Uithuizen's most notable feature, in a park on the east side of the town, is the fortified manor house of Menkemaborg, the finest and best preserved country house in the province of Groningen. It consists of three buildings of the 15th-17th centuries surrounded by a double moat. The interior furnishings (furniture, silver, china) are mostly 18th century, and the gardens with their beautiful rose walks have been restored to their 18th century form. There is a restaurant in the old Schathoes, the servants' or tenant farmer's house in the forecourt.
West of Uithuizen, in a diked area reclaimed from the sea, is the pretty village of Usquert. In the medieval period there was a commandery of the Knights of St John here. Its site is now occupied by two farmhouses, in one of which, Kloosterwytwerd, is a chimney piece dated 1461 with the arms of the Order of St John. The Town Hall (1930) was one of the last works of the celebrated architect H. P. Berlage, whose best known building is the Exchange in Amsterdam.
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Usquert, Netherlands
