Four Centuries of Friendship and Diplomacy! Next Stop: Amsterdam!
Denise Doring VanBuren, President General

It is a visit centuries in the making – an opportunity to honor Dutch support of the American Revolution, and it begins Oct. 10 for 17 intrepid travelers on the official overseas trip of this administration. I say intrepid because this trip was canceled in 2020; postponed to 2021; greenlighted in August; canceled in mid-September; and rescheduled on September 16 due to changing pandemic-related travel policies. That only makes its imminent departure all the more meaningful….(And I suspect that lesser women would have given up – but not the Daughters!)

I was determined that we would complete this trip, as the National Society has never visited the Netherlands, despite many overseas tours to England, France, Spain, Scotland and other nations. In addition, a trip to honor our Dutch allies was scheduled during the administration of President General Linda Watkins for October 2001 – but the terrorist attacks of September 11 changed those plans.

It is little wonder that when our tour operator wrote a few weeks ago that conditions in the Netherlands had improved to allow Americans to again visit, that she expressed that, “While the circumstances in which we find ourselves—reversing a trip decision three weeks before departure—is completely unprecedented in our 71-year history, we can’t imagine a more resilient and deserving organization to assist in making this historic trip a reality, now 20 years after DAR’s first attempt.” Ladies, I think you know by now that I refuse to let the pandemic get the best of Today’s DAR – and so, off we go to Amsterdam (finally!) to honor Dutch support of our independence.

Our week-long journey will include visits to Leiden, home to the Pilgrims who would settle the New World in 1620, including laying a wreath in memory of the Pilgrim mothers. We will also tour Leiden University, where John Quincy and Charles Adams studied while their father was the first American ambassador, assigned to Amsterdam with a mission to secure financial backing for the Patriot cause. Plans also include a guided waterway cruise en route to the Museum of the Canals, where our National Society will dedicate a permanent marker to honor John Adams’ successful negotiations to win Dutch support for the American cause.

Our travel will include a visit to the Royal Library and the National Archives. We will also visit the Freedom Museum, which traces events from occupation through the multi-national liberation of the Netherlands during World War II. Then it is on to lay a wreath at the American Cemetery at Margraten, where 8,300 U.S. service members are interred, including four women. Our trip also includes a visit to The Hague, where the Dutch officially recognized our independence and where John Adams established the first U.S. embassy in the world as our first U.S. Ambassador. Also on Thursday, we will visit the official residence of the U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands. Friday’s finale will feature a visit to the Ann Frank House and Museum. Needless to say, this trip will have been worth the wait!

I am immensely grateful to the travelers who have agreed to join me on this historic overseas tour. Travel along with us by following my DAR President General Facebook page. (Although I will be posting on social media, I will not be blogging during the course of this trip.) Later this week, we will send you a blog describing Dutch support for independence in order to provide you with a better appreciation for our four-century-long friendship with this European nation.

I am deeply honored to represent our National Society in expressing – for the first time in our 131-year history – our appreciation for the Dutch financial contributions that helped win our nation’s independence – loans that formally forced the Netherlands into war with England. This journey is long overdue.

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