LES PLANTES DEBARQUÉES

At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, kelp and seaweed were burned on the beaches of the island of Noirmoutier. The ashes resulting from these combustions were a very appreciated fertilizer. Cats and rowboats, boats from our coasts, made the trip every day to bring back ashes which were unloaded on this road where carts came to pick them up. In exchange, our boats brought to the inhabitants of Noirmoutier the firewood which they missed. Carts also came to fetch the long seaweed, torn from the rocky banks located off the coast, which proved to be excellent fertilizer. The rue des Plantes Débarquées marks the "border" between Les Moutiers-en-Retz and La Bernerie-en-Retz. This route was definitive after 1950. This street is extended by the old "chemin de la Noë-des-Tréans" called today rue Jacques Brel. * Extract from Monique Albert's book "Flâneries aux Moutiers-en-Retz". THE SEPARATION BETWEEN LES MOUTIERS & LA BERNERIE La Bernerie was a village of Moutiers until the 19th century. It became an autonomous commune on March 23, 1863. The story goes that the elected officials of Bernerie had to use the small bridge of Port Royal, now disappeared, to go to the meetings of the municipal council of Moutiers. One day, a councillor who was passing on the bridge, with his files under his arm, fell into the water. Following this incident, La Bernerie asked for its independence HISTORY OF THE CATS, BOATS OF THE BAY OF BOURGNEUF The Moutiers-Bourgneuf marsh was famous, since the Middle Ages until the 18th century, for its salt marshes which made the Breton marshes the largest salt producers in France. Many ships docked on the coast, and the salt workers needed to transport the salt from the marsh to the ocean. As early as the 16th century, they used catamarans: amphidromic boats, inspired by the old Viking ships, without bow or stern and with flat bottoms. The marshes being very narrow, when the catfish reached the end, they could not turn around. So the fishermen removed the rudder from the stern and put it on the bow to go back the other way. The catches were built and repaired at La Jaginière in La Bernerie, hence the current name of the street "de la montée de chatte" linking the seaside to La Jaginière. But the progressive silting up of the bay, caused in part by the tons of bilge ballast that ships dropped before loading salt, put an end to large-scale trade, as access to ports became increasingly difficult for ships. This production area was then progressively abandoned in favor of the salt works of the Mediterranean Sea.