In the footsteps of Thaon’s heritage

Start and finish at the Arche Bernadette, 1 Rue de Lorraine, Thaon-les-Vosges. Car parks are available nearby, behind the town hall or behind the Foyer des Mutilés.

(S/E) In front of the Arche Bernadette, opposite the Bertrand Pharmacy, take Rue de Lorraine on your left and walk to the “Meubles Filiol” shop (a family-run business since 1902).
Then turn right onto Rue des Aulnes, then onto Rue Dutac, and you’ll arrive at “Maison Fayard” (a family-run business since 1884).

(1) You are now on the site of the former market square and fairground, where a health centre has just been built. Walk along Place Jules Ferry until you reach the Espace Jules Ferry, a former school that now houses a social reintegration organisation with a community grocery shop, a recycling centre and other vocational reintegration activities.

At this point, a few metres before the end of Place Jules Ferry, turn right onto Ruelle du Presbytère. You’ll reach the town centre at Rue d’Alsace and the wine shop “Aux Clos des Cépages”.

(2) Turn right towards the municipal police station, where you’ll discover the former Café de la Femme à Barbe, Place de la Victoire and its war memorial, the Foyer des Mutilés, the church and the mural honouring Armand Lederlin, founder of the Blanchisserie Teinturerie Thaonnaise (BTT), on the site of the former town hall.

Retrace your steps, passing the wine merchant, then turn left onto Rue Thiers, where you’ll see the façade of the former Cinéma Modern on your right. Continue straight on along Avenue Armand Lederlin. Walk past the post office and cross the two-arched canal bridge. On the left is a local microbrewery, “Le Domaine du Houblon”.

As you continue along the route, you’ll come across stately homes, a former nursery and the former BTT canteen, which stands on the corner of Rue Pierre de Coubertin. At the former canteen, turn right towards the Rotonde and the former BTT factory. Walk past the current Viskase factory (which manufactures cellulose casings and sausage skins) on your left, then past the Rotonde parks on your right via the Allée des Parcs, until you reach the junction with the Allée de l’Usine.

(3) At this junction, you can see the former BTT factory on your left and the Allée de l’Usine on your right, with its huge wrought-iron gate. Head up the Allée de l’Usine, then, when you reach the gate, turn left to admire the former BTT social centre known as ‘la Rotonde’, a building famous for its circular hall and its theatre seating over 800 people.

Carry on straight ahead and cross the canal again via the bridge at lock no. 19. At the roundabout, turn left onto the D157 towards Chavelot, then take the first street on your right, Rue Horace Koechlin. Walk a few metres, then turn right onto Rue Jean-Baptiste Dumas, where you’ll find an old washhouse. Walk up Rue Jean-Baptiste Dumas until you reach Avenue Pasteur.

(4) Turn left and head up the avenue, first passing the old co-op at No. 27 on the left, then the Gohypré school complex at No. 22 on the right, which, during the Second World War, housed the Kommandantur. At the next junction, on your left, you’ll see “Le Village Nègre”, built in 1912 to house Moroccan workers recruited to work at the BTT. Turn right onto Rue de Gohypré and follow it to the junction with Rue Victor Durain. Turn right and walk to the end of the cul-de-sac to discover the oratory of Notre-Dame des Ermites.

Turn round, retrace your steps, then turn right onto Rue de Bel-Air and continue to No. 1. Here you’ll find “La Maison Bleue de la Charade”, a former mansion converted into a guesthouse.

(5) At the small roundabout, directly opposite you, note the former Saint-Joseph Youth Club, which was founded in 1889 and whose original premises were demolished in 1903. Turn right and walk down Avenue des Fusillés. At the bottom of the avenue, by the supermarket, turn right onto Rue du Pensionnat. At number 6, you’ll find the girls’ boarding school, established in 1889 and closed in the late 1940s.

At the end of Rue du Pensionnat, turn right onto Rue Jeanne d’Arc and continue to Rue d’Alsace.
At the “Pharmacie Gueutal”, turn right and walk up to Square de la Liberté, which leads to the Match supermarket on your right. The shopping centre is housed in the former Germain Willig factory. At the square, take Rue Lacroix on your left. At the end of the street, take the footbridge to reach the towpath running alongside the canal.

(6) Turn left onto the towpath, where you’ll find an old hot-water washhouse on your left. On your right, on the other side of the canal, there is a motorhome site right next to some leisure facilities (mini-golf, boules, pétanque, etc.). After a few hundred metres, just before the ‘Arches’ bridge, take the footbridge on your left and head towards Rue Rapp to find the temple.
Continue towards the town centre, passing the old hospital at No. 22, until you reach Rue d’Alsace.

Turn right and walk up the high street to explore the shops and new businesses. At No. 79bis/81 Rue d’Alsace, between the “Alp Kébab” restaurant and the “Café in Fine” coffee roaster, take the passageway to reach Rue Jeanne d’Arc. Follow this street to the right and head back towards the current town hall , passing the former BTT library on the way.

Take Rue de Colmar to the left of the town hall and you’ll arrive in the neighbourhood known as “La Corvée”. Where the town hall car park is now, there used to be an old washhouse and an old bandstand. After the town hall car park, opposite the doctor’s surgery, turn right and head back via the rear of the Arche Bernadette through the car park and the garden (S/E).

Walk organised as part of “MOVEMBER” and the fight against cancers affecting men: prostate, colon, testicles, etc.

Weekly market every Saturday morning from 8 am to 12 noon.
Visit to the Thaonnais Heritage Museum and La Rotonde (on request).
Go shopping in the new local shops, but also in the older ones, some of which are over a century old.