Cadastral map of 28 plots situated to the south of the new town in Berbice

Title Leupe: “Platte grond van de nieuwe Stad in Rio Berbice.” -Until 1790 Jan Carel Willem Herlin remained in the service of the Society as overseer-general of works and as of 1787 he was also ad interim chief land surveyor in the colony following J.H. Hagen’s resignation from the post in that same year. Early in 1790 his successor, also to be engaged as overseer of government workshops, the land surveyor Jan van Schoonenbeek, arrived in the colony. The next year he took over Herlin’s duties as well, since the latter had, of his own accord, withdrawn from service. Following that move the directors appointed Van Schoonenbeek to the civil position of ‘Architect and Clerk of all Colony Works’ in October 1791. In that capacity, already in the same year, he presented proposals for some amendments to be made to Herlin’s design plan for New Amsterdam and for expansion of the town by issuing new plots for free burghers to the south of the governmental district.

This cadastral plan below shows what was known as the first front polder, a strip of land along the river that had been drained and prepared for building purposes. On the northern side it linked up with the government district (see the inscription below left). Van Schoonenbeek had divided this newly reclaimed land into 28 residential plots suitable for private purchase. On his map, the registration list on the upper-right is still empty but in the course of the 1790s all the parcels of land were developed and a second front polder, again with 28 plots of land, adjacent to the first at a slight angle to the south, was prepared.

North is left.

Scale-bar of 340 Rhineland rods = [approximately 1 : 1,450].