Editing 's-Gravenzande (section)

==History==
{{Stack|[[File:Gravesande 1868.png|thumb|right|200px|'s-Gravenzande in 1868.]]}}
's-Gravenzande is the only place in the Westland with a history as a town ("stad").  's-Gravenzande was granted [[town rights]] ("stadsrechten") in 1246 by [[William II of Holland|Count William II of Holland]] who, just like his father [[Floris IV, Count of Holland|Count Floris IV]], regularly resided at his estate near the town. It is therefore the only town in Westland.

Machteld van Brabant, daughter of [[Henry I, Duke of Brabant|Duke Henry I]] and wife of Floris IV, was responsible for building the town's church, and gave it a Madonna statue to which miraculous powers were attributed. 's-Gravenzande subsequently became a pilgrimage site.

The neighborhood of [[Gravesend, Brooklyn]], New York in the United States is said by some to have been named for 's-Gravenzande.<ref>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CEEDB1430F933A15751C1A964958260 Letter to the Editor: Gravesend], ''[[The New York Times]]'', December 20, 1992. Accessed October 28, 2007. "As a historical archeologist specializing in the early history of New York, I can tell you that what is now the Gravesend section of Brooklyn was not named for the hometown that Lady Deborah Moody and her followers left in England, as you stated in your article about the community on Oct. 18, but by the Dutch governor-general, William Kieft. Kieft chose to name the settlement " 's'Gravesande" after the town in Holland that had been the seat of the Counts of Holland before they moved to The Hague. It means the count's sand or beach."</ref> A [[Gravesend, Brooklyn#Name|1656 Dutch map of Nova Belgica]] (New Netherland) confirms this, as it shows several Dutch names of towns like Vlissingen (Flushing), Breukelen (Brooklyn), Amersfoort (Flatlands), Heemstee (Hempstead) and Gravesant ('s-Gravenzande).