On its 4-hectare grounds, open-air museum De Spitkeet illustrates the rough living conditions of the heathlands of Friesland and Groningen between 1850 and 1950. The people were very poor and their living conditions appalling. The different types of houses show how the people lived and worked.
History comes alive in the different types of houses. The museum is named after the spitkeet, a peat hut that could be built in a single day. The waldhûske (Frisian woodland houses) were a little more luxurious, with stone walls, closet-beds and a separate space for cattle. The subsided houses offered even more comfort, and were built by the Stichting Woningbouw Achtkarspelen (Achtkarspelen housing foundation) from 1909 onwards. The holwoning, or cave house, was little more than a hill. The poorest lived in these.
