. Ser'i Bazjúl is a hill between Ser'i Ingles and Damacor, 47 metres high. Baas Jules (Boss Jules) used to live there.

Mosheròk

Nooitgedacht alias Mosheròk is named after the first owner of the land: Monsieur Rog, which was corrupted to Moshé Rog or Mosheròk. The hill in the middle of Tra'i Seru on which the water tank stands also bears his name: Ser'i Mosheròk.

Farasenshi

In the west of Tra'i Seru lies Vader Cijntje, once an undivided estate, or "tera di famia" (family land). It was originally a gift to a poor farmer who became a landowner overnight. Also written Vader Sijntje (1857) and in popular speech Farasenshi. Dwellings of a private building association now stand on Vader Sijntje.

Grimauw

West of Tra'i Seru and north of Matancia lies a neighbourhood with an unexplained name, Grinjau, officially Grimauw or Griniaauw. It lies near the present high yellow wall in Tra'i Seru on the Comanchestraat and was formerly a very large hòfi. A walled villa district now lies here. Also west of Tra'i Seru, and in Groot Kwartier, lies the area Rooi di indjan (Indian rooi), with the Pos di indjan: a former walk-in well that according to tradition was already used by Indians.

Sources

  • P. Brenneker: Sambumbu, various editions

With thanks to: Wim van Lamoen and Jeroen Heuvel.