commune
A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to:
Administrative-territorial entities
* Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township
** Communes of ...
in the
Vosges
The Vosges ( , ; german: Vogesen ; Franconian and gsw, Vogese) are a range of low mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single ...
Grand Est
Grand Est (; gsw-FR, Grossa Oschta; Moselle Franconian/ lb, Grouss Osten;
Rhine Franconian: ''Groß Oschte''; german: Großer Osten ; en, "Great East") is an administrative region in Northeastern France. It superseded three former administra ...
in northeastern
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
.
Inhabitants are called ''Mandresayens'' or ''Mandresayennes'' in French according to gender.
Geography
Mandray is located some ten kilometres (six miles) southeast of Saint-Dié on the eastern side of the department, and at the western edge of the
Vosges Mountains
The Vosges ( , ; german: Vogesen ; Franconian and gsw, Vogese) are a range of low mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single ...
. It nestles in the valley of the Mandresay, a small tributary of the Meurthe which itself rises nearby. The commune is within the Ballons des Vosges Regional Natural Park.
The commune comprises not one single village but rather a grouping of dispersed hamlets at varying altitudes, these being Haute-Mandray, Mi-Mandray, Basse-Mandray, Bénifosse, la Béhouille, la Nold, le Pré du Moulin, Mardichamp, le Raichant (meaning
garden
A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate bot ...
in the local
patois
''Patois'' (, pl. same or ) is speech or language that is considered nonstandard, although the term is not formally defined in linguistics. As such, ''patois'' can refer to pidgins, creoles, dialects or vernaculars, but not commonly to jargon o ...
), les Angles and les Carrières
Using the Mandray Pass, it is possible to drive to Fraize and to La Croix-aux-Mines. Despite a sign indicating an altitude of 707 meters, the actual altitude of the pass is now calculated as 694 meters.
History
Mandray was the scene of fighting early in the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. In retaliation, the Germans torched the church on 28 August 1914 and shot some civilians.