The Wilhelmina Chestnut of Noordereiland

Noordereiland kept this chestnut alive through the Second World War with a ghost story. It was a Wilhelmina tree, and while trees across occupied Rotterdam went for firewood, a tale went round that it grew on ground where the dead lay, and that whoever cut it would bring bad luck on himself and his neighbours. Among resistance people it was known as the double chestnut. In the 1970s older islanders still said it: come back when it flowers, and you will see two flowers. It came through the fighting around the island and the Maas bridges, and the Hunger Winter. One tale says somebody did try to fell it and gave up after a single branch. When it went in is less settled. The national register gives 1880 to 1890 and also 1898, for Wilhelmina's accession; Dutch Wikipedia says probably 1898, with the fountain beside it; the island's website has said 1870 and, elsewhere, 1889. That leaves it somewhere between about 125 and 155 years old. It is almost four metres round and 18 to 24 metres tall. In the early 1990s its roots cracked the Wilhelmina fountain, which was removed, restored and put back. The news now is not good. The trunk carries bleeding canker and two life-threatening fungi, and a main branch broke off some years ago. Local reporting in 2026 expects it to be felled within a few years. If you want to see the double chestnut in flower, do not wait long.