For centuries, life in Zonnebeke was dominated by the Augustinian abbey in the centre and the Benedictine convent in the Nonnebosschen. Both the abbey and the convent were destroyed during the iconoclastic outbreak in 1580. Only the Augustinian abbey was rebuilt. During the French occupation the abbey was confiscated.
Beselare was a marquisate under the Van de Woestines.
Passendale played a role in the infamous Battle of Westrozebeke in 1382.
Geluveld and Zandvoorde had a less glamorous past. The villagers had to make ends meet with what little they earned through hard work on the fields or long working days in France. The situation remained the same until the beginning of the sixties.
World War I destroyed the whole area. Our villages lay in the heart of the Ypres Salient. Hundreds of thousands of young people let their lives in a war which was to end all wars..
In the twenties the people returned and started to rebuild their houses and their communities. Nowadays Zonnebeke has found an equilibrium between agriculture, small business and work in the neighbouring towns.