little bit of history…
A long time ago there were a lot of inns in the ‘Veluwse’ villages. Otterlo was not an exception and at the Batavian-French period (1795-1813) there was already a inn in the main street. According to the house numbering from 1812 Karel Mulder lived at the Dorpsstraat 19. He was as well a farmer as the owner of the inn.Karl was born in Otterlo on March 27, 1775 as son of Evert Jansen Mulder and Jacomijntje Kaerels. On April 2, he was baptized into the Church by Reverend Henricus Otterlo of Itterson. Charles was primarily farmers and belonged to the few rich farmers in Otterlo.
De Rode Lelie (The Red Lily)
A son of Karel, Evert Mulder born in 1819, continued the business from his father in 1848 and he was both farmer and innkeeper, just like his father. In 1840, the first time ‘De Rode Lelie’ was called in a document as the name for the inn of the Mulder family. Evert remained keeper until 1859 and after then his 6 years younger brother Jan take over the inn. Jan died in Otterlo on June 9, 1893, at the age of 68 and is likely to have been the owner of ‘De Rode Lelie’ till he died.Cafe Transvaal
Gerrit Pieterse from Apeldoorn, took over ‘De Rode Lelie’and renamed the inn: ‘Cafe Transvaal’.In 1899 Arnoldus den Dolder took over the business of Pieterse. He remained in Otterlo until 1907.
Nothing but the truth…
In February 1899 Otterlo was plagued by several fires. The citizens of Otterlo believe the devil had something to do with it. In the Middle Ages, a priest of the Aanstoot (Otterlo) was afflicted with the devil. His patron who he asked to help him, let him down, so he devised a desperate play to outwit the devil.He bought a heavy chain with a solid staple which he hid under his robes with a hammer. Then the pastor went towards Wekerom and just when he had passed ‘Eschoten’, he was harassed by the devil. The priest bounded the devil on a thick oak with the chain. Then he said: "I banish you forever to this chain and you shall never more be allowed to return to Otterlo".
But the devil returned in 1899 and sat on the steeple. Then he blew a violent storm from the east. The bakery next to Cafe Transvaal quite stoked the oven and a spark hit on the haystack of the neighbor. In a short time it burned down half the town. An accident you may think, the old Otterloers know better.
Jagersrust (hunters-rest)
In 1907 Martinus Poelman became the new owner of Cafe Transvaal. He lived in the inn with his second wife Gerritje Beumer. Martin was a painter and hunter. His wife took care of the inn. Cafe Transvaal became ‘Jagersrust’. Martinus Poelman was a hedonist who paintings in the style of the Hague School. He had an excellent wine cellar which attracted gourmets from near and far.Martin had two sons from his first marriage, the twins Martin and Teunis. Teunis took Jagersrust after the death of his father. His brother Martin was, just like his father, an avid hunter. Along with his hunting friend
Dr. Beumer, who lived in the Witte Hoes, he hunted in the surrounding forests in Otterlo. Teunis died in 1976 and his son, Frans Poelman, runned the Jagersrust for about a year. After that the business was sold to someone in Harskamp, but the name Jagersrust kept maintained.