Saint-Martin-d'Ardèche (; oc, Sant Martin d'Ardecha) is a

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 department of Ardèche in Southern

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 ...

. Saint-Martin-d'Ardèche is situated at the Southern entrance of the Ardèche Canyon, the ''Gorges de l'Ardèche''.

Administration

Saint-Martin-d'Ardèche is member of the intercommunality of Rhône aux Gorges de l'Ardèche together with nearby Ardèche communes of Bidon,

Bourg-Saint-Andéol Bourg-Saint-Andéol (; oc, Bourg-Sant-Andiòu) is a commune in the Ardèche department in the Rhône Valley in southern France. Geography It lies directly along the river Rhône at the southeast end of the department south of the smaller tow ...

, Gras, Larnas, Saint-Montan, Saint-Just, Saint-Marcel-d'Ardèche, Saint-Remèze and Viviers at the very south-eastern end of department.

Population

Geography

A few miles from the main trail of the

Rhône The Rhône ( , ; wae, Rotten ; frp, Rôno ; oc, Ròse ) is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and southeastern France before discharging into the Mediterranean Sea. At Ar ...

Valley between Northern Europe and the Mediterranean coast, a Gateway to

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...

, Saint-Martin-d'Ardèche lies underneath the silhouette of medieval Aiguèze at the end of the Ardèche Gorges carved through the limestone ''plateau de Gras'' (average 300 m high, culminating at the 719 m high ''Dent de Rez'', i.e. ''saw tooth'') (reïsse=saw in provençal) on between

Vallon-Pont-d'Arc Vallon-Pont-d'Arc (; oc, Valon) is a commune in the Ardèche department, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Southern France. Vallon-Pont-d'Arc is a capital of prehistoric and cultural tourism. This small village, peaceful in wintertime, sees its p ...

with the magnificent natural stone arch on the river and Saint-Martin-d'Ardèche. Since 1960, a panoramic road follows the canyon up the hill through the ''

garrigue Garrigue or garigue ( ), also known as phrygana ( el, φρύγανα , n. pl.), is a type of low scrubland ecoregion and plant community in the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome. It is found on limestone soils in southern ...

'', the first Mediterranean vegetation when arriving from the North, and ends in Saint-Martin-d'Ardèche with a view on the end of the river flowing towards the

in direction of the Fuji-Yama silhouette of 1900 m. high

Mont Ventoux Mont Ventoux (; oc, Ventor, label= Provençal ) is a mountain in the Provence region of southern France, located some northeast of Carpentras, Vaucluse. On the north side, the mountain borders the department of Drôme. At , it is the highest ...

History

Originally a settlement of peasants, fishermen and boatmen at a ford on the river, ''Petra'' and/or ''Sant Martin de la Peyre'' (St. Martin of the rocks) belongs along the centuries to the baronets of Aiguèze, whose fortress overviewed the whole valley down to the delta of Ardèche into the

, then in the duchy of

Uzès Uzès (; ) is a commune in the Gard department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. In 2017, it had a population of 8,454. Uzès lies about north-northeast of Nîmes, west of Avignon and south-east of Alès. History Originally ''Uc ...

. It only became a separate ''commune'' at the French Revolution, when Départements were created with the river here as borderline: Aiguèze in ''

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. Ninety ...

'' Gard, Saint-Martin-de-la-Pierre as Saint-Martin-d'Ardèche in ''département'' Ardèche. Its situation on a ford had made the village an early stop for pilgrims and travellers. A church was built in the 11th and 12th centuries (up to the 19th-century bell tower). The river would finally be spanned by a stone bridge built in 1895 - which would be destroyed five years later by one of the furious swellings Ardèche was accustomed to after autumn rains before it would be regulated and dammed in the Cévennes. In September 1900, the bridge collapsed and was replaced in 1905 by a hanging bridge. The economy of the village, a mainly agricultural one during the 19th and early 20th centuries (silkworms, fruit, wine, plus wood floating or charcoal transport on the river, and angling) occurred to change at the second half of the 20th century with the transformations on nearby Rhône Valley (canal on the Rhône, atomic industries in Marcoule by Bagnols-sur-Cèze and Eurodif in Pierrelatte, highway A7 from Lyon to Spain or French Riviera, TGV railways) : both arms of local economy are nowadays wine - the southern Côtes du Rhône - and tourism. Kayak and camping trips down the gorge are common in the summer. Saint-Martin-d'Ardèche, at crossroads of four ''

''s - Ardèche, Gard,

Drôme Drôme (; Occitan: ''Droma''; Arpitan: ''Drôma'') is the southernmost department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. Named after the river Drôme, it had a population of 516,762 as of 2019.

Vaucluse Vaucluse (; oc, Vauclusa, label= Provençal or ) is a department in the southeastern French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. It had a population of 561,469 as of 2019.Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...

Tourism

Situated less than southern of Lyon, northwest of Avignon, northeast of Nîmes (i.e. 50 km from the Roman

Pont du Gard The Pont du Gard is an ancient Roman aqueduct bridge built in the first century AD to carry water over to the Roman colony of ''Nemausus'' ( Nîmes). It crosses the river Gardon near the town of Vers-Pont-du-Gard in southern France. The Po ...

), and from Mediterranean sea, Saint-Martin-d'Ardèche offers, with nearby Aiguèze (and mainly in high season from March to November), * 3 hotels * 7 campsites * several guest houses, B&B, ''gîtes'' and ''chambres d'hôtes'' * several restaurants * canoe and kayak rentings Nearby sites: * Aven d'Orgnac in Orgnac-l'Aven *

Cave A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...

s like Grottes de Saint-Marcel on the Route Touristique de Gorges * Dolmens (Champvermeil in Bidon, Pradèches in Saint-Marcel - or near the Botanic Path at the Grottes de Saint-Marcel with a menhir,...) * Roman sites of Alba-la-Romaine, Roman bridge on the Escoutaÿ river in Viviers * Mediaeval villages with ''burg'' ruins : Aiguèze labelled one of the "Most Beautiful Villages of France", Saint-Montan * Mediaeval isolated church of Larnas, chapels St-Sulpice in Saint-Marcel d'Ardèche, Ste-Agnès in Saint-Paulet-de-Caisson,... * Mediaeval and Renaissance town centers in

, Viviers see,

Pont-Saint-Esprit Pont-Saint-Esprit (, literally "Holy Spirit Bridge"; oc, Lo Pònt Sant Esperit) is a commune in the Gard département in southern France. It is situated on the river Rhône and is the site of a historical crossing, hence its name. The Ardèche f ...

with its 13th-century stonebridge over the

at the confluence of Ardèche,

Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux (; oc, label= Vivaro-Alpine, Sant Pau de Tricastin), sometimes known as -en-Tricastin, is a commune, an administrative region, in the Drôme department in southeastern France. Name The settlement is attested as ''Aug ...

and castles of

Suze-la-Rousse Suze-la-Rousse (; oc, Susa la Rossa) is a Communes of France, commune in the Drôme Departments of France, department in southeastern France, situated in the heart of the Rhône Valley vineyards Location Suze-la-Rousse is located southeast of ...

or Mme de Sévigné's daughter

Grignan Grignan (; oc, Grinhan) is a commune in the Drôme department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in southeastern France. It has a Renaissance castle and is mentioned in the letters that Madame de Sévigné wrote to her daughter, Madame de Gr ...

* La Ferme aux Crocodiles in

Pierrelatte Pierrelatte (; oc, Pèiralata) is a Communes of France, commune in the Drôme Departments of France, department in southeastern France. Since the 1980s it hosts one of the biggest production plants of the enriched uranium existing in the world, u ...

References