The part where he was born is called Eik-en-Duinen.
Here an image from the year 1556.
With the foundation of the Hague in 1256 (today a city of more than 500.000 inhabitants) Eik-en-Duinen became very important, thanks to its chapel in which a part of the Holy Cross was supposed to be kept.
Eik-en-Duinen became a place of pilgrimage, until the early XXth century, although the chapel already had been demolished at the start of the 80 years war (1568-1648).
Jacob was born there by coincidence, as his father came from Leyden and his mother from Rotterdam.
Nevertheless, his ancestor Claes Jacobs (sometimes he used the family-name 'Valk') was a sub-bailiff of Monsterambacht, a canton, which Eik-en-Duinen made part of.
Very little is known about this Claes Jacobs, except that (in 1526) he possessed a farm and that (in 1549) he received an 'armorial letter' from Charles V, the german emperor.
Eik-en-Duinen (trad: Oak-and-Dunes) is situated at some kilometres from the North Sea coast and when Jacob was young, the Scheveningen lighthouse, which light turned around, illimunated his bedroom's wall, in a rithm that was prescibed by the nautical almanacs.
Here a photo, taken in about 1956, four centuries later. In the very background you may perceive a greyish tower of the Peace Palace, seat of the international Court of Justice.
It is well possible that one this boys on this press photo is Jacob.
The dunes form a protection against the dangers of the North Sea. At the Hague, the dunes are about 5 km broad. Eik-en-Duinen was situated in the middle of them, but today they are hard to find by the vast number of houses that have been built. Only a small strip of dunes, close to the sea has been preserved in a natural state.
Here a shot of the house where Jacob was born.
The white arrow on the enlargement indicates the very room where he was born.
The photo is from 1933, Jacob was born 18 years later
Here a shot from the room were Jacob was born. The photo is from 1936.