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Places of Interest

Whatever your interests there is something to satisfy you locally - walks, museum visits, shopping, rambles, whatever. The following suggestions are only a very brief overview of the possibilities on offer - it's up to you to discover the full potential.



Walks around la Cholotte, Energizing rocks

Monasteries

Local products

The world wars

The treasures of Lorraine and Alsace

Walks around la Cholotte, Energizing rocks !

La Pierre de la RocheLa Pierre de la Roche

La Mortagne

The trails and forest roads around La Cholotte provide many opportunities for walking, and you can find many attractive viewpoints overlooking the Hotel from the mountains in front,

Enjoy the stillness of the pond of the Huttes, find the Saint-Jacques stone, on which the pilgrims to Compostelle carved a cross before walking down to St-jacques du Stat (XII century), visit the monument to the memory of the 36th Texas division (October 1944),

The rocks of marvelous pink sandstone are looking down upon the valley and offer magnificent viewpoints, such as La Pierre de la Roche, the Thoney rocks, in addition it is said that they have the property to reset your positive energy,

Discover around a bend in the road the sunlit facade of an traditional Vosges farmhouse in pink stone, with its big arched barn door and its three areas under the same roof - living accommodation, barn and stables,

Further up the valley is the Haut-fer de Brouaumont, an ancient sawmill, a Gallic tumulus and the Celtic site at Chazeté,

On your walks, you may have the unexpected delight of spotting a deer, a wild boar, or even one of the last capercaillie still living in these hills.

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Monasteries


The various monastic orders, appreciating the solitude of the Vosges, founded abbeys in the region, so that today you can find many masterpieces of religious art in the immediate neighborhood. You can follow the development of styles through the Norman, Gothic and Classical eras and see the development of the master builders skill on the ribbed vaults of the churches at Champ le Duc (1120) and Vomécourt (1135) ND-Galilee

Saint-Dié,

The Norman parts of the cathedral date from the XIIth century, while the facade was completed around 1711, in the style of the Venetian churches of Palladio. The small church of Notre Dame de Galilée, in a very pure Norman style, is an example of the type found in the south of Lorraine. Between the two there is a beautiful Gothic cloister, dating from the XV and XVIth centuries, with a pulpit in pink sandstone complete with sound-screen.

Autrey,

Founded in 1149 by the bishop of Metz on his return from the Second Crusade as an abbey of the canons of Arrouaise, was sold off during the Revolution and became a wire-works (making piano strings, nails and pins), then in 1859 a seminary, until it was taken over by the state in 1905 and turned into a hospice. Finally in 1931 it became a seminary again.
The tower, demolished in 1791, was rebuilt in 1866, the nave, now missing one of the bays, was built from 1711 to 1715, and the transept, choir and St. Hubert chapel date from the time of the Abbot Stévenel, in a style which mixes Gothic and Renaissance.

Senones

in the heart of the county of Salm, was founded in 720 by St. Gondelbert, and the abbey was rebuilt between 1090 and 1124 by the abbot Antoine de Pavie. The octagonal tower which covers the transept crossing is a style which is very unusual in Lorraine. Dom Calmet, abbot de Senones (1672-1757) was a learned scholar who produced several works on the history of Lorraine. Voltaire stayed here in 1754 to avoid the police of the King of France.

Moyenmoutier,

Although nothing remains today of the XIth century Norman abbey built in the style of the most beautiful Lorraine cathedrals of the first Norman period, its church, rebuilt in the 18th century (1765 - 1776) is one of the finest religious edifices of the period to be found in the Vosges.

Etival,

Behind an 18th century facade, there is a magnificent building from the end of the 12th century, in pink sandstone, similar to the gothic nave of Saint-Dié. Like Saint-Dié, it was dynamited in 1944, and rebuilt in the identical style.

Remiremont

Founded as a monastery in 629 by Romaric and Amé, it later became a convent and chapter house for canonesses from the nobility, vigorously defending its privileges up to the time of the Revolution. Of the second church consecrated in 1049 by Pope Léon IX, nothing remains today but the crypt, an attractive construction in a very plain style. The church above ground is noteworthy, very slender with cross-ribbed vaults. The choir dates from the 17th century, the facade and the onion-domed belltower from the 18th century.

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Local products


Hunt for bargains in the shops specialising in locally produced items,

Bedlinen, towels of superb quality, Vosges linen, tablecloths - the "Kelsch" pattern, created at Gérardmer at the beginning of the 20th century, is still a best-seller today.

Local potteries, like the one at Jeanménil, or the glazed stoneware at Rambervillers (visit the museum there).

Visit the crystal glass factory at Portieux, (30 km to the west) - the most important in Lorraine in 1885-, or the world-famous Baccarat works, and the ceramics museum at Badonviller.

Discover the world of the old woodworking industry in the old sawmills in the valley of the Hauts-fers, and particularly the high valley of the Mortagne close to la Cholotte.

Unearth just the book or the engraving you've been looking for, rummaging through the thousands of volumes in the booksellers clustered in the village of Fontenoy-la-Joute.

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The world wars


There are many elements which bear witness to the battles which raged across this frontier region during the last three wars, of 1870, 1914-18 and 1939-45.

Brouvelieures, the scene of battles between the French Mobile and Francs-tireurs forces, and the Germans, or the battle of Nompatelize (1870).

The military cemetery of the Col de la Chipotte, or the monument at Spitzemberg, the hill to the east of Saint Dié, which was bitterly fought over in the 1914-18 war (the War Memorial, the ruins of the feudal château).

In the German counter-offensive in August 1944, the region around Bruyères, Gérardmer and Saint-Dié became one of their major pockets of resistance. The Americans took 1 month and lost 1000 men to take the 25 Km between Bruyères and Saint-Dié. The battle of Bruyères is considered one of the 10 worst disasters in the history of the US armed forces. A monument in memory of the 36th American Division is located in the woods opposite la Cholotte.

36e Texas Division

Monument to the soldiers of the 36th US texas Division,

the lost, then saved battalion, Oct. 1944

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The treasures of Lorraine and Alsace


Nearby, and reachable in a day's excursion, is the area of the High Vosges:- the lake at Gérardmer, the Summits Road, the white, black, and green lakes around the Hohneck.

The Col du Bonhomme, the Col de la Schlucht or the Sainte-Marie tunnel will take you into Alsace, where you will find Colmar (or "Little Venice") and the Museum at Unterlinden, the wine road with its succession of picturesque little villages covered in flowers, the castle at Haut-Koenigsbourg, the Monastery of Sainte-Odile, and the city of Strasbourg.

In Lorraine, the town of Saint-Dié is known as the "Godmother of America", since it was here in 1507 that a group of humanist thinkers, Le Gymnase Vosgien, gave the name AMERICA to the new continent. Other places of interest include Epinal, the fortress of Chatel sur Moselle, Lunéville and Stanislas' castle, and Nancy, the capital of the Dukes of Lorraine, with the old town and Stanislas Square - a unique example of Classical architecture - together with the Museum of Decorative Arts, and the Museum of Modern Art.

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