Jeroen Severs Plantsoen - Zoelmond

Zoelmond is one of the places that, through strategic marriage or the acquisition of inheritance, were added to the county of Buren at a later stage. When Buren was elevated from a seigniory to a county in 1498, only the towns of Buren, Asch and Erichem belonged to the county. Later, Zoelmond, Beusichem, Buurmalsen and Tricht were added. All places in the county through which this cycle route passes have been part of the county. No formal documents or registers are known that show when and why these places were added to the county. What is certain is that Zoelmond was controlled in earlier centuries by the counts of Buren: the Van Egmonts and later the Van Oranje-Nassaus.

Also from Zoelmond is Jeroen Severs (1974-2004). This soldier, who was born in Zoelmond a few centuries after the famous Van Oranje army commanders, joined the Marechaussee in 1997 and made it to Sergeant First Class of the Royal Marechaussee. In July 2004, the young guard was deployed to Iraq, where he participated in a peacekeeping mission. On 14 August, just under two weeks before his 30th birthday, Jeroen was returning from an investigation into disturbances in the Iraqi town of Ar-Rumaythah, forty kilometres from the main camp, when his platoon came under fire. Jeroen was killed in the process, as one of two Dutch soldiers killed during this mission. The municipality of Zoelmond honours Jeroen with a parkoen that bears his name.

But that is not all. Jeroen, buried in Buren, is also commemorated with an overpass named after him over the A15 motorway and an army building at the Koning Willem III barracks in Apeldoorn. The building where he was stationed when he joined the military police in 1997.