The Heritage Foundation as part of the Stéphane Bern mission calls for donations to help the Collectivity of Saint-Martin to restore the Mont Vernon Plantation.
• A little history…
The Plantation was baptized in 1814 in reference to the famous Mount Vernon that had made George Washington prosper. Plantation of sugar cane and cotton in activity from 1779 to 1862, if the domain never had the pretension to compete with its American namesake, it does not remain less important for Saint Martin since it is of one of the last witnesses to the colonial history of the island.
The ground floor, in volcanic stones and beach sandstone, served as a warehouse, additional accommodation and refuge during the passage of hurricanes.
The upper level, entirely of structural timber and covered with wood essences, was accessible by a stone staircase. The steps continued with a covered wooden gallery protecting the walls of the lower level. The roof of the gallery widened a little above the steps to form the “portico” in front of the entrance to the house (after H. and D. Parisis, 1994). THE CURRENT STATE On September 6, 2017, Hurricane Irma, one of the most powerful ever recorded in the North Atlantic Ocean, devastated Saint-Martin.
Its winds of nearly 300 km / h blew for several hours on the island, which was in the direct path of the eye of the cyclone. Like 95% of the buildings in Saint-Martin, the Plantation Mont-Vernon is devastated: the wooden floor of the house no longer exists, the cistern is damaged and the landscaped park has suffered greatly.
• The restoration project
Now owned by the Collectivity of Saint-Martin, the latter wishes to reconstruct the floor of the house identically, restore the cistern, and replant the park.
She wants to be able to make the house and the 1,5 hectare land a site for cultural and tourist events: shows, educational activities, promotion of local crafts ... Mont-Vernon will thus take a crucial role in the conservation of Saint-Martin traditions and in the artistic creation of the island.
Cost of works: 1 237 500 €
Purpose of the collection: 90 000 €
Beginning of the roadworks : 2020
Here is the Foundation's link for the call for donations on their site:
https://www.fondation-patrimoine.org/les-projets/plantation-mont-vernon-a-saint-martin
6,550 total views
No comments