History
The Scout Centre Zeeland was opened in 1970, after that regional scout leaders and board members had been busy to acquire a site for Scouting already since the fifties. The Foundation Scout Centre Zeeland was established for this purpose. The Scout Centre Zeeland is (still) run by volunteers only.The Lake of Veere consisted in the past out of the Veersche Gat (Sea Gate of Veere) and the Zandkreek (Sand Creek), both in open connection to the North Sea. The banks were flooded at high tide. When the Veersche Gat and the Zandkreek were closed with dikes in 1960 as part of the Delta Plan, the Lake of Veere came into being. On the banks of the lake of Veere the Scout Centre Zeeland was settled. The land was fully bare. One could see the towers of Veere. The land was cultivated and a lodge was built.
One of the founders of the Scout Centre Zeeland, Hopman (Scout Leader) Verniel, died before the Scout Centre was opened. The lodge got his name and also the new lodge that was opened in 2011, got the same name. There was no sewer system on the site in the early years. There was just one small toilet building that was connected to a septic tank. That has changed in the mean time. There is a sewer system, connected to the municipal one; more toilet buildings have been built. Water, electricity and gas runs over the entire site. The areas on the waterside were reordered, the land was raised, and ditches were digged. The old Hopman Verniel Lodge was replaced by a new and larger building and there are plans to build a new office building.