Chapel

Here you can see the Sacred Heart Chapel in the Elsakker and a memorial stone in the chapel. This recalls the marriage between Lauwers and Dupret in 1920. The Elsakker domain forest has its origins in the 16th century when it was part of the properties of the Stift van Thorn (a monastic community in Dutch Limburg). The first steward of the area was Wouter van Elsakker, who was buried in the church of Meerle after his death in 1588. After the French invasion of 1794, the formal dissolution in 1797 put an end to the abbey and the principality of Thorn. Thorn was first annexed by France and after the Vienna Congress it became a municipality in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The domain De Elsakker came into the hands of Mr. Jan Petrus Eeltjens from Breda. He stayed in the villa along the Chaamseweg until his death in 1860. By inheritance, the domain passed to the Dupret-Bruggeman family from Brussels. After Mrs. Dupret's death in 1899, the property was divided. The Elsakkerbos and the villa along the Chaamseweg fell into the part of Mr. William Lauwers- Jeanne Dupret. In 1904 Lauwers rebuilt the villa. The older generation of Meerle still talks about the villa and the property of Lauwers.

Agentschap voor Natuur en Bos